Page 9 of Surrender Your Heart (Surrender #2)

I was not okay, although I tried to be.

I sat there in that elegant chair, surrounded by billion-dollar voices, sipping wine like I wasn’t still dripping down the inside of my thighs from the man seated next to me.

But my body was betraying me. My legs were numb. My heart was racing. My mind? Scattered like tips at a strip club. And Legend was so goddamn cool, calm, and collected.

He carried on at dinner like he hadn’t just wrecked me with two fingers and a smirk, speaking softly to the man across the table about international expansion plans and private equity flips like my pussy wasn’t still pulsing in aftershock.

And I hated how much I loved it.

“,”

one of the women at the table—Yolanda, I think her name was—tilted her head at me.

“You okay, love? You look… flushed.”

Legend didn’t even flinch.

I smiled, tucking my hair behind my ear like my body wasn’t still humming from the high he’d dragged me through in silence.

“I’m great,”

I said, and took a sip of my wine.

“Just soaking it all in.”

Legend hummed beside me.

A low rumble that meant he was pleased.

Of course, he was. This was power. And he was seated at the head of it. I caught the subtle glances from other men. That low, lingering curiosity. Like I was new and rare. They didn’t know me, and that was the intrigue. I kept my eyes on my phone most of the time. Not to be shy. Just to stay sane. Because I could feel Devyn’s eyes cutting into my profile like a blade.

The chef brought out the first course—a buttery crab cake over some risotto I couldn’t focus on—and as the servers moved around us, I felt Legend’s hand slide down to my thigh again..

He didn’t move higher, though.

He just rested there. A quiet weight. A reminder.

I couldn’t help but turn my head slightly and whisper, “You’re doing too much.”

“You love it,”

he murmured, voice so low only I could hear it.

Out of nowhere, Devyn blurted out, “Well, , I can see why you’re here.

Legend always did love… ambition.”

“Mmm,”

I nodded, tilting my head slightly to the side.

“Ambition’s nice.

So is discipline.

That’s how I flipped my first storefront into a goldmine.”

I saw it in her eyes.

That flinch.

That tiny pinch of envy when she realized I wasn’t just pussy on a platter. I was profitable. Powerful. Put-together.

“So, ,”

Ronin, one of Legend’s business partners, started to say, “what exactly is it you do?”

I sipped my wine, then set it down with precision.

“I’m the founder and CEO of a luxury beauty and skincare company.

Luxe Beauty.

We just celebrated our first year in business not too long ago.”

Trez whispered.

“Damn.

She’s really not just a pretty face.”

“I’ve got a few layers,”

I said, lifting a brow.

“Pretty’s just the packaging.”

That earned a few chuckles.

Even Legend’s shoulder twitched like he was holding back a grin.

But Devyn? She stood stiff, like every word out of my mouth stabbed her somewhere deep and cold.

When dinner was completed and everyone else was making plans to hit the nightclub, Legend stood, smoothing his palm over my lower back.

“Y’all enjoy the rest of dinner,”

he said, nodding to the table.

“We’ve got some catching up to do.”

He dapped up the men and said something slick about the mixer on the yacht tomorrow.

Then he turned to me and whispered in my ear, low enough to raise every hair on my neck.

“I’m ready for dessert.”