It takes courage to enjoy it.

Larkin clasped his hands together in front of him and watched as Stelon approached him. His grin fell into a charming smile as she drew close, his eyes shamelessly sweeping up and down her form. She was a very attractive woman, and he wondered whom she came to the party with. He glanced up to see if there were any particular people he didn’t want to be making jealous, but he saw none and looked back at her as she stood before him. She seemed a little more nervous than would a normal woman of this party, and remained at a reasonable distance, perhaps a little less eager to be near him.

So it was he that bridged the gap in between them, stepping closer and unclasping his hands. He leaned slightly forward over her, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear and making it obvious that he was admiring her dress.

“That’s a very lovely dress,” he said softly, looking back up to her face and seeing the relentless blush on her cheeks. His orange eyes were bright, and he couldn’t help his grin as she bit her lip and looked down at the floor, one foot sliding back behind the other as if she didn’t like how close Larkin was to her.

“Thank you,” she replied, glancing up at him.

She was different kind of nervous, Larkin thought, not just the nervous of a girl in the presence of handsome man. Nervous in the way that maybe someone was watching her, that maybe she wasn’t exactly suppose to have come close to him. But what else would she have done? You just didn’t run from Larkin the Shrike.

“The color goes well with your dark hair,” was his next compliment. Then his face took on a serious expression as the music died and came back as a slow, romantic sound. For a moment he looked concerned at this, but once his eyes lowered and met again with Stelon’s beautiful blue orbs, he was smiling, “Would you like to dance?”

He watched her look away from him, and out in the crowds, searching for someone he didn’t know. He looked as well, trying to catch the stares of someone she knew. Still, he saw no one, and apparently she didn’t either. This time he was looking into a stormy gray color, not the robin’s egg blue they had been before. Larkin barely noticed, the drink could do things like that to you.

He reached out for her, and her reaction caused flames in his eyes. She’d stepped back away from his hands, her eyes widening and again looking out across the crowd. Desperately now, searching out some disapproval of her being with the Shrike.

But Larkin wasn’t going to have that. He stepped after her, placing his hand on her waist and pulling her close. His other hand found hers and gripped it tightly. The smile on his face changed, but didn’t leave, “Is there someone out there I should be aware of?”