Catch My Breath

He handed me the drink, my fingers brushing his when I clasped the glass. Against my better judgment I fell captive to his stare once more. Luckily, I remembered my manners and thanked him.

“My pleasure. Have you been enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah. Well, aside from making an ass of myself just now.”

A flash of white appeared revealing a dazzling smile. It was extremely sexy and charming. And dangerous. I felt myself falling deeper and deeper under his spell.

“Trust me, stumbling on a carpet is not the worst thing I’ve seen at these events.”

“No?”

“Stick around long enough and you just might see some of these well-dressed ladies toss off their shoes and throw some shapes when the band starts playing.” He grinned.

“Throw some what?”

“Dance.” His eyes flared with humor.

“You Brits and your crazy sayings,” I laughed.

“We like to keep you Americans on your toes.”

I took a long sip of my cocktail to prevent a stupid grin from spreading across my face.

“Don’t have too many of those. They’re rather potent.”

“But they’re so good. Don’t piss on my fireworks.” I smiled broadly.

A deep, throaty laugh filled the space between us.

“’Throwing shapes’ baffled you, but you know ‘piss on my fireworks?’”

“My sister only taught me the fun slang,” I laughed.

“Does she live here?”

“Not in Glasgow, no. She lives in London.”

“Well then, you’ll have to thank her for me,” he said, smoothing down his tie.

“Thank her for what?”

“Pretty Americans who know British slang are rare in these parts.”

“Interesting.” I looked up at him through my lashes.

“What?”

“Someone just warned me that you guys have a thing for American girls.”

His eyebrows arched. “And what did they say?”

“It has something to do with our accents.”

“You have an accent?” He angled toward me. “I hadn’t noticed.”

The way that he was looking at me caused me to completely forget my exhaustion. His dark eyes and sexy grin woke me up in more ways than one, pushing several of my hot buttons.

“Be careful,” he said, clasping the glass in my hand. “You don’t want to spill it all over your dress.”

Way to go. “You must think I’m a hot mess. First I take a nose-dive into your suit and now I’m dropping drinks.”

“Like I said, I’ve seen worse.”

The longer I held his gaze, the faster my heart raced. There was something…forbidden in the way he looked at me.

“I should probably get back to my friends.”

“Do you have to?”

A suffocating aura of want enveloped me. He was closer, dominating the space between us. Our quick, breezy exchange was light years away from the hazy, thick fog of desire that hung in the air. Get it together, Lia. Walk away.

“You’re rather deep in thought.”

I blinked. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I thought maybe I was boring you.”

A shrill ring sounded from his pocket. He fished out a cell phone, frowning at the screen.

“I have to take this.”

And just like that, I was pulled out of his engaging aura and plopped back into reality.

I plastered on a polite smile. “It’s okay. Thanks again for the drink.”

He nodded at me and answered the call before slipping off to a quiet corner. My head was so cloudy from the jet lag, the drinks and now that guy. I turned on my heel and trotted off to find Darren and Stephanie.

“There you are.” Stephanie stood up as I approached the table. “We were about to send out a search party.”

“Sorry. I got a little sidetracked.”

“You okay?”

“Yep. Why?”

“You have that deer-in-headlights look.” She stared at me intently. “You’re shaking. I thought we agreed there was to be no worrying about that loser while we’re on vacation?”

I attempted to steady my hands as I smoothed down the fitted silk bodice of my dress. “It’s not that, Steph. I’m just tired.”