I arch a brow, defiant. He smiles, slow and languid and knowing, and goddamn it all, I am helpless against the pull to watch what the smile does to his lower lip. The world tips slightly.

And then he’s out the door.

I rub my temples. He shouldn’t get to look like that and be a condescending poo.

And he certainly shouldn’t be asking me the kind of questions I should be asking myself.

Ming studies me, clearly amused.

I drop my hands. “What?”

“Nothing,” she says. “It’s so cute to see you all hot and bothered.”

“I’m not—”

She waves off my protest. “It’s just lust. Now come on, let’s socialize.” She arches a brow. “Unless you’re gonna trail the guy and ravage him in an alley.”

I decide to ignore the sudden spike in my pulse. “Ming, please. I’m a lady.”

CHAPTER

10

Toby shakes his head. “Liz, you have outdone yourself.”

I grin, even though he isn’t watching me. Twenty feet above us, Ginn and Tonic are radiant in all-white ensembles, contrasting brilliantly with the red silks dangling from Pemberley’s ceiling. The costumes are more conservative than what they wear at the club, for obvious reasons, and while they won’t be taking anything off tonight, performing a peel is hardly the most impressive feat in their collective wheelhouse.

“So . . .” Toby’s head drops to the side as he follows a sudden movement from Ginn. “Where’s this show you work weekends?”

I hold back a laugh at the idea of Toby at the club. His heart would stop. “Tribeca.”

“Interesting,” he says, voice distant.

I join him in appreciating the Twins’ skills, their choreography all the more enchanting in the larger space. At Meryton, they are the clear focal point; there’s nowhere else to look. But in a room easily five times the size, the fact that they have more than two hundred people admiring them from all corners of the space highlights just how arresting they can be.

Tonic begins a wrap maneuver I recognize, moving more slowly than she’s done the times Jane and I have watched her and Ginn at their practice space. When she spots me, she freezes.

I sigh, then hold up my index finger and mouth, “One time.”

She beams and continues her ascent, twining the silk around her body more quickly.

I nudge Toby. “Brace yourself.”

Tonic reaches the peak of her climb and leans back, holding the silk with one hand and arcing her other arm up and over her supine form. After a moment in the pose, she releases her grip, unraveling from the fabric with dizzying speed.

Toby lurches forward as if to catch her from his place twenty paces across the room, but I grab his elbow. “Easy.”