Page 41 of Riot

All I could do was stare at her.

And then she looked up.

Locked eyes with me.

Something shifted in my chest.

Like gravity picked a new direction, and it was wherever she stood.

I stepped toward her, slow and easy. Told myself to play it cool. I didn’t know what she was doing here, but the universe was clearly on my side tonight. She looked different in regular clothes. More dangerous. More real. And even more beautiful. I was already thinking about how to make her mine—then I opened my stupid ass mouth.

"The Virgin. Who let you out?"

Her face dropped like I slapped her. The softness in her eyes vanished, replaced with fire. She turned on her heel and walked away like I was nothing but a bad memory.

Fuck.

I grabbed her wrist, not roughly, but firm. Pulled her back toward me before I could think better of it. The touch of her skin sent a wave of fire through me.

"Don’t ever walk away from me," I said, my voice low.

She jerked back, but I held on. That heat in her gaze didn’t scare me. If anything, it pulled me in deeper.

“Don’t ever call me that again,” she snapped, her voice sharp but shaking just a little.

I leaned in closer, so close I could smell her perfume—something sweet and grown

“Don’t ever snatch your body away from me again,” I commanded.

She blinked, lips parting, just slightly.

Yeah. I saw it.

That flicker.

The fight in her didn’t fully mask the way her breath stopped. The way her gaze dropped, then came back up, defiant but unsure. I liked that shit. That fire. That backbone. But even more, I liked the way she started to melt when I spoke with intention.

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” I said, finally easing my grip. “I just don’t know your name and that’s what Boaz called you.”

She looked at me for a long second. Then, soft and guarded, she said, “My name is Allure.”

I smiled. “That’s pretty.”

And it fit.

Allure.

She was hypnotic. Powerful. Deadly in the softest way. I hadn’t even touched her, but I was already trying to remember what the hell I’d been stressing about all week. The second she stood in front of me, all that tension from the office, from my brother, from the vineyard—gone. Just… vanished in her presence.

Now, up close, I could see all the parts I’d missed before.

Her eyes were like obsidian—dark, deep, endless. Her lips full and natural. Her breasts pressed against the low neckline of her blazer dress, skin smooth and glowing. Her waist curved into hips like poetry, and that ass? Baby girl had weight back there. Real woman weight. The kind you grabbed with both hands and it would still be spilling out. And I ain’t have no lil nigga hands.

“You want a drink?” I asked, my voice a little huskier than before.

She nodded, cautious. Curious. She looked back at Irina who was in her own little world with Rollo. I had to know why she was here. When I first met her at Boaz’s home, I figured she wasa prisoner. Not someone who could come and go. Maybe I had it wrong?

I guided her gently toward the bar, let my hand brush the small of her back as I waved over the bartender.

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