Third finger on the left hand.

Silver band.

Married.

It might as well have been a brand on his skin. It was screaming at her to walk away.

No. Don’t walk.

Run. Run far away from this.

Bad, bad idea.

She dropped the seductive smile from her face. As soon as the martini was set in front of her, she took the drink and backed away. She wouldn’t do that. Even flirting with him made her skin crawl. She liked bad ideas, but she had lines she wouldn’t cross. Her parents’ marriage had been torn apart by this very thing. Her stepmother, Celia, had destroyed everything sacred, walked across every line, and forced Bryna’s father to leave her mother.

Vows were supposed to mean something, and Celia hadn’t cared about them. Bryna barely saw her father now as he was always out working on-site. Instead of moving out with her mother, she had stayed in his house with that wretched woman because of Harmony. She only had one year left. Leaving now and starting over at some other school would be impossible.

“Are you all right?” he asked, lightly placing his right hand on her slim shoulder.

She recoiled from his touch. How dare he!

“You’re married,” she spat.

“Oh.”

He looked down at his hand, and his face fell. The sadness in his eyes was all-encompassing before he recovered and locked everything away inside of him. She only recognized the reaction because she had been doing it every day for the last year as her whole world had split apart, leaving her in perpetual free fall.

“I’m…we’re separated.” He slid the ring from his finger and held it out in front of him. “Honestly, I forgot I had it on.”

She pursed her lips. She didn’t want him to bullshit her. Who forgets they are wearing a goddamn wedding ring?

“You don’t believe me,” he said, taking in her appearance. He tucked the ring into his pocket, out of sight.

“My tolerance for married men is very low.”

He smirked. “Daddy issues?”

“Like you’d never believe.”

“Let me guess. He left her for a younger woman.”

“Bingo.”

“Well, I’m not in that situation.”

She shook her head. “Nor will I be, which is why I have to say good-bye.”

“Stay.”

Her eyes met his, and he wasn’t exactly pleading with her. It was more of a command, more of a desire to get to know her, to find out what was making her run so easily.

“I won’t be made a fool of,” she told him.

“I know.”

“You’re not with her?”

“No,” he answered immediately.

She narrowed her eyes, and he knowingly met her gaze. No hidden agenda. Just a mirror of the emotions skittering through her.

“Fine.” She snapped her fingers at the bartender. “Tequila shots, please.” She held up two fingers.

The bartender poured the shots for them, and they knocked them back. The liquid burned down her throat, but she ignored the pain as she sucked on the lime. His eyes traveled to her lips. She purposely licked the juice off her finger. Her tongue swirled her thumb, and he watched her with utter fascination and longing.

He possessed none of the idiocy of the guys she had dated before, not even Gates. The person in front of her was a man. And completely delectable. At the youngest, he was in his late twenties. No less than ten years older than her seventeen years.

Even before he ever made the first move, she knew that he knew what he was doing to her with that look.

“SO, WHAT ABOUT YOU?”

“What about me?” Bryna asked.

“Well, you can’t possibly be single.”

She laughed lightly and ducked her chin to her chest. No, of course she wasn’t single. But as far as she knew, Gates didn’t care if she flirted with every guy in Hollywood as long as she was on his arm when he needed her. They had known each other a long time, and he liked that he didn’t have to explain himself to her, let alone have her fawn over him for doing something he had always been naturally good at. She treated him exactly the same way she did everyone else, and their relationship had blossomed naturally out of their mutual understanding.

“You say that with such surety,” she said.

He tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. “You are the most exquisite thing I’ve ever seen. I’m sure you have people knocking your door down.”

“Yet I’m here all alone.”

“Waiting for someone?” he guessed.

She shook her head.

“Anyone going to break down my door when we leave?”

Damn. He was so sure of himself. She liked the self-confidence he wore like a cloak. It was her biggest turn-on.

Gates had it in spades, but it was nothing compared to this guy. And it wasn’t as if Gates would be busting down anyone’s door to get to her. He was on set on the East Coast, filming his new movie, Broken Road. She hadn’t seen him in months, not since she had flown out there this summer.

And she wasn’t even sure Gates would be angry. She could probably tell him tomorrow that she had fucked this guy, and she doubted she would see an ounce of fury. Maybe some wounded pride. Maybe a touch of jealousy over someone touching what belonged to him. But he wouldn’t really be angry.

Their relationship had never been like that. Sometimes, she thought she was just more of a convenience for him.

Her silence spurred the man forward.

“Ah, so there is someone.”

She shrugged and averted her baby-blue eyes.

“An idiot to leave you here all alone,” he continued.

“Why? He’s a very secure man. I doubt he’d think anyone could come in an sweep me off my feet.”

“Then, he truly is an idiot,” he said in a heartbeat.

He stepped toward her, and she had to tilt her head up to look at him.

But she didn’t move away or back down. She could play along. “You don’t know him.”

“Should I?”

She bit her lip. She didn’t want him to know who she was. If she told him she was dating Gates Hartman, well, then that would be the end of their game. And she really liked playing this game.

“No,” she finally said. “I don’t think you should.”

“Good.”

His hand slid around her waist where his long fingers splayed across her lower back. Her heart thrummed to a beat from his touch. She was warm everywhere at once. If he kept this fire simmering in her core, she knew there would be no going back.

She held on to her confidence and met his dark gaze. The gaze of the devil incarnate tempting her to sin, offering her the apple from the Garden of Eden. Perhaps he was a snake. But if sin tasted this good, then she understood why Eve had thirsted for knowledge.

“Dance?” he suggested.

His hand slid into hers and drew her out to the dance floor. They were soon consumed by people and lost in the crowd. He pressed her back into his chest. Their hips swayed to the beat. His fingers dug into the material of her tight dress, and she groaned at the feel of him. He knew exactly what he was doing.

The heat between them escalated. He pulled her hands over her head and around his neck. He pressed his pelvis into her ass as she ground herself against him. His mouth touched the sensitive skin on her neck, and she shivered all over. He traveled up to her ear, and then grasped her chin, forcing her to give him better access. His lips settled along her jaw and then her cheek. Her eyes fluttered closed in the dark room. Her skin vibrated under his touch as she anticipated what was to come. She swallowed, barely breathing, as she felt the gentlest of brushes. A taste. A test.

Then, he was kissing her. The world went dark. The kiss was hot and insistent and as greedy as the music moving through the bodies around them.