The party was as boring as I thought it would be. At least dad made good on part of his promise. There was a threatening guard who was never too far from me in case someone tried to touch me. But I’d have to lose him somehow if this plan of ours was going to work.

I endured the party, forcing myself to mingle with some of the people in the crowd. There were plenty of familiar faces and few new ones, as usual with these parties, and every single person I tried talking to was a total bore. I expected it, but still.

And then Alan showed up, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

The tuxedo was the same style most of the other men wore, but on his tall, muscular figure, it stood out. His thick hair was brushed back, the wave tamed a little, but not so much that I thought he’d dumped a full jar of jell on his head.

When I walked past him, I caught a scent that left my mouth watering. It was a mix of his own musk and some cologne, and I wanted to get closer. But I had to make myself follow the act, and I wondered if he could tell how hard it was for me to pretend to ignore him.

I want to be with him. Hell, I just plain want him. I knew that now, and if he would have me… I liked to think I was smart enough to be able to tell when attraction was real or faked, as least when it came to Alan.

I couldn’t approach him yet, though. First, I had to escape from the guard’s sight. Luckily, I had a clutch purse with my phone inside it for just that reason. I pulled my phone out and sent Alan a quick text.

I’d been to many of these parties before, and they were always the same, so I knew the best places to go when you wanted some privacy. The best one of all was the ladies’ bathroom. The women at these parties didn’t want to risk messing up their “looks,” so they rarely used the bathroom for any reason that didn’t involve touching up their make-up or hair.

After a few more minutes of circling the crowd, I went the way I’d directed Alan, and saw he was moving right ahead of me. I slowed down so no one would notice us entering the same bathroom, and after a minute or so, finally knocked on the door. Before I could open it, Alan was there, tugging me inside.

“It’s empty,” he said. “We’re good to go.”

I nodded. My heart was beating hard in my chest. I couldn’t tell if I was nervous or excited, but it wasn’t an emotion I had the luxury of contemplating at the moment.

“Let’s get this over with quickly,” I said. “This thing is heavier than it looks.”

Alan snorted. “I don’t know. I think it looks pretty heavy.”

He was standing close to me, eyes trained on my neck, and I couldn’t say his expression didn’t send my pulse racing. I didn’t even know how he’d managed to sneak himself into the party, and I wasn’t going to ask, but I definitely wanted to leave with him.

I knew it wasn’t going to happen, though. It would be too dangerous.

“Did you bring the decoy?”

I reached into my purse and pulled out the other gem, an exact lookalike of the one around my neck.

“It’s really good,” he murmured. “Looks almost exactly like the real thing.”

“That’s the idea. Unless Gamble has an expert on hand, he won’t know it’s a fake right off the bat, so it should buy you some time to get away with your brother. I’ll smuggle out the real one myself and meet you tomorrow.”

I pouted, because that was part of the plan I didn’t like. We’d be parted for too long. But I couldn’t just make a run for it. My dad was keeping an eye on me. Hell, I was lucky the guard he’d assigned hadn't come looking for me yet.

Before I turned to leave, though, I threw my arms around Alan’s neck to pull him into a long, passionate kiss. Kissing was all I’d intended to do, but suddenly, I wanted more. We hadn't parted on the best of terms last time, and I wasn’t entirely okay with what Alan had done, but even that wouldn’t deter me.

“I want you,” I moaned against his lips when we pulled back from the kiss. “Right now, Alan. Please.”

He groaned, low and throaty. “Fuck, Arielle.”

Alan moved away from me, and I worried he was rejecting me, but he only crossed the room to lock the door. As he returned, I lifted up my dress and hoisted myself onto the counter, squeaking as my ass met the cold marble. Then I reached back to undo the zipper just enough to bear my breasts.

He was on me in seconds, mouth devouring mine, making me moan. My hands reached for his, bringing them to my breasts and squeezing lightly, only letting go when he picked it up, rubbing his palms on my nipples. I pulled my mouth away to catch my breath, and immediately he was kissing down my throat to my chest, and my head tilted back in ecstasy as his lips latched onto one of my nipples and sucked, hard.

“Alan,” I moaned in growing desperation and need.

I wrapped my legs around his hips, shifting so I sat on the edge of the counter and he stood between my legs. I reached for his belt and fly, undoing them quickly. I tugged his cock out of his pants, and I held him in a strong grip, stroking from base to tip and back again, adding a twist at the head, just the way he liked.

He rewarded me, pinching both my nipples as his mouth covered mine in a deep, wet kiss.

“Condom in my right back pocket,” he panted, then nipped my lower lip. “You’re going to have to hurry, Arielle.”

I groaned. “I know that already.”

There wasn’t really time for this. I could be discovered missing any minute, and while I’d already disabled the GPS tracker for the real Heart, the one in the fake was still active—and needed to stay that way. If Marc or my dad checked the phone app that let them follow the signals for all the jewels with trackers, they’d find a Heart lingering in a bathroom for an awkwardly long time. We could get caught, and that would ruin everything.

I didn’t care, though, and Alan didn’t seem to mind much either.

Reaching into his pocket, I grabbed the condom. As I ripped off the foil and reached between us to slip it onto Alan’s cock, one of his hands left my breast, moving between my legs. He ran his knuckles over my sex, paying extra attention to my clit, and I moaned and bit my lip, before stopping so I wouldn’t ruin my make-up.

I’d worn a pair of skimpy panties, so instead of taking them off, he just slid them to the side, and I felt his fingers on my bare sex. He thrust two fingers inside me to test how ready I was, and I gave a sharp tug on his cock that made him growl.

“No time, remember?” I taunted, panting. “Fuck me. Now, Alan.”

Alan pulled back just enough to give me his signature smirk. “Whatever you say, baby.”

He batted my hand away from his cock, leaning forward to take my lips in a rough kiss, and at the same time, he slammed into me in one hard thrust that had me crying out.

Alan set up a rhythm, his arms going around my back to hold me against him as he fucked me, fast and hard. If I were still a virgin, I knew it would have hurt. As it was, I was clinging to him, probably running his suit, begging for more in muffled pants and whimpers, his lips barely leaving mine to keep us both quiet. We both came just like we’d fucked, with me screaming my release into his mouth, and him moaning his pleasure into mine.

In other words, it was a “quickie,” quick and dirty like the name suggested, and it left me both sated and wanting more. But there was no time for more, we knew, as we pulled away from each other.

We fixed up our wrinkled clothes as best we could—and I checked my light make-up in the mirror to make sure I had no obvious smears—and then we said our temporary goodbyes.

I left first to rejoin the crowd, and almost immediately, my father was there.

“Arielle, there you are,” he said, fussing. “Where were you?”

I rolled my eyes. “I was just in the bathroom, Dad. You can calm down. What, did you think I’d fall in the toilet or something?”

“I’m surprised you’re able to use the bathroom by yourself,” he retorted. “Maybe that’s the proof I need to convince me you’re a grown-up.”

I gave him an unimpressed look, because he’d soured my mood, and turned away from him. He didn’t call out to me, wouldn’t with so many people around, most of them rich and influential. I blended back into the crowd, keeping an eye out in anticipation of what I described as “coldly served revenge.”

On Gamble, and to some degree, on my father, as well.