Chapter 47

Emmeline swallowed hard. “My life is so empty...” She took a deep, steadying breath.

Lifting her cocktail glass to her lips, she took a fortifying sip before continuing in a carefully measured tone. “I was a happy teenager, but the reasons for my happiness just...decreased little by little over the years until it became completely non-existent. Some things that used to bring me joy are no longer fulfilling. Is it just because I’m getting older?”

All the while, Zavian didn’t stop the torturously slow caress of his fingers along her inner thigh.

Had it not been for the low thrum of jazz music filling the smoky bar, she was certain he would have heard the desperate, ragged pants of her quickening breaths, silently begging him to touch her aching core.

“There must be something blocking the flow of happiness in your life,” he murmured.

Emmeline felt her face flush hotly at his words and the utterly incongruous combination of his philosophical tone plus the m