“Can I buy you a drink?” A voice asked over my shoulder.
I held up my full drink, and ignored him.
The guy took a seat beside me anyway. He leaned in to ask me something else, and I snapped, “I’m not interested!”
Then a familiar voice answered. “I’m glad to hear that.”
I nearly fell off my stool when I picked up the accent.
“Garrick!”
Garrick was the guy sitting next to me, a cap pulled down low over his eyes, covering his gorgeous blond hair.
He hadn’t sounded like Garrick when he’d first spoken. “You sounded—“
When he answered this time his accent was gone, and he sounded American. No particular dialect, just… normal. “I am an actor, Bliss. I know how to cover my accent.”
Still in shock, I asked, “What are you doing here? What if someone sees you?”
“I’m incognito, sort of. And if anyone does, I’ll just say we ran into each other by chance. I’m a professor. I didn’t take a vow to have zero social life.”
“But why?”
“Because I couldn’t stomach the thought of you dancing with anyone else in that skirt.” His hand grazed my thigh, and all the heat from earlier came rushing back.
“Garrick, stop! Someone is going to see! What if Kelsey comes back?”
“Based on the show you guys put on earlier, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”
I cringed. Maybe I had been a little bitchy.
“Come on.” He stood up, and offered me a hand. I looked around, scared to take it. It was so dark. If there was someone here we knew, we would have no way of knowing unless we came face to face. This was too big of a chance.
“Stop thinking so much,” he told me and wrapped an arm around my waist sliding me off the seat. The bare skin of my thighs squeaked embarrassingly against the seat, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. He threaded our fingers together and pulled me into the crowd.
I kept my head down, concentrating on putting my feet where his had just been. He led me down a few steps onto a lower level, where it was somehow even darker, and the bodies were pressed tighter together. I couldn’t see anyone but the people right next to me. He weaved and pulled until we were in the furthest corner, then pulled me between him and the wall. His back was to the rest of the room, and his tall form covered me completely.
His breath tickled against my ear as he whispered, “Better?”
I nodded. It was better. I mean, we were still in a club and I would rather have been at home alone, but already this was the best club experience I’d ever had.
Even knowing how he felt about me, I was too nervous to dance with him face to face. So I turned until my back was pressed against his front. His hands went immediately to my hips, pulling me against him. The sensation chased all the air out of my lungs.
I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to stare at the wall and I tried to let the music swoop through me. Slowly, his hips tilted forward, and I followed, pushing back against him. He exhaled against my ear, and it sent shivers down my spine. He slid a hand from my hip to my stomach. With his fingers splayed, his thumb rested about an inch below my bra and his pinky trailed the waistband of my skirt. He used that hand to pull me into him at the same time that he rolled his hips.
Stars danced behind my closed eyes and my heartbeat matched the steady thrum of the music. His body against mine seemed to magnify the already heated room, and I felt sweat begin to dampen my neck. His hips kept rolling to the music, slowly and sensually, but every once and a while on a strong beat, his hips would push harder against mine. His lips touched the skin of my neck, and I was falling, falling, falling into the feeling.
It wasn’t enough. Would I ever have enough of him? I reached my hands up and behind me, tangling in his hair, and he hummed his approval. The hand on my stomach came up, running lightly from my raised arm down my side. He grazed the side of my breast, and the touch sent tremors through me, which were amplified when his fingers passed the indecent skirt and gripped my thigh.
The song changed, but we didn’t. His hands kept driving me crazy. Our bodies stayed tightly pressed together. I was still so turned on I felt dizzy with want. The whole world was spinning, and only we were still. Or maybe it was us who were spinning. All I knew was that there was everyone else and then there was us, and I never wanted it to be any other way.
He found that spot below my ear, and I moaned, glad for the music that swallowed the sound. He nipped at my neck with his teeth, and I dug my fingernails into his neck in response.
“God, Bliss, do you have any idea how badly I want you?”
Our hips rolled again, and I was certain I had a pretty good idea.
The song ended, and I’d had about all I could take. I slipped my phone out of my bra where it had been conveniently tucked. Garrick groaned and pulled our hips together again in response, but I was focused on my phone. My hands were shaking, but I still managed to type out a text to Kelsey.
I didn’t wait for a reply before I pulled Garrick toward the exit.
For once, I didn’t care how fast he we went on his motorcycle. I just held tight, and tried to will us home faster.
His lips were on my neck before I even got the key in my door. My breathing was so heavy it could only be called panting. When I finally got the door open, I pushed it so hard that it slammed against the wall. Tomorrow I’d have to check and make sure there wasn’t a hole. As soon as the door was closed, we were kissing.
I had tugged my heels off between the motorcycle and my door, and now without them, he was too far away. The thought must have occurred to us at the same time, because his hands left my thighs, and cupped my ass, lifting me so that I had to wrap my legs around his waist.
My back slammed against the door, and I gasped. His tongue snaked into my mouth, plunging in and out, fast and hard—exactly the way I liked it.
“Bed,” I gasped between kisses.
He leaned back long enough to say, “Are you sure?” Then we were kissing again, and the rhythm he set was just as seductive and hypnotizing as the music had been in the club. He asked again, “Bliss, are you sure?”
Was I sure? Why was he asking me questions? Did he realize I just wanted to kiss him? I wanted to kiss him until the rest of the world fell away.
“Bed,” I said again.
“That’s not an answer.” He moved toward the bedroom anyway.
I clung to him tightly, transferring my kisses to his jaw and then his neck so that he could concentrate on walking.
Somehow I still managed to get caught in the curtains.
Like literally caught.
My earring caught on the sheer material, and I didn’t notice until he kept walking. Pain lanced through my ear and the side of my head. I yelped in response.
“What? I’m sorry! What’s wrong? What did I do?”
“Ear.” Apparently, I’d been reduced to one-word sentences.
“Damn. Hold still.”
He tried to use both hands to free my earring, but then we lost balance, and both of us slammed into the side of my dresser that sat just inside my bedroom.
Judging by the way my elbow was smarting, I was going to have one hell of a bruise tomorrow.
When the pain subsided, I laughed, because as usual, my life was ridiculous. And as luck would have it, it was one of those half laugh half snort hybrids. We both laughed, gasping for breath for an entirely different reason now. My side was aching from where we hit the dresser. My earring was still attached to the curtain, and my legs were still around his waist. Between laughs, Garrick pressed a sweet kiss to my forehead.
Maybe ridiculous wasn’t so bad.
“Okay, let’s get you untangled. I’m going to put you down, okay?”
