Description

The gala was a glittering trap. Crystal chandeliers glowed overhead, champagne flutes clinked, velvet gowns swept the marble floor. Everywhere, eyes wandered, gossip whispered, secrets slipped in the dark between violins.

Elena, twenty-eight, had dressed to command attention: a midnight-blue dress with a neckline so deep it cut close to scandal. She'd meant to keep it daring yet formal. But hours under the hot ballroom lights, with champagne bubbling through her bloodstream, her body betrayed her.

Her nipples hardened visibly under the silk, sharp points pressing through the thin fabric. Each time she laughed, each time she reached for a glass, they shifted beneath the dress — stiff, needy, impossible to ignore.

Across the ballroom, Marcus, thirty-five, leaned against a marble column, his tux loosened, bowtie undone, eyes locked on her chest. He didn't bother hiding his stare. He didn't need to.

Elena noticed. She should have looked away, should have smoothed her dress, pretended modesty. But instead she raised her glass, let her lips curl in a dangerous smile, and turned just enough that the silk stretched tighter, making the peaks sharper.

Her nipples answered before her voice did.

And Marcus was already crossing the floor.