Taken…he’s taken, I told myself again as Jal topped off my glass of wine.

We were still in the limo, waiting in line in front of the event venue, and while things were moving slowly, I didn’t mind the wait. In fact, I was having more fun being stuck inside the limousine than I really had a right to. When it was just the two of us like this, I could almost forget about how different we were.

When Jal asked me more about the dream I had for opening my salon, I wondered how he’d even managed to get me to talk about it in the first place. I never talked about it. My mom didn’t know. Tao didn’t even know. It had been one of those things I'd always kept hidden away.

Until I'd somehow let it slip while talking to Jal.

“It’s just a dream, Mr. Lindstrom,” I said, offering a polite smile.

“Call me by my name, Allie.”

“Okay, Allie,” I parroted back easily.

Calling him by his name made things too easy, too intimate. He gave me a sigh of mock exasperation just as the car came to a stop and the door opened. I hoped I'd be able to get away without him asking again. Just the feel of his name in my mouth made my stomach twist.

There was a flash of cameras as I let him help me from the car, the brilliant lights enough to almost distract me from the feel of my hand in his.

“Steady,” Jal murmured as he wrapped my arm around his. “Just smile and walk. Don’t stop to talk to anybody and it will be over soon.”

That sounded a lot of like smile and think of England, I thought. My mom had told me that story once, and it'd always made me laugh. Now was no different, and I felt the laughter bubbling up again. I managed to stop it before it came out, knowing it would just sound hysterical, and that was the last thing I wanted.

Several people called his name and a few times, we stopped for pictures. Every time we stopped, the questions got worse, but he was gifted at being able to move along without giving them anything.

“You do this a lot?” I asked quietly as we kept walking.

“Not too often,” he said. “There are more reporters here than usual because there’s a rumor that a movie star's supposed to drop by to endorse TomorrowU.”

We stopped just inside where he spoke quietly to somebody at the door, then shot me a smile.

The warm tingles that went through me were entirely out of place, but I told myself it was just a reaction to the right, or wrong, kind of stimulation. It didn’t mean anything other than a completely normal physical reaction to an attractive man. I'd do the same if any other good-looking guy had smiled at me.

Except I knew that was a lie.

When we started to move again, he put his hand on the small of my back, and I felt the electricity shoot straight through me, down to the tips of my toes. I wasn’t imagining it either. My toes curled inside my shoes and goose bumps broke out along my flesh. The dress left my back naked almost down to the base of my spine. Until his fingers rested there, I’d never realized just how sensitive that skin was.

“Are you cold?” he asked, bending his head down to murmur in my ear.

“No.” I pretended a rapt attention on a piece of art that had been placed on a pedestal. There was a card placed next to it, with some information about a student. “This is nice.”

“Would you like to have it?”

“No!” I shot him a surprised look. “I’m just making conversation.”

“Well, it’s for a good cause.” He grinned at me. “Students from various schools who benefit from the charity have pieces up for auction. Whichever student pieces sell, the money goes into a fund for a scholarship for him or her, and it’s matched by the foundation.”

“Really?” Impressed, I studied the piece with renewed interest before turning to look for others. They were all amazing, but some of them were just staggering. “High school students did these?”

“Yes.” Jal picked up the card and read it. “This was done by a ninth grader. I think I like it. It would look good in my office.”

He looked up then, and that was when I noticed a young woman in a discreet black dress standing behind the sculpture. She smiled at him and held out an iPad. He punched something in, and then gestured at me. “Shall we?”

We made our way through the crowd, and from time to time, we’d stop and study a painting, or some sort of mixed media piece, or another sculpture. We were about halfway through when one caught my attention...and took my breath away. I wanted it so bad, it hurt, but there was no way I could afford anything here. I’d already splurged on the dress – the one I’d never really have a reason to wear again.

It was yet another reminder of the wide gap between people like me and people like Jal. They could buy pretty much whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Denying themselves something they wanted wasn't a notion they understood.

“Allie.”

I turned, automatically smiling.

“This is Benedict Chambers – the brain behind TomorrowU.” Jal indicated the man next to him.

Benedict Chambers was a black man, his age hard to determine, but I guessed he was in his fifties. He was tall and broad, with a face that looked like it had been hit – repeatedly – by a semi-truck. His tux was every bit as sleek as Jal’s and when he spoke, his voice was rich and deep. “Hello…Allie, was it?”

“Yes, pleased to meet you, Mr. Chambers.”

He covered my hand with his. “Jal was telling me that your brother and I have something in common.”

“Oh…?” I shot Jal a quick look, confused.

“I went to the same school he attends.”

“Ah…” I eyed the tux, trying to adjust the idea of a man who wore a tux like that attending a school anywhere that didn't require perfectly pressed blazers.

He chuckled, and I knew he’d followed my train of thought. “Let’s just say I had some luck in life. That’s part of why I started TomorrowU. Life has given me a lot. I believe in giving it back.” He gestured toward a table tucked off toward the side. “Why don’t you two join me for a drink? I must say, it’s been a while since I’ve actually been in school and things have changed…”

* * *

“I think you’ve made a conquest,” Jal murmured in my ear as he took me into his arms on the dance floor. In my sky scraper heels, the top of my head actually came to his shoulders.

I told myself the dance was the sole reason my head was spinning.

Although, it might have something to do with the fact that I’d had some wine in the limo, then a glass of the most amazing champagne, and very little to eat. My nerves had destroyed my appetite most of the day, and now that the alcohol had dealt with the anxiety, I was too giddy to feel hungry.

With Jal's hand on the small of my back and his body warm against mine, I smiled up at him. “Mr. Chambers? Yeah. It’s too bad he’s married. Otherwise I might try to make him mine.” I gave a low laugh. “He’s a sweetheart. He wants to go in and talk to the kids at TJ’s school. I gave him the name of the current principal.”

“On a first name basis with him?” He shot me a teasing grin as he swept me around the dance floor.

His thighs brushed mine, and I shivered a little, wondering what it might be like to feel him moving against me, without clothes...without the complications of a fiancée.

“No. I’m on a first name basis with her,” I corrected him, hoping he assumed the blush in my cheeks was exertion and drink. “We talk often. There are…issues, sometimes with TJ.”

“And you handle them? Not your parents?”

I shied away from explaining what it meant to be a CODA – a child of deaf adults. Jal knew that my mom and step-dad were deaf like my brother, but he didn't understand what that meant. Guys always acted differently once they knew, and even though Jal and I weren’t involved like that, I liked how he treated me right now. I didn’t want that to change.

I didn't want him thinking badly of my parents, so I kept it simple. “Communication with me is just easier.”

“You do a lot for your brother.” His fingers slid across the base of my spine in a caress, and it sent a shiver of awareness through me.

The song came to an end, and I eased away, curling my hands into fists to keep from reaching for him. “No. I’m just being a good sister.”

Looking around, I licked my lips. My mouth was terribly dry, and even though it was stupid, when a passing server paused by us with a tray of champagne, I took a flute, downing half of it in a single swallow. The bubbles tingled my nose, tickled the back of my throat.

“It’s part of being a family.”

He took my arm and started to lead me back to the small table that had been set aside for us. My head went wobbly, and I held up a hand. “Whoa…I think that might have been a bit too much champagne.”

“Maybe we should go.” He stood closer and when I glanced up at him, there was a look in his eyes that made my heart race even harder than it already was.

And that had nothing to do with the champagne.

“Maybe.” I nodded because if I didn’t get out of here soon, I was going to end up doing something stupid.

Like not moving away ten minutes later when we were in the back of the limo, and he leaned toward me.

His mouth grazed mine, the touch almost too light to even be considered a kiss. I sucked in a breath, and all that seemed to do was draw him in closer. He slid his tongue across my lower lip, one hand resting on my knee as my mouth opened. The kiss deepened for several wonderful seconds before he drew back.

“We should stop this,” he said, his voice rough.

“You’re right.” I caught his wrist, telling myself to push him away, telling myself to move away. I breathed in the scent of him.

The hand on my knee tightened, then eased. “Allie…” He kissed the corner of my mouth, an invitation. A warning, maybe.

I was doomed.

“Jal.” I turned my mouth to his, taking that invitation, ignoring the warning.

I was lost, and I knew it.