She showed me over to the full-length mirror. The heels really did incredible things to me: my legs looked endless and the dress’s straight neckline made even my small boobs look good. “Thank you,” I told her seriously.

She rested a hand between my shoulder blades and said nothing for a moment. Then, “Be good to him.” And she marched out of the room before I could see her face.

* * *

I was still practicing walking in heels when there was a soft knock at the door. I looked up just as Danny pushed it open.

My heart forgot how to beat.

Danny always looked good in a suit: the smooth fabric next to that rough, working-class charm, the stylishness perfectly complimenting his cockiness. But Danny in a tuxedo? That was something else.

Katharina really had known his measurements because the dress shirt hugged the broad curves of his pecs perfectly, turning them into smooth, snow-covered ski slopes I wanted to slalom my hands down. The pants and jacket were so deeply, richly black, they looked as if they’d been cut from pure night. The jacket emphasized the width of his shoulders and strong back and how his upper body tapered down to that tight, powerful core. The pants skimmed his quads and thighs just right, hinting at the brute power of him, and smoothly caressed the hard cheeks of his ass. With his black hair soft and just a little tousled and those deep green eyes glittering and molten….

He looked rakish, like he’d lean over the baccarat table and offer a bet for someone’s wife. He looked like a rough James Bond. He looked amazing.

“Wow,” I breathed.

He said nothing and I realized that while I’d been looking at him, he’d been looking at me.

He took a step towards me, then another. On the third step, I realized he wasn’t going to stop. I instinctively backed up. By now, he was close enough that I had to look up to look into his eyes and when I did…it felt like I was looking over the rim of a volcano, my whole body bathed in a heat that was primitive and raw. I felt myself respond, the heat soaking through me and waking me, bringing every millimeter of me to trembling awareness. I backed up another step and my calves touched the bed. And then he was touching me, his jacket flaring out to surround me like a cape, his pecs like warm rock against my breasts.

He stared down into my eyes from inches away. I could feel him wrestling for control, his whole body straining under the tuxedo. I stared back, my brain frantically trying to catch up. This was me, doing this to him?!