CHAPTER 27
The party was a spectacle of glittering lights, flowing champagne, and
the hum of conversation blending with soft, luxurious music. A
perfect event, orchestrated with precision to flaunt the who’s who of
New York’s elite. For everyone else, it was the pinnacle of revelry. For
Graham, it was sheer torment.
Standing at the edge of the room, his sharp eyes fixed on one
particular guest, he swirled his whisky in his glass with a deliberate calm that betrayed the storm inside him. Isla. His Isla–except tonight, she didn’t look like his. She looked like a goddess who had
descended into this world to toy with mortal men, her presence
impossible to ignore.
Her dress or lack thereof–mocked him. A slip of white fabric clung to her curves, teasingly short and cut so daringly low that Graham could barely restrain himself from marching across the room to cover her up with his jacket. His jaw clenched at the thought of every man in the room feasting their eyes on her glowing, bare skin. Her shoulders, her back, the endless length of her legs–every inch of her was on display, as though she were a temptation designed to drive
him insane.
1/4
Chapter 238
The neckline of her dress plunged dangerously, skimming along the
edge of indecency, and the hemline left little to the imagination.
Every time she moved, every sway of her hips, Graham’s blood burned
hotter. It wasn’t just the jealousy; it was the audacity. This wasn’t the
Isla he had taken shopping earlier, shy and unsure. No, this was
someone else—a woman who clearly knew the power she wielded.
tonight.
Graham downed his drink in one gulp, the whisky burning its way
down his throat but doing little to cool the fire inside him. So, this is
why I wasn’t allowed a glimpse of the dress earlier, he thought
bitterly. Not a dress. A goddamn scandal is what she picked out.
He set the glass down on a nearby table with a little more force than
necessary, earning a curious glance from a passing waiter. Graham
ignored it. His focus was solely on Isla as she moved through the
room, her laughter tinkling like a bell as she engaged in polite
conversation. Polite? Hardly. Every smile, every flutter of her lashes,
felt like a betrayal. She wasn’t flirting, not overtly, but to Graham, it
didn’t matter. She was drawing attention like a moth to a flame, and
every single pair of male eyes in the room followed her like she was
the only source of light.
His grip tightened around the edge of the table. What the hell was
she thinking? She was his–damn it, his. And yet here she was,
parading herself around like a prize for the taking, oblivious to the
effect she had on every man in the room. Or maybe not so oblivious.
214
Chapter 238
The thought struck him like a dagger. Maybe she wanted this. Maybe
she wanted the attention, the power, the freedom to exist outside of
him for once.
That realization only made his frustration deepen. Graham was not a
man used to feeling out of control, and yet tonight, he felt like a
puppet, yanked around by the strings of her allure. Every rational
thought told him to calm down, to let her enjoy herself, to bask in her
glow as everyone else did. But he wasn’t a rational man tonight. He
was a man on the edge of snapping, and Isla was the match poised to
ignite him.
He took another drink, slower this time, as if the liquid could
somehow douse the fire raging in his chest. It didn’t work. His gaze
never left her, his jaw ticking with every second that passed. He didn’t
want to cause a scene, but God help him, if one more man looked at
her like she was theirs to admire, Graham wasn’t sure he could be
held accountable for his actions.
Finally, as she turned her head, her eyes met his from across the
room. For a brief moment, everything around him faded–the noise,
the crowd, the lights. It was just her. Her smile faltered slightly, and
he saw a flicker of something in her expression–was it defiance?
Guilt? He couldn’t tell. But it was enough to send him over the edge.
3/4
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
