ading warmth to her limbs. Seraphina's body grew nu
ately searching for anything. She didn't want to see J
thetic, insignificant. He had to be handsome, powerful, and
et types, too polished and predatory. She skippe
he saw
drinking it, merely letting the amber liquid catch the dim light. He wore a well-tailored charcoal su
nose, a firm jaw, and thin lips pressed into a severe line. He looked like a Roman statue, all hard angles
tared for a
was just dazed and adrift. She felt utterly e
e kind of man who didn't need to perform or pretend. He simply existed, and the whole space se
ep, subtle luster of custom craftsmanship. Everything about him, from the cut of his su
. Was she really going to do this? Throw herself at a
of laughter came
onal voic
ntended for a proposal. The future she had imagined with Julian would
r approach, because he
omplex gray. They were sharp and perceptiv
er pain, all her humiliation, everything that had gone so terrib
l made her bold, or perhaps just stupid.
ass down with a sharp clink, spilling a
ed the ring on the table
her voice rough and l
for a long, unreadable moment. Then he reached out, picked
voice rough from the a
s again, then flickered briefly downward to t
She had really done it.
on the table. Slowly, deliberately, she broug
t was a challenge, a plea,
surprise, finally broke through th
ow and resonant: "You
in control. It was the laugh of a woman who had lost ever
e barely a whisper. "But to
the seat beside him, her thigh pressing agains
with you.
ening beneath the fine wool of his suit. She caught his s
refuse. She braced herself. In trut
tled firmly and gently on t
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