Parr wasn’t sure how long they stood there hidden in the shadows. No one saw the big, dark man with a small, golden woman in his arms. Soon enough, he realized that they couldn’t stay out there forever. The nearness of her was driving him crazy. He didn’t even know her name, but he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything in his entire thirty-two years.

“Hey.” His lips brushed her forehead. “You okay?”

She didn’t answer. Her green, catlike gaze raised to meet his, then moved downward to his slightly open mouth. Then up again. The eye contact was as hot as a kiss. Maybe hotter.

Parr guessed that she was feeling exactly what he was. That she wanted him desperately, his lips on hers, his body on hers, his . . .

Oh God, he thought. We’ve got to get out of here.

“Come on,” he said, putting one hand at her waist to lead her across the patio. “Let’s go to the lounge and get something to drink.”

She hesitated momentarily before accepting his proposal and moving into step beside him. “I don’t usually drink.”

He wondered if he’d heard her right. She’d sounded so prim and proper, it almost made him want to laugh. Was she kidding?

No. One look at that beautifully sweet face told him that she was sincere. “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t fool around,” he mumbled under his breath.

“What?” She stopped still, her body suddenly tight as a coiled spring.

“Nothing. Just thinking out loud. I’ll get you a Coke or coffee. Okay?”

She smiled with relief. “Yes. A Coke would be great. Thanks.”

The entrance to the lounge wasn’t far from the double doors. Parr guided her toward it, shouldering through the crush of guests as she followed until they reached the lounge, which was large, overheated, and even more crowded than the ballroom. The music was loud, the atmosphere stimulating.

Couples filled every corner, their eyes, their hands, their bodies speaking a language of sensuous longing and human loneliness. Some—too many, in Parr’s opinion—were staring into smartphones, the tiny, glowing blue screens doubled and redoubled in the mirrored walls of the lounge as the phones’ owners ignored the real people all around them. Parr didn’t get it.

Parr kept her close, easing her through the throng until he found a table for two. He slipped her smoothly onto a chair, guarding her with his big arm as he pulled up a seat for himself.

Then he signaled a waiter, not ordering anything for himself. Parr let her finish one Coke and ordered her another before he felt she had calmed down enough to talk. The entire time they’d sat there together, she’d remained silent, occasionally glancing his way with a strangely puzzled look in those big, feline eyes, once or twice offering a thanks-for-being-here smile.