I thought Knight’s fingers dug deeper into the fabric of my dress. I tried to pay attention to his father and not to him, but he was distracting. As distracting as any man I’d met had ever been. He’d walked into the pool house as if he lived there. As if everything around him was his to be used or enjoyed. The pieces were only coming together now. His father was Raphael Corban, the king of New Orleans. That meant Knight was the city’s prince.
“To our beautiful Seraphina. Princess, you have made us so proud.” I spotted Seraphina across the room from us on the other side of the stage. The awkward man next to her was Brandon. “Your mother and I are looking forward to your wedding day as anxiously as we waited for you to be born into this family. May you bless us with many grandchildren.” Raphael grinned at his daughter. “And to Brandon, my soon-to-be son-in-law…”
The room echoed with jabs and jeers. I had to keep my smile in place. I hated this sexist bullshit. It happened at every engagement party. At every wedding reception.
He eyed the man. “You have been given a precious gift, my Seraphina. Be the man she deserves, and you will have a happy life together. You know how the saying goes. Happy wife. Happy life. Cheers.” It was short. Sweet. A masked warning—don’t fuck over my daughter.
“Cheers!” the crowd erupted, and the band started another song when Raphael tapped the band leader on the shoulder. A horn belted out the beginning of a slow jazz number.
Knight’s hand flatted at my waist and drew me onto the dancefloor.
“We’re dancing?” I gasped.
He smiled wickedly. “Looks like it.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Didn’t think I had to.” He winked.
He spun me until I was dizzy and then suddenly my body was pressed to his and I felt the burn of his palm against the small of my back. I was afraid to look in his eyes. Afraid that he might see how breathless I was after dancing for only two minutes.
Guys were always hotter in tuxes. That was just a fact. But when Knight first barged into the pool house, I would have thought he was equally as sexy if he had been dressed as the gardener. The lines of his jaw were sharp and definite. He seemed formidable. Self-assured. He had gorgeous eyes. I didn’t think I could swoon over a stranger, but Knight Corban was a sexy specimen of beautiful masculinity.
His lips lowered to my ear. The blood rushed to my cheeks. My pulse raced.
“Think we could ditch Kimble?” he asked.
“Don’t you need to stay a little longer?” I searched his eyes. Damn. Why were they so dark and deep? “Your mother seemed serious about the family obligations.”
“She’s serious about everything,” he answered. Felicia Corban already scared the shit out of me.
“I don’t want to cause any problems. Really.” It was the first time I was allowed out since the pool table incident. It could be my last for a while if I screwed this up.
“I checked all the boxes tonight. I’m done with appearances.”
I nodded. “If you’re sure.”
“Positive.”
“Okay.”
His eyes lingered on my lips before tilting my chin upward. I held my breath. “You are exactly what I was looking for tonight, Kennedy.”
I smiled. “And what was that?”
“A way out.”
I didn’t think it was possible to shake Kimble. Over the past two weeks I’d tried. I’d climbed out my bedroom window as if I was still a teenager. I found Joseph already waiting for me in the garden. I’d tried to blend in with a crowd of women in the ladies’ room in a shopping boutique, but after thirty minutes Kimble barged in and cleared everyone out.
I didn’t fully believe it until I was sitting next to Knight in the front seat of his sports car and there were no headlights in the rearview mirror. I continued to look behind us.
I exhaled.
“Better?” he asked.
I nodded. “You have no idea.”
“I think I probably do.”
“Oh, right. Must be hard being the royal family of New Orleans.” Did he sense my playful sarcasm? I was terrible at hiding it.
“Are you mocking me?” I saw the sexy smirk on his face.
“Absolutely not,” I giggled.
“Parker and I have ditched bodyguards since we were kids. It takes skill and practice.”
“You say that as if I should be better at it.” He didn’t know how hard it was when there were no distractions. Kimble had laser focus on only one target—me.
He shrugged. “You’re free. That’s what matters.”
I settled into the seat. “Free.” I glanced at him. “Who is Parker?”
“An old friend. Shit. I didn’t tell him I was leaving the party.”
I smiled, satisfied I had identified the friend was a guy. “Should we call him?” I suggested.
“Hell no. He’ll understand. We ran for a reason, and I know exactly where we can go to celebrate.”
“Tell me there’s lots of champagne and I don’t care.”
He laughed. It was a rich beautiful laugh. It made my core quiver and my breasts tingle. Just who was this man?
“Are you even old enough to drink?”
“I’m twenty-one.” My brow furrowed.
He nodded. “Barely old enough to do much.”
I eyed him across the gear shift. “Is there going to be champagne or not?”
We stopped at a red light and I felt the heat of his stare burning my cheeks. “I will make sure there is the most expensive decadent champagne you have ever tasted, Kennedy.” His grin was as sinful as it was inebriating.
I tugged on the hem of my dress. It seemed to creep up inches every time the car turned on a new street.
“Good. It’s the one thing I like about New Orleans.”
I thought I saw a look of shock on Knight’s face. “One thing? You only like one thing? It looks like I have my work cut out for me tonight.”
“I guess you do.”
“I didn’t know dive bars carried expensive champagne,” I teased
