Page 42 of The Vow

Her pupils blew wide, swelling with lust and something else—something far more precious that I could only feel but not describe.

“Maybe I should say no then…” Her arms slid up and twined around my neck.

I reached down and, in one smooth movement, lifted her into my arms, the front slit of her dress falling to each side as she wrapped her legs around my waist.

“Trust me, Robber, you want to say yes,” I murmured and pressed my lips to hers.

We hardly made it into the bedroom before she said the word. As promised, it was only the first of manyyesesthat night.

When I finally closed my eyes, I did so believing I’d saved her. Protected her. And somehow won her heart and her future at the same time. A future that, for me, would now be filled with more than fake identities stuffed into an empty shell of a life.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Chapter Twelve

Robyn

Damon stepped in, blocking one of the army of butlers in the foyer who attempted to take my coat.Who attempted to touch me.

Heat licked over my skin as Damon’s fingers brushed my bare shoulders, sliding my jacket free. Shoving the damning sensation aside, I focused instead on Belmont’s grotesque display of wealth.

Columns and marble. Priceless paintings and antique vases. I remembered that first time I’d walked into Sinclair’s home, the night I’d met Damon. I’d been astounded by the luxury then, but that was nothing compared to now.

The affluence here oozed from every corner and seam like pus from an open sore. I wondered how much of this gold and glitter had been bought by the death of my parents. By silencing their discovery that GrowTech’s pesticides caused cancer?

I inhaled harshly when Damon took my hand and tucked itinto the crook of his elbow, my fingers finding the familiar place where they’d rested so many times before.

Funny how I’d only been with Damon for a fraction of my life, and yet that fraction felt all-consuming. Like a single drop of coloring into a pitcher of water, it tinted everything that came before and after it with the knowledge of him. And now, I suffered a kind of destructive déjà vu.

But I couldn’t pull away. I’d promised to obey, and at least one of us kept our promises.

“They’re all looking at you, Robber,” Damon murmured, effortlessly taking two glasses of champagne off a passing tray and handing one to me. “You’re exquisite.”

Our fingers brushed like embers landing on drought-ridden land.

“Or maybe they’re all looking at you.”

“For being so handsome?” Another wink was fired in my direction, and I swore the silver slips of his eyes could see how wet it made me.

I missed so many things about this man, about the way he could make me feel, it was criminal. In another life, I would’ve insisted he didn’t even need a finger to know how I wanted him, only that singular penetrating look.

My eyes narrowed as he tipped his glass and clinked it to the edge of mine.

“Your arrogance is?—”

“Unparalleled?” he finished for me, the word like a hook that hauled me right back to the past and the night I’d irrevocably sealed my fate to his.

“Criminally so,” I countered and then took a sip, attempting to bury the nagging part of me that didn’t want to be anywhere else but close to him. Close to the pull of his dominance. The promise of his intensity. The warmth of his embrace.

He was always good at this—of course, he was. He was trained by the FBI to dothis.To blend in with seamless arrogance and boundless confidence, two things that could get one past most barriers in this world if one had the talent to wield them. And Damon had it in spades.

He could be both the center of attention and still the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Infamous yet invisible. It was damnably inconvenient for someone who wanted to see him in prison…but also irresistible.Just the littlest bit.Especially when his eyes twinkled the way they were now when he looked at me.

“As long as you think I’m handsome, Robber, that’s all I care about.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, instead washing the inadvertent compliment from my mouth with another gulp of champagne.

I shifted my attention to the sprawling living room, the furniture whisked away to open the space into an intimate ballroom. A string quartet was stationed in the far corner, their bows extracting classic holiday melodies from their instruments.

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