Her voice caressed the title, soft and sultry, like a velvet rope tightening around his control. That strange heat rolled through his chest again, and he had to suppress the urge to reach for her, to pull her against him and feel her say it with her lips against his skin.
Cassandra tilted her head. "I think it's best I follow you to the event," she added. "I don't think hiding in here is going to help me figure things out."
Darius studied her. "Are you sure? You don't have to. It was merely a suggestion."
"I'm sure," she said without a hint of doubt.
There was something in her eyes, a flicker of steel that hadn't been there before. Whatever storm she'd just weathered, she was rising from it, steadier, stronger.
"Very well," he replied, voice returning to its usual smooth, commanding c
