Page 264 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

And until she could figure out Charles Moreau’s intentions, wanting a meeting was as far as he would get. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

‘That’s all I can ask,’ he said, swaying with her. ‘You know, you are a beautiful woman, Ms Park.’

‘Thank you, Mr Moreau, but that’s not why you’re dancing with me. You’re just trying to get an in with Enzo.’

‘Why can’t it be both?’ He gave her a flirtatious smile which she returned, trying not to roll her eyes. She couldn’t let her attitude show. Charles Moreau could forget dancing with someone’s PA at yet another event on his calendar, but he might remember the woman that challenged him. Sass wasn’t her friend. Especially when Moreau already made her anxious.

Suddenly she wanted to get away. They had been dancing too long. The song was nearly over. Perhaps she had pushed her luck far enough. She’d already broken several of her rules because Enzo had promised to take care of her and she had trusted him, but now her anxieties were quickly working their way back, the sheer number of people around making her want to escape.

‘You seem uncomfortable,’ Charles observed.

‘What makes you say that?’

He leaned down, lips brushing her ear. ‘I have pretty good eyesight. And I can feel it in your body.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she apologised, forcing a smile to return to her features. ‘It’s a lot more people than I’m used to.’ She hated having to lie. Hated to have to use Celeste as a barrier. Hated having to dull herself to feel safe. Before she could say more, she heard someone clearing their throat beside her.

‘Mind if I cut in?’ Enzo wasn’t giving Charles much of a choice as he smoothly took her palm in his and placed his hand on her waist, slipping her out of Charles’s arms and into his embrace.

The moment they touched, Charlotte felt a zap, as if they were lightning itself. She felt herself take a breath, as though she had been holding it the whole time she was with Charles. Tension finally melted away from her shoulders. If she’d felt uncomfortable with Charles, it was the opposite with Enzo. Like puzzle pieces effortlessly falling into place.

Enzo hadn’t even fully waited for Charles’s response before they were spinning away from the man into a quieter corner. The look he gave Charlotte made warmth spread through her core. The longer they danced, the easier it was to forget her worries of just a moment before, until she was so swept up in Enzo that she stopped hearing the music altogether and the din of voices faded away.

‘So here is what I propose...’ Enzo said.

‘I’m listening.’

‘We take the night off. No business. I’m not your boss. We simply enjoy the evening.’

‘I think I could find that acceptable.’ Especially when his hand was on the small of her back and dragging upwards, allowing his thumb to caress her bare skin. When his gaze was intense and his attention so focussed on her.

‘Have I mentioned how beautiful you look tonight?’

‘Nowhere near enough times,’ she joked. It was so easy to talk to Enzo. Banter with him. Be herself. Could they have always had this if she had been braver before?

‘A crime.’

Her breath grew shorter. ‘I believe some punishment should be in order.’ The words slipped from her lips, surprising her and making a smile curve Enzo’s full lips. That was almost unacceptably bold, something the old Charlotte would have said, but Enzo destroyed her filter, allowing the real her to flow out, washing away Celeste—the barrier that just moments ago Charlotte had drawn on to distance herself from Charles.

‘Believe me, I’m being punished enough right now.’

She felt it in the way his fingertips pressed into her back. In the tension in his shoulders. Saw it in the flame in his eyes. She couldn’t believe she had once thought of his eyes as cold. They were anything but. Enzo’s eyes were a green flame, like burning copper. Scorching.

He was restraining himself, but only just, and that knowledge made the air thick, hard to breathe. And yet all she wanted then was to pull him closer and breathe him in.

‘Come with me,cara.’

Enzo led her through the throng of people, and Charlotte plucked two golden drinks off a passing waiter’s tray, handing one to Enzo as they moved towards a Juliet balcony. The air was less stifling here, but no less thick when Enzo was so close.

‘Salute,’she said, clinking her glass against his, and she could tell that—just as she was—he was thinking about their last toast.

Charlotte took a sip of the Franciacorta. It should have been delicious, but with Enzo’s eyes dipping to her lips and back again, she could taste nothing. Her being was consumed by him. By his presence.

‘Like it?’

‘I can’t taste it,’ she replied breathlessly.

‘Why?’ He was moving closer to her now, crowding her.