Page 8 of Stolen Temptation (Irish Kings #3)

Rory

The VIP section is exactly what I expected.

Lush red carpets, low couches, high-top tables, half-naked waitresses wearing low-cut black halter tops and matching miniskirts.

The kind of lounge Leonardo De Luca would frequent is what he’s recreated here.

I managed to talk my way past the velvet rope easily enough, but that’s all I’ve succeeded in doing.

Darren helped me make my move once Leo left the area. There’s no reason to believe he’d recognize me as a King on sight, but just in case, I couldn’t risk drawing attention to myself.

Leo De Luca is many things, including highly suspicious. From my research, he strikes me as the kind of man who memorizes every person on his guest list by name and face.

Nearby, a cluster of VIP patrons chat. So far, my eavesdropping and subtle questioning hasn’t gained me any helpful intel, but maybe this time I’ll hit a home run.

“Are you bidding on Libertas?” a woman in a long black evening gown purrs into the ear of the man beside her.

Her classy attire marks her as a wife—or possibly a sister—of a mafioso rather than a booty call. I notice that she’s still dressed in black like the other women, though, bringing my mind back to the woman in red.

“It’s futile, I’ve told you.” Her companion offers a suggestive smile. “I heard that the artist has already been sold to the Petrov bratva.”

The woman huffs. “That can’t be true. Why have an auction if the headlining item is already off the table?”

The man kisses her cheek. “Formality is fashionable.”

“Not all gossip is true,” the irked woman claims.

I admit, I’m a little confused.

I assumed Leo was selling the identity of the famous and mysterious artist, but with the way these people are talking, it sounds like Leo’s selling the actual painter…which can’t be right.

I step back into the hall to process the revelations and continue my investigation. I don’t get far before a body crashes into my back.

Stumbling forward, I barely resist the urge to whip around and snatch the person by the throat. My nerves stretch tight as I spin to face off with the culprit.

Shock squeezes my ribs.

Deep brown eyes with tiny glimmers of green, rounded with fear. A little Grecian nose. Full lips and tendrils of dark hair framing a soft, breathtaking face.

“You.” The word escapes my mouth as soon as I recognize the woman who stole my breath earlier.

Only now she’s no longer wearing the risqué red dress. Instead, she’s clad like a stagehand in a pair of formfitting black pants and a button-down. The more casual attire does nothing to detract from her beauty.

“I-I’m in trouble. Please help me.” Her voice barely tops a whisper. “If Leo finds me?—”

Her eyes widen, and she claps a hand over her mouth, as if she just revealed a huge secret. She trains her gaze on me, the desperation in them as vivid as the color flushing her cheeks.

A beat passes while I just stand and drink her in.

Up close and without her heels, she’s even tinier.

She’s more beautiful, too, and her musky-sweet fragrance floods my senses, giving me an instant semi.

To keep my raging lust under control, I’m forced to breathe through my mouth, and even that doesn’t fix the issue completely.

My brain ticks into hyperdrive as an idea forms in my mind.

I don’t think she intended to name Leo, but I’m glad she did. If she fears Leonardo De Luca enough to ask a total stranger for assistance, she also might be afraid enough to talk .

To give us information on Leo that will ensure his demise and her safety.

This woman might be the most valuable thing in this entire place, and she’s literally fallen into my lap. The serendipity hits me so hard, I smile.

“Sounds like you need a place to hide.” I observe her in greater detail, estimating that she can’t be more than twenty-five.

“Please. He’s coming.” She’s trembling, her pretty face pinched in terror.

Out of nowhere, a dark and protective instinct sweeps over me, propelling me into an impulsive decision.

I take her quaking hands in mine and lift them to my face. Her eyes follow until she’s focused only on me and not the slimy bastard stalking down the hallway.

“Do you trust me?” I murmur in the dark, dropping my hands from hers and letting them fall to her waist. She blinks those big, beautiful brown eyes at me. Her expression blanks for a moment, and then she gives me a hesitant nod.

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing or why I’m doing it, but her small vote of confidence swells in my chest like an ocean wave.

My grip on her waist tightens, causing her to jump a little, which is just fine because I mold my mouth to hers in that same moment.

Her breathy, startled gasp feathers my lips. The sound shoots straight to my dick. I walk her backward, deeper into the alcove beside the walkway, lifting one hand from her waist to brace on the wall before I pin her to it.

She startles again, and I take advantage of her parted lips to thrust my tongue between them. She tastes delicious, like chocolate-covered strawberries paired with Champagne, and I want to lap her up until she’s a breathless mess.

At the first stroke of my tongue against hers, she freezes, and her fingers dig into my shoulders. Then she melts against me as her tongue shyly returns the favor.

Electricity zaps me from top to bottom, sizzling in my chest like the inside of a thundercloud.

She locks her arms around my neck, stirring something deep within me I thought was long dead. On instinct, I yank her tighter to me, turning our heads to hide her profile from anyone who might be searching.

Behind me, Leonardo De Luca passes by, his voice steady and unaffected as he speaks to whoever’s with him, but I barely notice.

Because something’s happening inside me right now.

Something completely unexpected.

Fuck. I demolish her lips with mine, feasting on her mouth. The delicious sensation shoots straight to my groin and causes my heart to perform a series of little hops.

Her soft exhalations feather my skin. A growl rumbles up my throat as one of my hands cradles her cheek before tunneling into her soft hair. With my other hand, I grab the back of her neck, effectively holding her face to mine as we taste each other.

We both know Leo’s gone, but I don’t release her, and her folded arms around my neck don’t loosen even a little.

One of my hands slides to the small of her back. It drifts lower, my fingers curving around her ass cheek and squeezing.

Her wide eyes stare up at me like she thinks I might devour her where she stands.

She could be right. I’m this close to slipping my hand between her legs.

Someone coughs, and self-consciousness frays the edges of the pleasure inebriating me.

This is insane.

I’m behaving like some kind of animal with no control over its wild impulses.

Disappointment rains through me when I return to Earth and remind myself of our circumstances. Me crossing enemy lines. Her trying to escape. Both of us inches from being discovered by Leo or his cronies.

But the way her body’s slung around mine, the warmth of it creeping into me…

“Um…” She stammers, blinking rapidly while easing her grip. That only prompts me to hold her tighter. I’m not ready to let this moment go yet.

I meld my lips to hers once more, chucking caution out the window.

It feels good when our tongues tangle together in this hot, wet dance.

I’m in the middle of a mission, tucked away with a stranger in a dark corner, my dick as hard as steel. This is more like something Cian would do in his pre-Harper days.

The woman clings to me like her life depends on it, her fingers knotting in my hair.

My cock is all in at the moment, which is terrible news.

I need to end this runaway make-out session before we crash and burn. Instead, I continue to hold her tight enough to collapse a lung. With the tide of our lips rushing together, I let myself give in to the rush.

Until Darren hisses in my earpiece for a status update.

Shit. When I pull back, we gape at each other, open-mouthed and panting.

Questions circle back and forth between us like sharks.

What the fuck was that? And what do we do now?