I felt him behind me. His hot breath fanned my bare shoulder, making my breath hitch. A brush of warm fingers glided down my bare back, erupting goosebumps across my skin. My heart pounded as his hand slipped to the curve of my waist, to the front of my stomach, to my bare shoulders.

A slow rumble reverberated through his chest.

Struggling not to feel his touch, I let out a shaky breath.

“W-what are you doing?” I whispered, as big hands fell on my hips. I should’ve asked the question to myself. Why was I not pulling away?

I heard a murmur under his breath. Though I couldn’t pick out most of the words, I caught something like driving him crazy.

When I was on the verge of leaning into him, the woman strolled in, making me jump away from his heat.

Her eyes widened, flickering back and forth to me and Ace. “Uh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean any interruption.”

My cheeks turned crimson, when all he looked was extremely disturbed. The woman turned pale under his hard glare. What’s wrong with him?

“I-I’ll be back in a minute—”

“No! It’s all right. You didn’t interrupt us at all. We were just about to call you anyway,” I cut her off.

When he didn’t speak and kept scaring that poor woman, I gave him a look.

He gave a curt nod, still glaring. “Yeah, we’re done here. Pack that pink dress, and…” Turning to me, he raked his eyes on me one more time. I shivered. “This one as well.”

He’d give it to Tess?

Again, the same nagging feeling rose in my chest. Though I knew it was ridiculous. She was getting married to his cousin. But still…

Once I was back in my comfortable jeans and his T-shirt, I padded out and waited for the woman to hand us the bags. My gaze fell on the dummy where the red gown was on. It was now gone. No one was there in the shop, so who took it?

When he told me to wait for him in the car while he did the payments, I didn’t wait a second longer. I was dying to get some fresh air. His consistent presence around me was overwhelming me. I needed some space to keep myself in check.

Once he was back, we got in the car and drove away. The sun was down on the horizon by then, coloring the sky with its crimson glow. But when he didn’t turn to the road that would lead us to the office, my brows creased in confusion.

“Where are we going? We were supposed to turn right.”

“We’re on the right path. Don’t worry,” he replied, staring at the road.

Can he ever give a straight answer?

“We’re supposed to go to the office. No, home, because it’s evening.”