Bittersweet Memories (Off-Limits)

“Alanna?” Silas holds up a dress bag and grins at me. I didn’t even notice him leaning against the wall next to my bedroom door — I’ve been too busy berating myself for my irrational behavior. I acted like a crazy jealous girlfriend when I stormed into his office today, and I expected him to be annoyed with me, but instead he’s waiting for me with a smile on his face.

“Change into this. Can you be ready in thirty minutes?”

I nod and take the bag from him with shaking hands. Thirty minutes is plenty of time to turn my daytime makeup into a nighttime look. By the time I walk out of my bedroom wearing the stunning red dress Silas gave me, he’s already waiting by my door, a black tux making him look irresistible.

“I wish I could just keep you home,” he whispers. “No one should be seeing you in that dress but me.”

My eyes widen at his comment and heat rushes to my cheeks. Sometimes he just says the sweetest things, and he does it with such a deadpan expression. Silas offers me his arm, and I take it nervously.

“Mr. Tharza is an oil giant, and I know he’s been looking for a new firm to handle the encryption of his transactions. That’s something we can do.”

I nod and read through the documentation Silas compiled as we drive to the venue. Knowing that we’ll be working makes me feel far less guilty about the way I’m crashing this event.

“Ready?”

I nod, and Silas steps out of the car. Cameras flash, and I gasp in surprise, freezing for a moment when Silas opens the door and offers me his hand. “Smile,” he tells me. “Or the headlines will all be accusations of me mistreating my girlfriend.”

He wraps his arm around me as I smile up at him. “What headlines? What girlfriend?”

Silas chuckles as he leads me into the hotel the fashion show’s afterparty is being held at. “The ones about you and me. You’re the first woman I’ve publicly been seen with in a while, so we’ll end up all over the tabloids.”

“Why do you seem so pleased with that?”

He looks at me, his gaze making my heart skip a beat. “There’s nothing I like more than seeing your name next to mine.” He pauses and shakes his head. “Wait, that’s not quite true. What I’d like even better is your first name paired with my last. Alanna Sinclair. Sounds quite good, doesn’t it?”

“You’re crazy.”

He shrugs. “Maybe, but you love it.”

“Is that what you tell yourself?”

“You’re not denying it.”

I try to resist smiling but can’t, and Silas chuckles as he hands me a glass of champagne. “I love being around you,” he whispers, his voice so soft I nearly missed it.

His gaze turns intimate, and I’m instantly reminded of the way he kissed me last night. I was out the door before he was this morning and managed to avoid him for most of the day, so we haven’t spoken about it at all, but the sexual tension between us is inescapable.

His eyes drop to my lips, and I inhale sharply. “Excuse me for a moment,” I murmur, pressing my glass against his chest. He takes it from me, and I rush off to the bathroom, needing a breather.

There are cameras everywhere, and Silas is right. There’ll no doubt be photos of us circulating tomorrow morning. Sinclair Security will have them removed before the day is over, but they’ll never be gone completely.

I close the lid and sit down on top of the toilet, needing a moment to myself. Silas Sinclair is rapidly becoming my weakness. He’s the one man I can’t have, yet I can’t resist him. I know I’ll be judged harshly if I were to date him, yet I still want to. I’d have to endure rumors and suspicions of nepotism at work, and I’d be judged harshly for my previous relationship with Ryan… but I’m starting to wonder if being with Silas would be worth the stigma.

“Did you see?” I hear a woman say. “Silas showed up with another woman. If he isn’t here with Raven, that means he’s single again. He’s only ever off-limits when he’s with Raven. He doesn’t date anyone else exclusively. I’m going to make a move.”

I hear another woman huff. “Good luck,” she says. “You know it’s only a matter of time before he’s back with Raven. He always goes back to her.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy him in the meantime.”

I grit my teeth and push the bathroom stall open, a sugary sweet smile on my face as I walk toward the sink to wash my hands. Their eyes widen when they see me, no doubt recognizing me as Silas’s date. “I just heard you talking about Silas,” I murmur. “You should probably know that he told me he’s got crabs. It’s such a shame, but that’s too vicious of an STD for me to overlook.”

Both women gasp, and I smile sadly as I dry my hands and walk away, my fake smile turning into a real one as I walk back into the ballroom. That should keep them away from him for at least a little while, if not forever.

Silas is shaking Mr. Tharza’s hand as I approach them, Raven by his side. I hate how good they look together, and for a moment I wonder if I should just stay away, but then Silas’s eyes find mine from across the room. I walk toward him, and he pulls me against him the moment I’m within reach, his hand wrapping around my waist. “This is my date,” he says. “Alanna, meet Mr. Tharza.”

He looks at us and grins as he shakes my hand. “I had my reservations about you, Mr. Sinclair, but I feel much better now. You look at her the way I look at my wife. A man who knows the value of things beyond money is a man I can work with. I’ll give you a call.”

He walks away, and I gasp as I turn toward Silas. “Oh my gosh! You did it!”

He grins and wraps his arms around me, holding me in his embrace. “That went better than expected.” He looks back at Raven, who’s staring at us with a sweet smile. I expected to see jealousy in her eyes, but there is none. “I’ll have to thank you properly, Raven.”

She nods politely, her attention stolen away by a woman who approached her. I feel her glancing at us every few seconds, but Silas doesn’t seem to care. Instead, he pulls me onto the dance floor.

“Aren’t you worried about upsetting her?” I ask, unable to hide the anguish I feel. “I hear she’s the woman you always go back to, the only one you ever date exclusively.”

“You’re jealous.”

“You’re evading my question.”

Silas chuckles and pulls me flush against him, the two of us swaying to a slow romantic song. “No, Alanna,” he answers. “I’m not worried about upsetting her. You’re all I can see tonight, and every night to come.”

The tension in my shoulders fades away, and I smile up at him. Even if this is all a lie, and he’s leading me on the way Ryan did, I don’t think I’ll ever regret this. Being in his arms, having him look at me the way he does… I want this, even if it isn’t real, even if it’s only temporarily.

“Now that we’ve accomplished what we came here to do, we might as well enjoy our night. I heard the food is pretty good,” he says. “I was told that the crab cakes are nice.”

I cough, my eyes widening as nerves run down my spine, straightening my back. Oh shit.

“They’ve got crab legs too, though that sounds a bit messy. Lots of crabs tonight, huh?”

“I… um,” I stammer.

Silas chuckles and moves one of his hands to my hair, his fingers threading through my long hair until he’s cupping the back of my head, his touch possessive. “You call me crazy, but it looks like I’ve met my match.”

“I… I can explain.”

“You don’t need to,” he murmurs, leaning in. His lips brush over my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “I love your crazy side, baby. Spread all the rumors you want, because there’s only one woman present tonight that I’ll ever be interested in. Only you, Alanna. Always you.”

He kisses my neck, and a soft moan escapes my lips. “Silas,” I whisper. “Remember where we are.”

He pulls back and grins at me. “You staked your claim, baby… now you’d better take responsibility.”

He leans in again, his lips brushing over mine once, twice, before he gives in and kisses me in the middle of the dance floor, everything fading away until he’s all I can focus on.

I can’t resist him. Even if I could, I no longer want to. I want everything he’s making me feel. Every warped emotion, every bit of heartbreak that I know will come from this. We’re a disaster in the making, but what a beautiful sight it’ll be.