Not my anything pt 3

CC and Bart were trading outright glares now. It seemed she didn’t appreciate his dancing with another woman either. Bart didn’t like how CC was looking at him. Or did he? Maybe he liked it a lot. He wasn’t sure. She was getting into his head and he was having trouble focusing on the woman in his arms.

Aria Maine had been slighted once too many times tonight. It was one thing for The Casanova of Casanova to ditch her for her cousin on the dance floor. Being danced with by a man who was gawking at another woman was something else altogether. She was a damn knock out and she bloody well knew it. Feeling somehow like she knew this man, what with Ethan talking about him nonstop, she felt she could do it. So she did. She pulled Bart’s distracted head down to her and kissed his cheek.

Even Bartholomew couldn’t not look. Her amber eyes demanded attention as he towered over her. When next he laid eyes on CC, he had to do a double take, they both did.

“Wow, you guys are liberal about what happens at these things huh? And here I was thinking my little peck on the cheek would shock you,” Aria said. She looked up at Bart’s face as she grabbed a glass of champagne from a server passing by. She halted the server, downed the glass in one go and set it back down on the tray.

CC’s partner had his hand on her head, his lips pressed against hers. Bart spun back around, his gaze laced with anger and hurt. Aria's hand appeared in front of Bart. He looked down at her. It was her turn to give him a pitiful look. He couldn’t move, couldn’t process what he had seen. Was it supposed to hurt so much? CC wasn’t his girlfriend. She wasn’t his anything, as he had said earlier. And she never could be. Not with their fathers constantly at each other’s throats.

“Who is this guy anyway?” Bart hissed, more to himself than anything. “I don’t remember him being on my list of invited guests.”

“He’s the second prince of Warlanda, the infamous war makers. Things have been pretty peaceful there lately though. We’re even in talks about an alliance with them. That’s probably why he’s here now. Word is he’s looking for a—"

Aria had been prattling on, wanting to show off that she was knowledgeable. Bart had her wanting to make a good impression. Only right before she finished did she think that it might not be her place to tell him.

Bart grabbed her hand, spinning her out into the crowd, away from CC, away from being able to see. He heard the crowd ooh and aah, but he didn't turn back.

"Looking for a what, Ria?"

Bart's voice was calm and controlled, but his eyes betrayed him. She'd already come this far. He wasn't going to just let it be.

"A wife," Aria conceded.

Bart blinked with a tired sigh.

When next his eyes opened, the hurt was gone. Like Aria had just been with another man. She smiled, enjoying this similarity between them. It was like a secret, one more to add to the one they already shared. Aria liked her men strong and capable. Quick on their feet. Like Ethan. Like Bart. It was just like her to fall in love with the way a man was in love with someone else. She chastised herself for liking him, despite what was happening with him and this other woman. Whatever had been happening for quite some time from the looks of it.

Not one to stop midway through a dance as was it dishonorable, Bart apologized and resumed. She didn’t know if the smiles he offered her as he twirled her across the dance floor were real or not. Just then it didn’t much matter, because hers were. They were very real.