Page 95 of Unleashed By Eden

“Thank you,” I tell her.

Zac clears his throat. “I’m standing right here, dickhead.”

I shrug. “Yeah. Standing and smiling. Proves my point.”

Chloe lifts her head to look at him, eyes still sparkling. “You do smile more now,” she admits. “It’s weird. Kind of hot, though.”

He raises a brow. “Careful, Gigi. Flattery might make me soft.”

She leans in, says something low in his ear I don’t quite catch, but the look she gives him would drop a lesser man to his knees.

I scrub the towel over my face and groan. “I’m leaving before you start fucking on a flight case.”

“Too late,” Zac mutters, hand sliding between her legs, fingers pressing through the fabric of her shorts. Chloe gasps softly, eyes fluttering.

“She’s already soaked,” he adds against her jaw, smug as hell.

Chloe bites her lip, trying not to grin.

I throw both hands in the air. “Fine. As long as she’s the one getting naked, go wild. I’ve seen your cock more times than I want to admit.”

“Yeah, well,” he smirks, “some things are hard to forget.”

I flip him off over my shoulder and head toward James and Dameon, who are cutting across the hallway in my direction. I hold my fist out in greeting; they meet me halfway, knuckles knocking, both of them grinning.

“Good to see your ugly faces,” I say, dragging the towel across the back of my neck. It does nothing. The more I wipe, the more sweat beads on my skin.

“Killed it,” Dameon says, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Crowd was feral. You too.”

James nods. “You ready for Como?” he asks.

“More than ready,” I exhale. “Thirteen cities. I need another break before I start climbing the walls.”

James’s mouth quirks. “Same here. It’ll be our last break before Cora delivers. And then I have to fight her off me for six weeks. Pregnancy hormones are a whole other ball game.”

Dameon lifts both hands quickly. “I’ll take your word for it, mate.”

I snort, about to fire something back, when a flicker of black at the edge of my vision hooks me.

Dark hair. Pale skin. A walk I could pick out in a blackout.

My head turns before my brain even issues the order.

Violet slips past us, her camera bumping against her chest, completely in the zone, not even noticing me. Her dress shifts with each step, and the sight of her cuts out everything else. My pulse jumps up a notch, the leftover adrenaline giving me a second wind.

Beside me, Dameon follows my line of sight and whistles low. “Christ. You’re gone.”

I ignore him. No point denying it.

“Wait.” His eyes narrow. “Is that the goddess from Eden?”

“Her name’s Violet,” I say, already stepping back. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

I don’t hear whatever smart-ass comment he throws after me. I’m already shouldering into the moving current of bodies, pushing upstream. Every few steps, someone blocks my path to grab my hand, clap my back, yell in my ear, or wave their phone for a selfie. I give them enough to be polite. A nod here, a half-smile there. My eyes hardly roam their faces. They keep leaping past shoulders, tracking one dark head as it disappears into the VIP room ahead of me. It’s like fighting through a river of noise and bodies, but nothing knocks me off course. I keep moving, step after stubborn step, toward the only person I actually want to see.

I break through the last knot of people and slip into the VIP room.

First thing I see is exactly the kind of bullshit I should have expected the second Xander’s dick started thinking for him.