A week later, the memory of that stare was still branded onto the back of Alexa's eyelids.
Jeri's eighteenth birthday party was a different beast from the poolside barbecue. The lights inside the Holmes mansion were dimmed to a moody glow, and the bass from the music vibrated through the polished floorboards.
Alexa spent the first hour helping Jeri, handing out drinks and smiling until her cheeks ached, but her nerves were stretched taut. Her eyes scanned every room, every cluster of people, searching for him. A part of her prayed he wasn't here, while another, more terrified part, knew he was.
She learned more about him in snippets of conversation she overheard. Armando Holmes. A legend on Wall Street before he was thirty. A name spoken with a mixture of reverence and fear. What she had already sensed was confirmed: he was dangerous. The kind of dangerous that didn't announce itself with loud threats but with quiet, absolute certainty. Every hushed mention of his name—his business deals, his reputation, the way even powerful men deferred to him—added another layer of dread to the image already burned into her mind from the poolside encounter. She had seen the cold authority in his eyes up close. Now she understood its full weight.
"Come on, dance with me!" Jeri, already flushed from champagne, grabbed Alexa's hand and dragged her into the writhing mass of people in the great room.
Alexa moved awkwardly, her body stiff with anxiety. The colored lights strobed across the room, making it hard to focus. But then she felt it. A prickling sensation on the back of her neck.
She looked up.
There he was. Standing on the second-floor balcony that overlooked the room, leaning against the ornate railing. A glass of amber liquid—whiskey, probably—was in his hand. He wasn't watching the party. He was watching her.
His gaze was patient, possessive. Like he had all the time in the world.
Her heart leaped into her throat. She stumbled, pulling away from Jeri. "I... I need to use the restroom."
She fled the dance floor, pushing through the crowd, her only thought to get away from that look. She didn't go to the main powder room, which had a line. Instead, she moved down a quieter hallway, looking for an escape.
The corridor grew darker and narrower, the music fading behind her. At the very end, near a door she assumed led to a study, was a small, shadowed alcove. It was deserted. Perfect.
She leaned against the cool wall, closing her eyes, trying to get her breathing under control.
An arm shot out of the darkness.
It wrapped around her waist with shocking strength, yanking her off her feet and deeper into the alcove, into the almost total blackness.
A scream died in her throat as a large, warm hand clamped over her mouth.
The scent hit her first—expensive whiskey and the faint, lingering ghost of cigar smoke. It was him.
Armando.
He pressed her back against the wall, his body a hard, immovable cage. His height, his sheer presence, consumed the small space, suffocating her. He was everywhere.
She trembled violently, a trapped animal. Hot tears of terror filled her eyes.
His voice was a low rumble, right beside her ear. "Hiding from me?"
His breath was warm against her skin, sending a shiver of pure fear down her spine.
She shook her head frantically, a pathetic, muffled sob caught in her chest.
A low chuckle vibrated through him, and she felt it against her back. He slowly removed his hand from her mouth, but only to slide it down and cup her jaw, his fingers firm, tilting her head up to face him in the gloom.
"Your name is Alexa, isn't it?" It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact.
She managed a tearful nod, too terrified to speak.
"You have a lot of nerve," he murmured, his thumb stroking the soft skin beneath her chin. "Walking up to me like that at the pool. I like a girl with nerve."
His words were meant to be a compliment, she vaguely understood, but they sounded like a threat. A predator admiring its prey's spirit before the kill. She thought he was going to punish her, to humiliate her for her audacity.
The tears she'd been holding back finally spilled over, tracing silent, hot paths down her cheeks.
One landed on his thumb.
He went still. The stroking stopped. He hadn't expected this. He had expected fear, maybe even a flash of defiance. Not this silent, broken weeping. A flicker of frustration crossed his mind—not at her, but at himself for misjudging the pressure. He wanted her fire, not her tears.
If anything, her vulnerability only sharpened his interest.
"Alexa! Where are you?" Jeri's voice, faint but clear, drifted down the hallway.
The sound broke the spell.
Armando released her chin and took a step back, melting into the shadows as quickly as he had appeared.
"After the party," he said, his voice once again a cool, calm command. "I'm taking you home."
He was gone before she could even process the words.
Alexa slid down the wall, her legs giving out from under her. She wrapped her arms around her knees, her heart feeling like it was trying to beat its way out of her chest. It wasn't a request. It was a verdict.
