Page 6 of Let Me Win You

“Alright.” She swiped her cell phone from her back pocket and pointed it at Invi, then snapped a picture, making him squint in the flash. “If you so much as lay a finger on my friend, your mug is going into every paper and on every website out there, and the caption won’t be anything you’d ever want to read next to your photo. Got it?” She thrust a finger his way. “Show her a great time, then get her back to our hotel safely.”

“Yes, my lady.” He bowed his head with the elegance of a noble knight, indeed.

As he turned to me, a guy appeared at Jessica’s side.

“Why is a pretty girl like you standing here all alone?” He sidled closed, casually putting a hand on her lower back. “Dance with me, sexy baby.”

She cringed with a sigh. “I have a boyfriend.”

“So?” Her creepy admirer shrugged. “He isn’t here, is he?”

“The lady isn’t interested in your advances,” Invi stated loud and clear, offering Jessica his arm. “Allow me to escort you to your ride, Jessica.”

“Hey, buddy, you have that chubby one.” The sad-excuse-of-a-man jerked his chin at me. “I’ll take the hot one.”

He grabbed Jessica around her waist, pulling her into his side as she clung to Invi’s arm. Leaving his right arm in my friend’s possession, Invi calmly gathered the offender’s shirt in his left fist.

“I said the lady isn’t interested.” He slowly lifted the assailant off the floor.

“Hey—” the man croaked, choked by his own shirt that gathered under his arms with its front clenched in Invi’s fist.

He could’ve probably punched in his defense or maybe kicked at least, but he looked too shocked to even try. I didn’tblame him. I was shocked, too, staring with my mouth wide open at his feet dangling over the floor.

“Stay right here and don’t move.” Invi deposited the poor guy behind him, leaving him standing there like a piece of discarded furniture. “Shall we?” He offered his other arm to me. “If you please to accompany your friend with me.”

I rested my hand in the crook of his elbow, stunned and a little smitten by his manners.

And so we went, with Invi “escorting” both of us through the crowded club like some knight in shiny armor leading two court ladies through a castle’s great hall.

Jessica leaned forward, catching my gaze.

“Wow,”she mouthed, her eyebrows rising toward her hairline.

“I know,”I mouthed back, thoroughly intrigued by this unusual man, who frankly didn’t fit into any type I knew.

3

Nicole

“You said you’re not from around here!” I yelled into Invi’s ear.

The music on the dance floor was so loud, even yelling didn’t always help, forcing us to repeat the same questions and answers often.

“No.” He shook his head.

“Is it your first time in the city?”

“Technically, yes.” He nodded after a moment of hesitation.

The club music was fast. People jumped, twerked, and gyrated against each other all around us. With his hands on my waist, Invi led us in a slower tempo. Skipping every other beat, he swayed gently with me in his arms. Several couples next to us were making out heavily. However, Invi’s hands never strayed from their position on my waist. Yet he still made the dance feel intimate somehow.

I splayed my palms high on his chest, over the buttery soft leather of his dark burgundy jacket. His alluring scent enveloped me, and I tried to figure out what it was. Jasmine flowers with an earthy note, something like moss or green tea. Must be hiscologne, one I had never smelled before. And now, it would forever behisscent even if I would smell it on anyone else in the future.

As one music track replaced another, I found myself leaning closer and closer to Invi. Eventually, my entire body ended up pressed against his, my cheek resting on his chest. My arms somehow wound themselves around his neck. Something pulled me to him stronger than a current, and I had to actively fight the pull, lest it drag me under.

“Maybe we should go,” I suggested, glancing up.

A soft, dreamy expression lingered in his face. He seemed relaxed and content, like hugging me here in the middle of the crowded floor was exactly what he wished to do.

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