Page 57 of Discretion

Icouldn’t fucking take it anymore.

All evening, I’d had to watch Halle smile and flirt with other men, and I was at my limit. I wasn’t thinking rationally. I was only thinking of getting to her.

My smile was tight as I crossed the room, my fists clenched. I tried to bypass the crowd, annoyed every time someone stopped me to wish me congratulations. I wasn’t sure what they were congratulating me on—becoming CEO or the fact that I’d stood up onstage like a piece of meat and someone had purchased an evening with me.

I just needed to…

Someone blocked my path, and I was two seconds away from losing my shit. The auction was taking an intermission, and if Wyatt Anderson didn’t get his hands off Halle, I was going to explode.

I didn’t care that he was the owner of the Hollywood Hawks, LA’s NHL team. Nor did I care that the Huxley Grand was the official hotel for the team. I saw red, and the word “mine” went screaming through my head.

Finally, I made it over to her, barely acknowledging Wyatt before saying, “Excuse us. Urgent matter.”

I hooked my arm through Halle’s, ushering her through the crowd. There were people everywhere. On the balcony. In the hallway.Fuck!

“Jasper,” Halle hissed. “What on?—”

I searched for an escape.There.Down the hall was a stairwell. I pushed open the door, the music and laughter echoing into the concrete chamber. I gestured for Halle to go ahead, the door shutting behind us.

“What is going on?” Halle asked as soon as we were alone. “What’s wrong?”

“I—” Oh shit. I really hadn’t thought this through. I started pacing. All I’d wanted was to get Halle away from Wyatt Anderson and every other man in the room who’d dared to lay eyes on her tonight. I should’ve been more prepared. I should’ve?—

“Jasper?” She gripped my arm to pause my movements. “Is it Sloan? The baby? Is everything okay?”

Now I really felt awful. I hadn’t meant to worry Halle. I just… I shook my head, my thoughts a jumbled mess.

“You lost,” I blurted the first thing that came to mind. “You weren’t supposed to lose.”

Her lips were in a flat line. She was unamused, and now that I realized just how close we were, her perfume was fucking distracting. Part of it was the fact that she smelled delicious. The other part was my aggravation that I still couldn’t put my finger on the scent profile.

Roses. Vetivier? Or maybe ylang-ylang. And something else.

I couldn’t focus. This was a problem.

Whatever her scent was, it was intoxicating. I wanted to kiss that spot behind her ear where the scent was strongest. Iwanted to draw it in deep and hold it in my lungs to sustain me.

No.No. I smoothed a hand down my shirt, trying to get my head on straight.

I was focused on my goals. I was focused on…Fuck me, she was gorgeous. Like a movie siren from the golden age of Hollywood. Her hair. Her gown. It was maddening.

But even more than all that, it was the way she carried herself. She was a fucking queen, and everyone had been captivated by her tonight. All the while, I’d had to stand across the room and pretend to give a fuck about anything as I watched other men hit on her.

“You dragged me in here, interrupting my conversation—so you could berate me for losing?” She scoffed.

Well, when she put it that way, it did sound pretty ridiculous. But apparently, she wasn’t done.

She planted her hands on her hips. “You asked me to find a way to bid on you. You never said you wanted me to win.”

I groaned, dragging a hand down my face. “Of course I wanted you to win.” Even if she’d been using someone else as her proxy.

Halle crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall. “Then you should’ve said so.”

The music thumped through the door, only slightly muted by the thick concrete walls of the stairwell. I’d avoided her for weeks, but I was at my breaking point. And tonight had finally pushed me over the edge.

I threw my hands in the air. “Why else would I have asked you to bid on me?”

“I don’t know. I figured you wanted to make things interesting and start a bidding war. It’d be good for the charity and your vanity, right?”