“I missed you,” I admitted, reaching up to link our fingers around his grip on my neck.
It was only then that I realized the entire restaurant was silent, only the faint din from the kitchen peppering the dense quiet.
I blinked to clear my vision of Adam and felt a blush rush like a bush fire across my skin.
“Well,” Sebastian drawled, his accent thick as cool molasses poured from the tin. “That was quite the greeting. I don’t suppose you intend to meet the rest of my family with a similar response, Adam?”
Across the table, Giselle tried unsuccessfully to swallow her giggle.
“I hadn’t thought to, no,” Adam said easily, straightening so that he stood pressed against my side, his hand still curled into mine around my neck. “Though, not because there is a lack of beauty at this table.”
Giselle laughed fully this time, a bell-like chime that made me smile too.
“You are dangerous,” Caprice said, pointing at Adam the way a parishioner might point accusatorily at a sinner.
Adam let a slow, sinful smile spread across his full mouth. “I have been accused of much worse things.”
“I’m sure,” Giselle murmured, her expression absolutely delighted.
She laughed when she caught my look, which must have been a mix of shock and wariness. Her hand lifted from beneath the table to showcase how it was linked with her husband’s.
“I caught a charmer myself, Linnea, so I have a special appreciation for how wicked they can be.”
Beside her, Daniel Sinclair’s expression turned arrogantly lazy.
It was wildly attractive.
Adam seemed to notice because his hand squeezed my neck.
“I hope you’ll excuse the interruption, but Linnea and I have plans to celebrate her last night of work here,” he explained politely, but I could feel the tension in him vibrating at my back.
He wanted to get out from under the Lombardi spotlight. I could admit to feeling the same way. They were keen-eyed predators who saw more, I thought, than they should.
“You should both stay.”
My head snapped to look at Sebastian, who was affecting such a pose of faux casualness that I almost bought it. Only the tightening of the skin beside his eyes spoke of the gauntlet he’d thrown at Adam’s feet.
It was a dare.
Don’t run, it said. Be a man, take a seat, and play me for the ultimate prize.
Only, I wasn’t sure if Adam was the prize or myself, or perhaps—my heart kicked like a horse at my ribcage—both of us together.
Seb was looking at me, his eyes glittering in the low yellow light spilling through the romantic restaurant, but I knew it wasAdam he spoke to. I could have gotten involved, but I figured this was between them.
Adam needed to be goaded more anyway.
After a tense moment, Adam spoke, and I could tell it was through a clenched jaw. “I intended to take Linnea dancing.”
I perked up at the thought and the surprise of it.
Adam did not seem like the type to take a girl dancing. He was so proper and suave that the image of him cutting loose on the dance floor was faintly humorous.
Sebastian was surprised too, if his raised brows were any indication. “Dancing?”
I tipped my head to watch Adam frown, haughty as ever. “I was forced into many dance lessons as a boy. I can assure you, I’m quite adequate on the dance floor. Regardless, Linnea’s friend, Rozhin, told me that she loves to dance.”
“You spoke to Ro?” I asked on a breath, tipping my head back even more so it rested against his hard belly.
