The woman who’d crawled out of bed that morning never would have said yes. Who slept like shit and worried about paying bills and whether Gavin was okay at school and if Pops took his medicine that day.
But for just a little while, I didn’t want to be her. I held my breath and slid my hand into his.
His palm was big. Rough and warm and dry as his fingers wrapped around mine.
He turned and led me through the crowd of people, and they parted like the Red friggin’ Sea. Some women looked at him longingly, and no small handful of men stared with their mouths hanging open.
A dangerous thought wrapped around the back of my head, latching on to my logical thinking skills and hijacking a portion of the fantasy that I’d let myself fall into. Whowashe?
Don’t ask, don’t ask.
I wanted to let this moment happen without the intrusion of reality—his or mine—because I felt good and powerful and sexy. I wasn’t Mommy in need of a nap. I was the version of me who I hadn’t been in a very long time.
He found a corner on the far edge of the dance floor, where we’d have the illusion of privacy. He kept his grip on my hand and twirled me once. I smiled, assuming he would do the same as he tugged me into his body, but he didn’t. His mouth was in a firm line, those delicious lips unsmiling as he stared down at me.
His hands settled on my lower back, fingers brushing the bare skin under my floaty shirt, rolling my hips against his with our legs slotted together. My skin was on fire, hotter than the surface of the sun, and I set my forehead against the wall of his chest, my hands lightly fisting the cotton of his T-shirt while we moved back and forth to the sultry beat.
The music was louder, but not so loud that I couldn’t hear him when he brushed his lips against my ear and said, “Can she see you?”
Groggily, I lifted my head. “I don’t know.”
His gaze traced over my face. “Maybe I shouldn’t have hidden you in the corner. Should I move us up there?” he asked, nodding toward a small stage, where a few beautiful women were grinding on each other in slow, sensuous movements of their hips. “Let everyone watch us?”
I shook my head, trying to swallow around a bone-dry throat. “N-no. Here is fine.”
His hands slid lower, and his fingers were tucked beneath the waistband of my skintight pants. “Perfectly fine,” he said in a ragged voice.
I could hardly breathe when he pressed his fingertips into the top of my ass and tugged my hips flush against his body.
Oh God.
He was hard. And he was huge.
He wanted me so badly that one conversation, one dance did this to him.
Idid this to him.
I’d never felt this good. The head-spinning euphoria made me feel reckless.
My hands were shaking as I pushed them up his chest so I could feel the flex of muscle under my palms. He dipped his head to nose my hair away from my neck, his teeth dragging over the sensitive shell of my ear.
“You want more?” He spoke softly, a devilish edge to his already sinful voice.
I nodded, relishing in the catch of his stubble against my jaw. It would hurt if he rubbed it over my skin. And yes,yes, I wanted more.
More.
Everything.
My hand cupped the back of his neck, fingers digging into his thick hair. He groaned against the side of my head, one hand dipping underneath my pants, even though he could hardly move with how tight they were. The other moved up my back and fisted in my hair. The sharp edge of pain made me gasp.
“Oh God,” I whimpered.
“Oh, no, Red, if I take you home, you’ll be screaming my name.” Then he spun me, my back pressed against his chest and his hips rolling against my ass. “This fucking body,” he moaned. “You’re driving me insane.”
One hand locked on my hip, holding me so firmly that it almost hurt. The other slid across my stomach underneath my loose shirt. I arched back, rolling my head against his shoulder. My hand covered his on my stomach, and the thrilling jolt of energy from the music and the lights made me feel like I was suspended in midair, attached to invisible strings that he controlled.
Our fingers intertwined underneath my shirt, and I clasped his hand so hard that he chuckled darkly into my ear. “Can I touch you?”