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The tension in the car kicked up another degree,the humming growing louder. “That’s my problem,” he said, his voice dropping to a scrape. He’d always acted like it was a virtue before. “One you don’t share. You’re warm. Bright. Where did it go?”

Hidden. “Adrian, need I remind you that this is an arrangement?” I needed to remind myself.

“No.” The word was barely audible.

“Great,” I said, bringing my smile back. I leaned over, resting my hand on his hard thigh. “Hope you’re prepared to act like a loving boyfriend. People will be watching. My family included.”

Adrian’s hand wrapped around my wrist in a hot brand. His thumb made a pass over my inner wrist, pulling a small sound of protest from my throat before I could catch it.

I could have sworn I heard glass shatter, but it was cut off by the rapid halting of the car. Titus’s voice barreled through one of the speakers. “Sorry. We’re here.”

The electricity fled the car immediately, leashed back in. But Adrian didn’t remove his hand from my wrist. Nor did I move my hand from his thigh. We stayed locked in what could only be described as a rather childish staring contest, seeing who would break first, until we heard the click of the door.

I tried to pull back, to show some fucking decorum, but Adrian kept me pinned to him. Titus opened the door with a wince, clearly scared of the state he’d find us in. His tension ebbed when he saw the scowl on my face.

But he wisely stepped aside and didn’t press it as he opened the door for us. I got flashes of cameras and the onslaught of chatter the second he did, reminding us that we were in public. Ahighlypublic event.

Adrian got out of the car, buttoning his suit seamlessly. I didn’t have to look at him to know that he was flashing the crowd a confident, easy smile. A very attractive smile.

Even in my fight to stay unaffected, I couldn’t help but hope that smile wasn’t directed at anyone. He turned, leaning into the car and giving me the last licks of that smile before it dropped into a serious line. He rested his hand on the top of the car, moving his face so close to mine I thought he was going to kiss me, then redirecting at the last moment to run his nose over the shell of my ear.

Testing me.

A test that I failed, when a violent shiver racked my body.

I felt his smile against my ear. “This isn’t over. Now play the perfectgirlfrienduntil we get inside or I’m telling a reporter we eloped.”

With him this close, my own mouth was aligned to his ear. Before I knew what I was doing, I leaned forward and nipped at his earlobe, fighting back for what his command did to me.

Ireallyshould not have done it, because Adrian took that as permission to lick up the side of my neck quickly, finishing it with a hot kiss on my cheek.

When he pulled back, he got the last moments of my shock before I slammed back down an unaffected mask and grabbed his open hand. The second our fingers were intertwined, I started squeezing the shit out of his hand, digging my nails into his skin until he released a low sound of warning.

He pulled me roughly to stand, hiding the force with which he did it by moving our intertwined handsbehind my back and pulling us flush together. We were still smiling at each other. Camera-ready, blinding smiles that would look adoring from the side but still hid the fact that it didn’t meet our eyes.

That we were staring each other down, seeing who would break first.

This had snowballed way,wayout of my control.

“Someone needs to sedate you two, fucking hell,” Titus cursed, reminding me that there were actually people around to see us try to out do each other.

“No need,” I said to Titus over Adrian’s shoulder. “You only sedate people who are outwardly emotional. None of that over here.”

The jab struck true because Adrian’s hold on me tightened. “That’s it.” He looked over his shoulder, searching the crowd. His eyes landed on a journalist Iknewdedicated her time to reporting idle gossip.

“Fine!” I said, stopping Adrian in his tracks. I lowered my voice just for us. “No one is eloping.”

“Today, that is,” Adrian shot back. “Now come on.”

Adrian brought our hands back between us, again the picture of composure. I matched him, even looking up at him with doting eyes to hammer the nail in.

We made it up the stairs and into the gala honoring my family in a record twenty minutes.

But that twenty minutes felt like a sprint, competing against one another in this warped, insane contest we’d entered to distract.

We stopped to talk to three different reporters, only one of which attempted to hide her unabashed interest in our relationship.

For once, I actually wanted them to be invasive. Because Adrian and I were currently fighting to see whocould paint the other as more lovesick.