Page 46 of The Vow

“No one does, old sport.” Damon popped the gumdrop through his lips. “But we both appreciate money and a good deal, so I suggest you don’t think too long.”

Belmont scowled for a very brief second before backing away and plastering a tight smile over his cracking expression. “Enjoy the rest of my party, Mr. Remington.”

“Oh, I fully intend to.” Damon snaked his arm around my waist, the sudden contact making me shiver and drawing me from my statue-like stance. “Starting with a dance with my beautiful wife.”

Chapter Thirteen

Robyn

“You’re looking very murderous right now, Mrs. Remington.” Steel eyes sparkled at me.

We were barely out of Belmont’s sight before Damon swept me tight to the source of his heat and buried us in the cornucopia of dancing couples in the middle of the room.

“I’m feeling very murderous right now, Mr. Remington,” I said back, landing my heel purposely on his foot, enjoying not only his wince but the notion that I’d irreparably scratched his expensive Italian leather.

“Why? We’ve accomplished exactly what we came here to do,” he said with a cheeky smile and spun me.

The Christmas lights became a kaleidoscope as the room whirled around me, and when it stopped, we were even deeper in the mass of moving bodies, and Damon held me even closer. Then, it was only my insides that continued to twist.

Our formal wear was intended to be a deft disguise, blending us into the elegance of enemy territory. But when itcame to the war waged between myself and my husband, the silk of my dress, the fine weave of his shirt, and even the added layer of his jacket were as protective as a layer of tissue paper positioned to stop a torpedo.

It might as well have been nothing separating us, and I was sure that was why he’d maneuvered us onto the dance floor.

Every sweep of his legs tangled with mine. The splay of his hand bracketed my bare lower back. With every turn, every step, my front pressed to his. My breasts to his chest. My waist to his. He felt the peak of my nipples as surely as I felt the thickness of his length.

How many times did I think I could walk through his fire and not come away burned?

I lifted my chin above the flames. “So, did you come here to strike a deal with Belmont or just to introduce me to the world as your wife?”

His hold on me cinched tighter, his stare pinning mine.

“To make a deal, of course,” he said, his lie spilling from the easy tip of his smile.

We turned again, the sudden spin stealing my breath but not all of the bite from my words.

“I didn’t realize you needed a wife to do that.”

The hand framing me to him slid to my upper back, practically lifting me from the floor as we made another whirl that positioned us in the center of the room.

And then with the same violent abruptness, Damon stopped and dropped his head close to mine until all I could see was him.All I could feel was him.

“I didn’t need a wife to do that, Robber, because I already have one.”

His beautiful mouth twisted into something both sensual and cruel, the way it provoked memories of what it could do and the way it could undo me. I closed my eyes but failed tosuppress the shiver that roamed like a wild beast over my skin, desire desecrating all of my senses.

The music…the people…they wove into a fabric that suspended us in the moment. My heart toppled against the front of my chest, frantic, wanton beats flooding my veins unchecked. Somewhere in the midst of it all, he’d released my hand because his fingers skated along my cheek, spreading want wherever they went.

But this was his trick.

Everything Damon offered was always too good to be true. Too good to not have an ulterior motive. And it was the trap he laid, the one he knew my body’s weakness for him would lead me straight to. Right where I’d never be able to be free of him.

“I’m not your wife,” I said as his fingers traveled to my chin and then to the column of my throat.

There, they closed, but it was his steel-tipped eyes, sharpened like blades, that cut my breaths short.

“Yes, you fucking are,” he growled, the first needles of emotion piercing his tone. “My wife, Robber.Mine.”

My lashes fluttered. I had the unsettling suspicion that he was more in tune to the responses of my body than I was. More aware of the change in my pulse and the heat of my skin, everything down to the twitch of my muscles that wanted to be closer to him and the oxygenation of my blood that eagerly decreased every moment I breathed him in.

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