Chapter 14 · Blood-Stained Waltz

"You're breathing too fast. Smile."

Kael's hand clamped around my waist and yanked me flush against him before I could even step onto the marble.

"I'm smiling," I hissed through my teeth. "This is my in-love smile. Want me to bite you with it?"

"Try it and I drop you," he murmured, lips barely moving. His smile for the cameras was perfect. Cold, perfect, lethal. "You trip on that dress, you blow the job, and Selina puts a collar on you for real. So breathe. Slow."

The dress was the problem. Red, slit up to my thigh, back open enough that I could feel every draft and every eye in the room. Not armor. Not my usual leather. A costume. His hand was hot through the thin fabric. Too hot. Too tight.

"You said plain sight," I said. "You didn't say I'd be bait in heels."

"You are not bait," he said. "You're my date. Act like you like me."

"Oh, I love you so much," I said, sweet as poison. "Should I swoon now or after you get us killed?"

He laughed. Actually laughed, low and quiet, and his fingers dug in just a little harder. "There she is."