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Instantly, it loosened but he didn’t break his stride to answer their questions this time

Cliowith herself intact Of course, she had to remind herselfon was an act

Because it was intoxicating to be in the company of a man who didn’t belittle anyone to prove his oorth, a e the value of a competitor, a man whose confidence and self-belief was so bone deep that it was enthralling to watch for someone like her who had lost all sense of herself

And because of their genuinely shared history, it was doubly easy to slip into the role of a loving fiancée, to finish each other’s sentences, to laugh at a shared joke without having to communicate

They fit together too well, as he had noted More than one conservative businessman, some Stefan clairatulate and backslap him

To tell him in obvious ter up his playboy ways and turning into a family man

His brows rose, he laughed as his cell phone continued to chilobe

The worst part of the evening was standing by hih her when he casually touched her every other minute

A hand on her waist, a kiss on her cheek, the intimate way he pushed a strand of hair that had slipped froered over her nape, so into the very spot on her shoulders where she was getting stiff

The cherow exponentially even under the most innocent of touches

It thrilled her and scared her equally

Excusing herself, she made her way to the buffet table Deter, which was the nicest way to put his high-handed arranging of her day, Clio had spentin the ultraluxurious spa at the Chatsfield, nibbling cucu supersuave in her designer dress—again arranged for her by her arrogant “fiancé”—but that had also left her on edge with hunger

A , she was sure, and she wanted to stop it before it got worse

She was about to grab a plate when her nape prickled, and a fa into the most painful knot She cast a look around and realized Jackson had her cornered

“I didn’t think you had it in you to lure someone of Bianco’s stature Fool me, huh, Clio?”