I knew the moment she saw.

Not so much because I was keeping an eye on Sutton… I just couldn’t keep my eyes off her. I’d kept my distance, but not for any of the reasons you could call decent. I’d done it out of pure selfishness. The same way I did most things.

I’d kept well out of the game for a fucking year. And while I still craved the excitement, I hadn’t felt truly tempted until tonight. Still, I couldn’t back down from the commitment I’d made, to stop playing with fire. Sooner or later, one of us would get caught. It was simply the nature of things. Secrets never stay secret forever. And I wasn’t a fucking kid anymore. I was thirty one years old, and had a company to protect. I wasn’t going to put it on the line anymore, not even for a piece of forbidden pussy as delicious as Emily Parrish.

But the one thing even I had never been was a liar. From the minute I’d laid eyes on her, I’d wanted her. And I’d been tempted… fucking tempted to play… just for one more night. The image of taking her during the fireworks display at midnight was all the hell I’d been able to think about. The noise… the entire crowd watching, looking straight up into the night sky as light and color burst overhead. Working my fingers… working my cock between those thin black lines of her fucking hot fishnets…

But I’d settled for watching her instead, protecting her in a sense, as a way of protecting my own goddamned interests. She moved with a languid sort of motion that was both seductive and sweet. Strands of her hair had a tendency to get caught up in her long, black lashes and she would brush at them, unaware, with the back of her hand… I knew what Sutton was planning almost before he did. And I had watched as Emily carried her tray, closer and closer…

So fucking help me, I hadn’t been sure whether she’d see them or not… But I wanted to see her face if she did. I wanted to see how she responded… if she was shocked… or if she was intrigued. No matter, she would never completely understand what was really happening… that there was a game going on tonight. Or that there were players other than Sutton at work. Nor could she ever guess how much money would be changing hands by morning… No, I just needed to know how she responded. In her body… her expression. I needed to see if she looked away… or if her eyes lingered…

Maybe I wouldn’t have her tonight, but then neither would anyone else. Even if the contract hadn’t made it clear that her business was a respectable one, I’d have made goddamned sure she stayed safe. But there weren’t any rules about watching her. Or about enjoying the way she made me feel inside. What was the harm in that?

She stood at the far edge of the bar, and I could see in her face what she’d witnessed behind it. Sutton was taking his girl, with a couple standing right across from them, their faces only a foot or so away. The blonde’s expression wasn’t giving anything away. She had her family name to protect. And Sutton was way too experienced to let anything show. He smiled evenly and let her shake that cocktail, getting him closer and closer to the moment he would lean in to kiss her neck, shielding his climax from public view. Emily stood stock still, staring as if there was nothing else in the world to see. It could draw attention… dangerous attention if she continued. But I felt a deep, intense pleasure tighten inside me. She stared shamelessly… and I wanted to watch her see… I moved closer, until I was nearly at her side. She was too absorbed to notice me.

I slipped my cold glass into her hand, catching the delicate flesh of her elbow to keep her from starting. “Sip this,” I ordered gently. “No, stay a moment longer if you please.” She shot a glance up at me in surprise, but obeyed. “You’ve saved me the trouble of hunting you down,” I added darkly. “I believe there’s a balance due on this evening…”

She took a sip from my glass and her eyes darted. I could tell she wasn’t sure if she’d been caught or not. Her eyes flitted nervously and I could tell how much effort it took, for her to keep from glancing back. I knew it was cruel to keep her trapped where she was. I couldn’t help myself.

I pulled out a black leather wallet and drew out a handful of bills. I slipped them into her hand and felt her fingers brush the back of mine. White hot energy moved like lightning, hitting me squarely in the chest and burning a line down to my groin. My cock was raging hard, pulsing insistently against my belly. The girl in the silver dress stopped suddenly, clutching the sweating shaker in her hands. Her eyes closed and she held her breath. It was quiet, just a pause, then Sutton buried his face in her neck. They barely moved… barely made a sound… No one would have noticed or guessed. No one would have even have known… except that Emily did. And I knew that she did. I felt the tremor run through her body as if she’d had the climax herself. I held onto her hand and felt the race of her pulse under her skin. Like something inside her was fighting for release… for freedom…

I looked down into her lovely green eyes and the dark expanse of her pupils. She gave off a scent, like vanilla and some kind of delicate spice… and again, I had the overwhelming desire to taste her creamy skin. She looked up at me in silence, with an intensity that left me unable to take the next breath. Something passed between us, unspoken yet powerful. And an awareness settled inside me… an awareness that in one way at least, I was a very different kind of man than Sutton.

While he could be satisfied with a few sweet inches of the woman he’d chosen for the night, I could never be. There was too much more… too much sweetness that wouldn’t bear denying.

A mere taste could never be enough…