Chapter 15

**G R A C E**

As he walks me back to the party, heading to the dining tables, I have a sudden realisation–I have no appetite whatsoever. And that after I haven’t had anything all day says something.
It says something is wrong with me.
Alex Morreti is what’s wrong with me.
His dark gaze that seems to see way more that I am willing to show.
His cologne on my skin, determined to override my senses with thoughts of caution and warning.
His voice, so low yet so deep and piercing, forcing me to latch onto every word that leaves his mouth,
And his arm around my waist, completely surrounding me yet never so much as touching an atom of my skin, keeping me on the edge like I am a helium balloon, and he has me by the neck but only by a sharp pinch of his thumb and forefinger. If he lets go I’ll be long gone, but if he clenches any harder, I’ll burst.

He d walking up to a table with ten chairs. Eight of those are occupied, leaving only two, one on either side of Sophia’s. The moment we leave the open sky behind and walk into the roofed dining space, I am overtook by a sudden urge to stop and leave. The space probably has a hundred such tables and the moment he opens the door into the space, every eye in the room turns to fall on him, me. Us. And even though we walk close enoug for me to feel the heat of his body emanating into mine, the distance between us is very clear in the difference between the gaze they spare me and him.

They respect him, they are repulsed by the thought of me.

The thought seems to freeze the circulation in my legs and my steps falter. I would’ve stopped but his fingers that never got closer than a centimeter to me, suddenly graze the fabric of my dress on the low of my back. Air is sucked out of my lungs with nothing out the alarm of it all. He doesn’t move his finger, instead he tugs on the fabric at edge of the neckline that falls deep to the very edge of the hooks of my bra, barely covering them. His gesture meaning one thing; keep moving.

And I do. Until we reach the table and he leads me to the chair between Sophia and another young lady. She looks older than me, probably as old as Alex. She doesn’t spare me a glance but leaves me feeling watched.
My eyes jump from her to Alex when he pulls the chair out for me, my brows crumple up, the cringe is too strong to hide this time. I look at him with questions loud in my eyes, this time though, he doesn’t even smirk. His face stays so straight I almost wonder if I imagined that back at the mansion. His eyes on the other hand narrow at me and speak loud and clear; sit. I hate when I do that, read his unspoken commands. When I sit in the chair, his arm leaves my back. The chair’s back is low enough to make me feel a cold loss of his warmth.

I roll my shoulder blades to warm them up until I feel a weight rest on my shoulders and immediately freeze–his blazzer. I turn sharply when I feel his fingers on my shoulders adjusting the collar to make it sit right, even though only for a quarter of a second, only to find him bent forward, his face a little too close to mine causing me to pause my breathing.
“My message said ‘casual’.” He whispers only for my ears, sounding weirdly unapproving.

He is gone faster than I blink, his warmth on my bare back and the ghost of his touch on my shoulder although, stays. He sits in his seat, the one between Sophia and, oh, Carl, didn’t see him there. I return his smile when I catch his eye, but then Alex catches my smile, immediately killing it on sight. His scowl is not one to go unnoticed and it tells me he disapproves of my friendship with Carl. I make a mental note of adding that to my unwritten list of other things he disapproves–my dress and my friendship with Sophia.

And I make a mental note of making sure I give him a lot more of it all.

By the time the deserts are served I know all the attendees of our table. The woman wearing the deep red lipstick next to me is Lizzy–Elizabeth for me, she made sure to let me know–Alex’s assistant. The lady next to her with the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen is Katerina, Sophia’s step mother. The blonde middle aged man with a goatee is her uncle Antonio, he has been taking care of their business after their dad. And the woman with a diamond brooch on her velvet scarf, Nadia, sitting with her equally pale and beautiful parents on either sides, is the heir of a russian pharmacy giant. Also, she might have the hots for Alex by the way she kept asking him to try everything that’s on the table–even though he seemed the least interested in the cuisine–and wouldn’t stop glaring at the spot where Alex’s jacket touched my skin, as if she glared hard enough, she burn the cloth of my skin.

But apart from her glares and Alex’s scowls, the dinner goes well. Carl, despite of having Alex and Sophia between us, finds way to make a ton of conversation. Turns out he wasn’t a perv or a creep, just a sweetheart who likes to makes sure everyone is having a good time. I might be making my first friend apart from Sophia, maybe more? The idea excites me till I catch Alex’s eyes from two tables away where he is meeting some important guests from the Gulf or something. I’m beginning to think if he really is being an ass to me or he just has a really annoying resting face.

When it’s time to leave, I hook my arm into Sophia’s before she can help herself with another glass of whatever it is that Carl offered me but I refused to Sophia volunteered to chug and is now beginning to sing Taylor Swift in jazz. Without thinking, my eyes run the room to spot Alex. He’s with Lizzy now, they look like the most powerful pair in the room as she whispers things in his ears without having to tip toe at all. I’m not surprised to find him already looking at me, in fact I’m glad. I smile at him as I pull Sophie closer and start heading for the beach. I half expect him to stop me and redo his entire, stay away from my sister drama, but unfortunately, whatever Lizzy is telling him is more important than saving his sister from me. I’m a little disappointed to be honest.

The cool breeze hits me cold in the face as we get closer to the beach houses, I’m glad to have dressed warm–wait. Shit. His coat.

I turn my head back as if I could run back and give i back to him, but with a half asleep Sophia hanging off my shoulder and the houses so close after such a long and tiring walk, I'm compelled to carry his feeling with me for a little more. I can return it tomorrow. Or burn it down, who cares.

The mental imagery of a beach bonfire made out of Alex’s clothes is warming thought and I almost giggle when my phone buzzes in my hand, pulling me out of my idiocy,

I look at the unfamiliar screen, the wallpaper is an outersoace image of earth and apart from the time saying 11:47 p.m. there is only one more notable thing on the screen. A text from an unknown number. I open it with a tap.

My coat wasn’t for you to keep, have it safe and ready in the morning at sunrise.

Skip the swimming, we have a yacht to catch.

What the fuck.