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The thought of that—of hispeak of her breast—made her moan, and the sound seemed to jolt him back to the present

He ripped his gaze from her chest and his stare scorched briefly over her face, before he stepped back He selfishly took all of that delicious heat with hi ice-cold

The sudden douse of frigid air between them injected a healthy measure of reality back into the situation

“Are you thirsty?” he asked He sounded curt, but there re her he was still shaken by their strange, erotic encounter

“Yes I am,” she said Her parched throat created a crack in her voice that lent credence to her words

“Wait here, I’ll get you some water”

Vicki was about forty seconds into waiting there, when she recognized what she was doing There was absolutely no reason to stand in a corner simply because he had told her to She shook her head, irritated with herself, and stepped into the fray again She was at a party, in her friend’s new ho to enjoy herself

Ty was unsurprised to find—when he returned with the water—that Vicki had not listened to him He wasn’t particularly alarmed by her absence; he had scrutinized the crowd on his way to the tiny kitchen and hadn’t seen anyone particularly threatening or suspicious Also, the flat was small and Vicki, while petite, didn’t exactly blend in with this crowd of conservatively dressed accountants

Nor did it seeel with the woly sophisticated, wine-sipping women who all appeared to have their hair twisted up in various reproductions of the same complicated style Ty knew the type; pseudo-intellectuals with a tendency to look down on those they considered their cerebral inferiors He’d encountered sinments Most of them had treated him like some dolt to be talked down to like a child

And right now, a lot of the Vicki, in her short dress, with her wild curls and contagious laughter, the side eye

Assholes

He shouldered his way to where his charge was holding court with a couple guys in cheap suits One of the e, while the other looked frankly befuddled, but more than a little fascinated

“Your water” Ty said, and rudely placed his aruy

She took the glass of water and graced hi smile “Why thank you, Ty”

Damn it, she was cute as fuck He watched as she redirected all that scrappy charm back to the hapless fuckers in front of her and instantly wished he had that lively, intelligent gaze back on him

No! No! No!

He did not wish that What he wished he could have, was a do-over for tonight No, not just for tonight, but for the entire day Because he wanted to go back to the man he had been yesterday The nized that duty took precedence over any and all physical needs