Page 35 of A Certain Appeal
“Hey, you two!” Ming puts a hand on my shoulder. “Solid peel, girl. You missed a great opportunity, though.” She hooks a finger into the keyhole at my bust and tugs. “I’d have threaded the glove through here, flossed a bit between the boobies.”
I smack her hand away.Damn.That would have been inspired.
She grins at Darcy. “How about you, handsome? You enjoy Kitten’s performance?”
I prepare to tell her he missed it, but Darcy clears his throat.
“I have reason to doubt it was meant as an appeal to my tastes,” he says.
I glare at him, face heating. “You said you were late.”
“I missed part of Johnny’s opening. Not you.”
“Aw, feel manipulated?” I ask in a mocking coo.
“I said I didn’t trust it.” His eyes fix on mine, dipping briefly to where the tie at my bust is still crooked from Ming’s tug. My cheeks flare again. “Not that I didn’t like it.”
My breath stutters.
“If you’ll excuse me.” Darcy nods at me. “I need to get going. Enjoy the rest of the show. Bennet. Ms. DyNasty.”
He walks away, and it is an act of sheer willpower not to stare after him. Maybe he did learn a little about conversational flattery.
“Did I detect some tension between the two of you?” Ming plucks at the tie again. “Of thesexualvariety?”
“Tension, yes.” I force my jaw to relax before I get a headache. “Sexual...”
“Also yes?”
The cash register dings. The bartender pulls out a series of bills, counting out change, then takes the money to a tall figure at the far end of the bar. I narrow my eyes. Darcy and his damn hundos.
He leaves a few bills on the bar and folds the rest into his money clip. As he tucks the cash into his jacket pocket, his eyes fall on me. Like he’s expecting my attention.
I arch a brow, defiant. He smiles, slow and languid and knowing, and goddamn it all, I am helpless against the pull to watch what the smile does to his lower lip. The world tips slightly.
And then he’s out the door.
I rub my temples. He shouldn’t get to look like that and be a condescending poo.
And he certainly shouldn’t be asking me the kind of questions I should be asking myself.
Ming studies me, clearly amused.
I drop my hands. “What?”
“Nothing,” she says. “It’s so cute to see you all hot and bothered.”
“I’mnot—”
She waves off my protest. “It’s just lust. Now come on, let’s socialize.” She arches a brow. “Unless you’re gonna trail the guy and ravage him in an alley.”
I decide to ignore the sudden spike in my pulse. “Ming,please. I’m a lady.”
CHAPTER
10
Toby shakes his head. “Liz, you have outdone yourself.”
