I realize that people are starting to stare at us as Colton’s name is hurriedly murmured around the Friday night crowd who’ve gathered in hopes of seeing a celebrity. Camera phones flash and I look up at Colton to see his reaction. He’s all smiles with the crowd, but when he looks over at me, his eyes warm up with what’s missing from his public one. His nap has sobered him up some, but I can still sense that playful Colton is just within reach.
We skirt around the long line of people waiting for the chance to enter. As we near the hostess podium, a woman steps out from behind it and motions for us to follow her. Wow, life must be nice when you’re Colton Donavan. No lines and women at your fingertips.
Colton leads me by the hand as we walk past the giant Buddha on the way to our private table. Heads turn and flashes explode against the darkened atmosphere of the room as we pass through. I hear Colton’s name murmured a couple more times within the crowd before he stops and turns to face me.
I look at him, a puzzled expression on my face as he steps toward me and unexpectedly captures my mouth with his. At first I freeze—I mean we are in the middle of a very swanky and completely packed restaurant—but as Colton deepens the kiss, as his fingertips cup my face and hold my head still, I succumb to him. His taste is just too devouring and his pull on me too magnetic to resist.
The sounds of the restaurant’s patrons fade away. Colton kisses me like a man drawing his last breath and I am his air. It’s passionate and possessive and provocative. And holy fuck his addictive taste drags me under and takes hold. My mind starts to come back to reality when the whistles and hollers of onlookers begin to register in my brain.
The crowd around us gets louder as they urge on our public display. Colton keeps his hands cupping my face but tears his lips from mine. His eyes register unfiltered lust, but the grin he flashes me is arrogant and mischievous. The only thought in my head is wow, but he’s left me so breathless that forming that simple word isn’t even a possibility. I give him a questioning look.
He just cocks his head to the side, a gleam lighting up his emerald eyes. “If they’re gonna stare, Ryles, we might as well put on a good show!” He wags his eyebrows at me and brushes a chaste kiss on my lips before grabbing my hand and following the hostess standing off to the left of us. The dumbfounded look on her face reflects exactly how I feel.
Playful Colton has reappeared.
Cheers follow us out of the main room into our private dining area, and it is only then that I can read the stunned thoughts dancing across Haddie’s expression. I shrug at her and she just grins back at me, eyes wide and dimples deep.
We reach our table and Colton pulls me into his arms before I have a chance to sit in the chair he’s pulled out for me. “I haven’t told you yet how absolutely stunning you look tonight.” He breathes into my ear. “And now every guy in this restaurant knows you’re mine,” he says in case the claim he’d just staked wasn’t clear enough. He presses his lips at the spot just below my ear. “You look sexy as hell in that dress, but I must confess that all I can think about is getting you out of it.” He chuckles—a seductive sound that wraps its way inside my body and causes the fingers of desire to tickle in my lower belly. “Thank you for coming tonight, Ryles.”
Dinner is delicious and seems uneventful compared to the whirlwind of the past couple of hours. The conversation among the four of us flows easily, and I can see why Colton likes Beckett. He’s funny and witty and really grounded, having no trouble putting Colton in his place when he needs to be. They banter back and forth like little old women, but their affection for one another is obvious.
Sammy sits at a table near us with eyes wary at all times. He’s prevented our meal from being interrupted a couple of times from eager ladies wanting pictures with Colton, if not something more.
I catch myself staring at him randomly during dinner. His charisma and enthusiasm are infectious, and I love watching how his face lights up when telling a story or relaying an event. He’s polite and attentive to everyone during the meal, making sure that all of our needs are met. He steals little kisses here and there coupled with the squeeze of my hand or the trace of a fingertip on my bare shoulder. I wonder if he has any clue the fire he is stoking within me with his casual affection.
I sip the last of my Tom Collins and realize I have a slight buzz going when Colton’s phone alerts an incoming text. He looks down and laughs at the message. “Gotta hot date, Ace?” I tease him with a smirk on my face. He looks up from his phone to meet my eyes at the same time Haddie snorts at my nickname. He just raises an eyebrow and flashes that mischievous grin I adore. In the midst of staring at me, I see the moment his brain registers why Haddie’s laughing.
“You,” he says across the table pointing at Haddie.
“Me?” she says coyly as she takes a sip through her straw.
“You know what A.C.E. stands for,” he says with excitement, and I can see the cogs turn in his head as he figures out how to play this.
“Now why would you think that?” Haddie flutters her eyelashes with feigned innocence.
“Spill it, Montgomery,” Colton demands playfully. Haddie’s eyes dart over to me and her smile widens, but she says nothing. “What can I bribe you with?”
“Well,” Haddie replies in her best bedroom voice. “There’s definitely a lot of things you could do to me to make me talk.” She breathes out, licking her bottom lip and pausing. “You know Ry and I like to play a little on our own together,” she says suggestively, eyeing him up and down. The look on Colton’s face is utter shock and, being the guy that he is, unfiltered lust. It’s taking everything I have to not burst out laughing. “If you want me to talk, you could always join us,” she suggests, “and play a little…”
He works a swallow down his throat, his eyes darting back and forth between us before a lascivious smirk turns up that skillful mouth of his. “Very convincing, Haddie…And as much as my dick’s enjoying the thought, I’m not taking the bait, sweetheart,” he replies while Beckett barks out a laugh.
“Damn, Haddie.” Becks shakes his head. “You had me going for a minute there!”
We all laugh as Haddie throws her napkin at him and turns to me with a smile on her face. “He’ll never get it.”
“Attractive, charming, and exquisite,” Colton guesses and then blows on his knuckles and rubs them against his chest.
“Nope.” I smirk at him as I play with the straw in my drink.
“More like all consuming ego,” Beckett mocks.
“Nope,” I repeat, my standard response.
“Saved by the bell!” Colton says as the waiter places dessert plates filled with chocolate confections in front of us.
We enjoy our dessert, the playful banter continuing, but no matter where my eyes wander, they always come back to Colton. He looks up as I’m admiring his devilishly handsome face and smiles softly at me.
“You ready?”
I return his smile and nod.
“Haddie? Becks? You game?” They both agree and gather their things. I start to stand up and find myself tugged backwards so I land on Colton’s lap. I catch a glimpse of his wicked grin before his lips close over mine. His tongue slips between my lips and teases mine with tantalizing slow licks and sweeps into my mouth. He tastes of mint and rum, and all I can think of is how these little kisses here and there are not enough to last me all evening. They are a cruel tease when I’ve already had the real thing and know it’s mind-blowingly better. His hand slides slowly up the outside of my thigh, fingertips gliding underneath the hem of my dress, kneading my soft skin with his roughened fingers.
Teasing me.
Before I can even process a coherent thought, he pulls back and kisses me on the tip of my nose. I release a frustrated sigh, needing so much more to soothe the ache he’s seated in me.
He chuckles softly at my response. “Let’s go,” he says, nodding his head toward the door.
We’ve spent the last hour and a half occupying the casin
o floor with a flamboyant flair. Much to Sammy’s dismay, Colton decided that he wanted to play some Craps. After some initial losing, Colton ended up at a table surrounded by a crowd as he rolled again and again to their cheers of encouragement and the benefit of his wallet.
His adrenaline is still amped up, and I can feel it vibrating off of him as our car pulls along a back entrance of the Palms Casino a little after midnight. We’ve all had a lot to drink and I’m more than ready to release some energy on the dance floor.
“Now the fun really begins, ladies!” he exclaims before tipping back the rest of his drink and grabbing my hand.
We exit the car and are whisked via a side door through the hotel and into a back entrance to the nightclub, Rain. The energetic beat of the song Animal fills the club and reverberates through my body. An employee leads us up a stairway and moves a velvet rope with a sign that notes reserved so we can pass into the VIP area.
Such an odd feeling to be treated as the only patrons in a club filled with hundreds of other people just feet away.
We’re led onto the mezzanine level, and when we enter, a roar of cheers startles me. Colton doesn’t seem surprised, and I realize that the thirty plus people in front of me are who Colton’s been coordinating all night long. He is suddenly pulled into the crowd of people, collecting pats on the back from the guys and overly long hugs from the women.
I step back, allowing him to have the attention of his friends and look at our surroundings. I count six rooms on this level that overlook the dance floor and it seems as if Colton has rented them all out for the night. I step toward the railing and watch the mass of people below gyrate and move with the pulse of the music.
“You doing okay?”
I look over at Haddie, relieved to have her here, and smile. “Yes. It’s just all a bit more than I’m used to.”
“I guess he’s a little over the top, huh?”
“Just a tad.” I laugh. “So, Beckett?” I ask, arching my eyebrows.
“He is hella cute...” she shrugs “...but you know how that goes.” She laughs in her typical carefree Haddie way. If she wants, she’ll have him eating out of her hand by the night’s end. That’s just Haddie. “You wanna dance?”
I look for Colton to tell him that we’re going down to the floor, but he’s in the middle of a wildly animated conversation. He’ll figure it out. Within moments we’ve made our way downstairs, and have worked ourselves into the crowd moving on the floor. It feels so good to let go and move with the beat, to get lost for a moment and forget the anniversary that started the minute the clock passed midnight.
After a couple of songs, I look up toward the balcony above us to see Colton standing at the railing. He searches the crowd and it takes a few moments before he finds me. I have a déjà vu moment when our eyes lock—a different club this time but the same intense heat between us. His face falls into shadow momentarily, and I can’t help but remember wondering on our first date if he was an angel fighting through the darkness or a devil breaking into the light. Right now, looking up and completely consumed by him, he is most definitely my struggling angel. And yet I know the devil in him is always just beneath the surface.
I continue moving despite our irrefutable connection—the one that stops my breath and kick starts my heart every time he looks at me. I smile and motion for him to come down. He just shakes his head in a measured acceptance of whatever it is that he’s thinking and smiles before disappearing from sight.
The song changes and I hear the opening notes to Usher’s Scream. I throw my arms up and swivel my hips to the beat, letting the music wash over me. I sing my favorite line. “Got no drink in my hand but I’m wasted, getting drunk on the thought of you naked.” I snap my eyes open on the last word when I feel hands slide around my waist from behind and pull me backwards. Haddie’s smile tells me that it’s Colton, and I relax against him as I see Beckett and a few more of his friends from upstairs join us.
The soft curves of my body fit against the hard edges of his, and I close my eyes as we start to move together. Every movement against each other has my skin prickling and my insides igniting. Each nerve in my body is attuned to the feel of him against me. His strong hands map the lines of my torso: urging, grabbing, enticing. His hips move with mine, the ridge of his erection tempting me with each movement. We mimic each other in unfulfilled need, in mounting desire.
He turns me around to face him, the demand of his hands forcing me to do what he wants arouses me further. It evokes images of his skillful fingers running the length of my sex before parting me and slipping into me. I groan at the thought and somehow he hears me despite the music because the sexy smirk on his face and darkening eyes tell me he feels the same. I know he wants more than just this frustrating but sensual as hell petting with our clothes on.
We dance a few more songs. Each brush against him adds to the mounting need within me. A seductive game, that’s tantalizing, sensuous, and felt by both of us despite the lack of words. The opening notes of Ginuine’s Pony filters through the speakers, and the suggestive tone of the song is too much for Colton to handle. He grabs my hand and pulls me with obvious purpose through the crowd on the dance floor. Impatience, need, and determination radiates off of him and vibrates into me as he stops at the foot of the stairs. Every part of my body is on high alert when he puts his hand on my back to urge me up the steps. I’m on the first riser when he spins me around and captures my mouth in a blistering kiss filled with urgency.
He attacks my mouth with a definite purpose, thoroughly obliterating all hopes of self-discipline when it comes to him. But before I can give in to the temptation at my fingertips and react wholeheartedly, he ends the kiss just as abruptly as he began it, leaving me wanting for more and on the cusp of begging.
Colton starts up the stairs, my hand in his as I follow. When we reach the top where Sammy stands, Colton leans over and says something in his ear that the music drowns out. Sammy nods his head and turns on his heel, Colton and I right behind him.
We reach the sixth and last VIP room on the balcony, and I follow Colton’s lead, stopping and looking out over the club below. I glance over my shoulder to see Sammy ushering his friends out of the last room before I look back to Colton. His eyes are focused on the crowd below, his jaw clenched, and I wonder if I’ve done something wrong to piss him off.
I’m a little taken aback. What in the hell did I do? He’s going to choose right now to be pissed? I guess I should be used to his confusing, back and forth moods, but I’m not. We remain silent waiting for whatever Sammy is doing, and I resign myself that there is most likely a fight on the horizon for us. Can’t we just have one night without it?
Sammy leans into Colton’s ear and tells him something, and then we are on the move again. Colton leads me by my hand into the sixth and now vacant VIP area. The minute we clear the wall and are away from anyone’s view, Colton’s body crashes into mine instantaneously, forcibly pinning me against the wall.
I only have time for one coherent thought before the taste of Colton pulls me under. He’s not pissed at me. Not hardly. He’s consumed with desire.
All of the heat and urgency in the kiss on the stairs is intensified and then some. Our teeth clash and bodies mesh as his tongue pushes through my lips and licks into my mouth. His hands are everywhere on my body at once, each touch flaring my need and shooting desire like a mainline to my core.
I need him in me, filling me, moving inside of me, right now like I need my next breath.
His tongue continues its tormenting assault on my mouth, his hands seeking my bare flesh as the words of the song fuel the desire raging between us. He reaches down and pulls my leg up to his hip, his hands sliding up and under my hem. Desperate fingers dig into my willing flesh. His hand is so close yet so far away from where I need it to be that all I can do is groan out in a mixture of frustration and need. He nips my bottom lip, followed by the soothing lick of his tongue, prompting me to tighten my grip on his hair. I
tug on it, my silent way of saying I need him too. Want him just as desperately.
Right here. Right now.
He drags himself away from me, his chest rising and falling with his labored breaths and his eyes bore into mine despite the fog of lust in them. “I don’t like all of those guys dancing around you,” he says, his strained voice is playful despite the violent desire I see raging in his eyes.
“It got your attention, didn’t it?” I tease in a pant of breath, surprised by his jealousy.
“Sweetheart, if you want my attention...” he smirks, his hands cupping my ass and yanking me into him, the ridge of his erection pressing deliciously into my softness “…all you have to do is ask.”
“And pull you away from your adulating throng of friends?” I tease, arching my eyebrows at him, my sarcasm apparent.
“So you’d rather go dance amidst a throng of random men?”
I suck in my breath as he moves his hands up the sides of my torso and stops beside my breasts. My body is so pent up, so on the edge of need that it responds instantly when it gets the touch it craves. His thumbs connect with my nipples and they pebble instantly as he rubs up and down. I lean my head back, closing my eyes, and allow myself to be swallowed in the sensation the stroke of his thumbs create. My head clouds, trying to think of a witty comeback to this bantering foreplay between us. “It got you out there, didn’t it?” I bait, running my tongue over my bottom lip. “Just think of it as a means to an end, Ace.”
Colton brushes his thumbs up and down once more, making sure he has my attention. “Oh, baby,” he murmurs, “the only end that’s going to be sticking into your means, is mine.” He leans in to nip at my bottom lip before pulling back to meet my gaze, one hand squeezing over my breast possessively. “Mine.”