Page 41 of Tempt My Heart

People were staring, and she nearly stumbled when one particularly sour gaze seemed to stare daggers at her.

"Relax," he murmured as the band shifted into an acoustic version ofEternal Flameand he somehow moved impossibly closer. His cologne was intoxicating and she swallowed hard when she looked up and found his lips just a breath away from hers, his nose grazing her skin, his breath smelling like champagne and desire.

"I’m sorry," she said quietly as the lead singer's guitar offered them a moment of relative privacy despite the other bodies swaying around them in time to the music. "For putting you in this position."

He shook his head. "It was my choice to make, not yours. You don't need to apologize to me. Not ever."

She didn't reply, just soaked in the feeling of him pressed against her, like he was trying to sink into her skin.

The song ended and they broke apart, leaving her feeling cold as they blended with the moving crowd and tried to head back toward the door that led to the rest of the house. They were waylaid as several people wanted to stop and talk to Christopher and just as they managed to escape, David and Rose appeared again.

David smiled at her, his blue eyes looking especially bright against the silver of his tie and the streaks of gold in his dark blonde hair. “Can I steal your date for a dance, Chris?”

“You’ll have to ask her,” he said with a smirk. “She’s the boss, you know.”

She blushed slightly, knowing exactly what he was referring to, before accepting David’s hand and letting him pull her out onto the dance floor.

“It’s nice seeing him so happy,” David said as they swayed back and forth while they watched Rose dance with Christopher. “He’s wanted to ask you out for ages, you know,” David said slyly and she laughed. “How did he finally get up the courage?”

“He rescued me from my ex,” she said, deciding to give him as much honesty as she was able. “And then we went out to dinner.”

“The Hummingbird,” David said knowingly, “I saw that in the press. It’s funny really, that’s where Rose and I reconnected too.”

“Must be something in the drinks over there.”

They danced for just the one song and then David swept his bride back into his arms as they moved to the music again. A commotion sounded in the corner off to the left and a sea of heads turned as one of the servers dropped a platter of miniature food onto the floor.

“Come on,” Christopher muttered and she followed him out of the room while the server apologized profusely. “I only paid them for a five-minute distraction.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering when he’d found the time to pull that off. "This place is massive," she muttered as they hurried up the main staircase and Christopher led them around a corner to a long corridor. Moonlight spilled in through a large window seat and they bypassed it entirely to stop outside of what looked like any other hardwood door.

"It used to be a dressing room," Christopher muttered, “but Blake redesigned it into an office for Rose last month."

As much as it pained her to have involved him, it was damn handy having someone on the inside.

They glanced up and down the corridor before turning the handle and stepping inside. There was a level of organization to the space that put even Ali's desk to shame. A hardwood desk spanned the back wall, overlooking the front drive, and thick, cream carpet covered the floor and made her nervous to walk on it with her heels on.

Ali slipped off her shoes, not wanting to leave mud or footprints on the carpet, but it felt like even more of an invasion to sink her toes into the plush softness.

Christopher hurried over to the desk and looked it over with a critical eye without touching anything, even going so far as to swat her hand away when Ali reached for a pile of papers.

"She'll know if you move anything," he said matter of factly and Ali grimaced, the thought sending shivers over her skin like Rose DuLoe was a bogeyman and not a savvy business woman and heiress.

He carefully slid open one of the drawers that lined the right side of the desk beneath the top and then they both froze as the sound of footsteps reached them from the other side of the office door.

They held still until the sound passed and then Christopher went back to opening drawers one by one while she watched uselessly, wringing her hands.

"Here," he said and she breathed a sigh of relief when he set the large, white binder on top of the desk. Inside were concept drawings of table placements, flowers, dresses, and even rings. Scraps of fabric had been pinned to the thick pages, as well as contact details for various designers and tailors. It was so much information it was dizzying—surely it wasn't the norm to put so much work into what was essentially a very fancy party? Or maybe it was in Rose's world and, she realized with a pang as she looked at the man beside her, Christopher's too. Though, to be fair to Rose, this wedding had been a bit of a whirlwind from the start—planning a wedding of this size in about eight months would be a feat for anyone, let alone a ceremony of this magnitude.

But since the security scare they'd had, they'd publicly come out and said they didn't want to waste any time—life was short. Of course, they'd only made the statement because the press had been going wild over the theory of a shotgun wedding because of a DuBlake baby.

Ali shook her head, trying to re-focus back on their task. More footsteps thudded past outside and she didn't realize she'd held her breath until she started to feel lightheaded.

"Let's get a few pictures and get back to the party,” Christopher said quietly and she nodded, pulling out her phone and hovering it over the pages detailing the potential flavors of cake and the bakery Rose had settled on.

Flash.

Ali froze.Crap.She hadn't expected that to be so bright.

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