Page 124 of By His Vow

She keeps her eyes locked on my chest, refusing to connect with me.

Reaching out, I tuck two fingers under her chin and give her little choice but to look up at me.

My breath catches at the emotion glistening in her eyes.

“Tatum?” I whisper, hating the sight of tears barely holding onto her lashes. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

She shakes her head, biting down on her bottom lip in an attempt to stop it from trembling.

“I need to leave,” she finally says.

“Okay,” I agree, trying to force a smile onto my lips. “All you had to do was say so.”

She stares up at me, her eyes saying all the things she’s refusing to do with words.

She wanted to leave without me.

Yeah, not happening.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

“I can take the?—”

“Absolutely not,” I growl as I entwine our fingers to stop her from escaping again.

Pulling some notes from my pocket, I push them through the window at the waiting driver before apologizing and taking off toward the valet.

I pull a ticket from my pocket and pass it over, much to Tatum’s confusion.

“I had Lewis bring my car.”

“Why?”

Turning her into my body, I press my hand to her lower back and pin our hips together.

Desire races to my dick, making it swell against her.

“I thought we could do our own thing tonight.”

She nods once before leaning forward and resting her head against my shoulder and wrapping her arms around me.

My heart thumps against my chest as I think about how intimate we look right now.

But instead of checking to see if anyone is taking a photograph, I lower my head and press my lips to her hair.

She shivers against me, goosebumps rising on her skin. Wrapping my arms around her, I attempt to keep her warm while we wait.

It shouldn’t be long.

Silent seconds pass as we stand there waiting.

There are so many things going unsaid between us, but I can’t find the energy to say any of them because I don’t want to ruin this. Whatever this is.

Eventually, a familiar rumble hits my ears and when I look up, I see my Aston Martin moving closer.

“Time to go, baby,” I say, reluctantly peeling her from my body and leading her toward the car.

She barely glances at my car, which is a damn shame because she’s beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the woman who’s about to get into the passenger seat.