Kassidy tipped her mango martini to her lips and took a big gulp. Sweet coolness washed down her throat. She forced a smile. “Are you on a break, Hailey?”
Hailey didn’t even look at her, no surprise with a gorgeous guy standing right in front of her. “Yeah. So, Dag…”
Kassidy moved away to let them talk, for a moment alone in the crowd, her stomach tight. She searched for her anchor—Chris. There he was, over talking to Cole and Tyra. She made her way over to him.
He glanced down at her as he talked, smiled, slid an arm around her to rest his hand on her hip. A feeling of security eased the stiffness inside her a little. A feeling of knowing she was loved and wanted. She had that with Chris, always.
Why did it bother her that Hailey liked Dag? Or did it bother her that Dag liked Hailey? Her eyes fell on them across the room, still talking, laughing, and that tension returned, gripping her body.
But Hailey’s break couldn’t last forever and a few minutes later she returned to her place behind the bar. Dag’s attention turned to their friends. As the evening went on, she overheard him talking, “business meetings” and “San Francisco’s great” and “nice to be back”, as he moved from group to group. And it wasn’t just their friends—a crowd of women formed around him, beautiful women. All the while he looked so damn gorgeous and sexy, hair falling into his eyes, his black T-shirt—not just an ordinary T-shirt but some kind of silky expensive fabric—stretched across his taut body, tucked into just the front of his black pants, a gleaming belt buckle riding low. He looked dark and dangerous and exotic.
“I need to sit down,” she told Chris awhile later, her feet starting to hurt in the strappy heels she wore. She lowered herself to the soft leopard fabric of a couch. Chris sat too, and she was glad. She snuggled up to him, winding her arm through his, and sipped her drink.
“Having fun, Kass?” he asked, leaning closer.
“Mmm. Yeah.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Good. Looks like Dag is too.”
“Yeah.” She wanted to ask if he’d seen Dag and Hailey together, but couldn’t get her voice to form the words. Dag’s familiar laugh carried over the music, now an African-funk blend, primal and rhythmic, as he flirted with the girls surrounding him. She felt the music inside her, like another heartbeat. Her body pulsed against Chris’s.
When Dag lifted his head and his eyes met hers across the room, she turned her face to Chris and kissed the side of his neck, his skin warm and fragrant. Chris made a low noise in his throat, rested one hand on her bare thigh where her dress had ridden up. Her pussy ached. She wanted him to slide his hand higher.
They were in a nightclub surrounded by people. What the hell was she thinking? She swallowed. “I think I need another drink,” she said in Chris’s ear.
He drew back and smiled at her, his hand still warm on her leg. “Want me to get you one?”
“Sure.”
He got up and moved toward the bar, and she could still feel the weight of Dag’s gaze on her without even looking at him. When she did turn her head slightly, their eyes once again met and held. And held. And…held.
He lifted his drink to his mouth and slowly sipped, never taking his eyes off her as some girl chattered beside him.
Oh Jesus. What was happening? She was filled with all kinds of rampant, reckless feelings that she couldn’t even identify, except she knew the dominant one was lust. Analyzing that just made her skin tighten up, though. She took a deep breath and crossed her legs, not bothering to pull her skirt down, wanting Dag’s attention on her, not some nameless pretty stranger.
She turned her attention to watching other people in the bar, and it was a good place for people watching. Couples danced in sexy abandon on the dance floor, including one female couple, both of them young and pretty and dressed in short skirts and skimpy tops. Kassidy watched as they touched each other, danced closer, mesmerized by the sensuality of it.
When Chris returned with her drink, she guzzled down half of it then said, “Let’s dance.”
He took her hand as they walked onto the dance floor and they shifted into the rhythm of the music, moving together. He set his hands on her hips and they watched each other’s faces as they danced. Then Chris’s gaze drifted off to the side and she followed it. He was looking at those two girls, still dancing together, bodies now pressed together, back to front, the girl in back sliding her hands over the hips and stomach of the girl in front.
She glanced at Chris’s face, went onto her tiptoes to speak into his ear. “I thought two girls didn’t excite you.”
He smiled. “It’d be hotter if one of them was you.”
Her eyes flew open wide. “What!”
He grinned and pulled her closer.
“You want to watch me and another girl?” she asked incredulously.
His breath tickled her ear. “Watching you with anybody would be a turn-on.”
Holy crap. How did she not know this about him? Kassidy pulled back to look into his eyes. “Really?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled but he held her gaze steadily. “Really.”
Heat suffused her body. She didn’t know what to say. Chris was so…straight. Did he expect her to make that kinky fantasy come true? Or was it just that—a fantasy?
The music changed and without saying a word, they left the dance floor and returned to their couch. She picked up her drink and downed the rest of it in three big heat-quenching gulps. Oh god.
“I’ll get you another one,” Chris said with a knowing smile.
She sat there in a bit of a daze until the sofa dipped beside her. She turned quickly, thinking it was Chris back already with her drink, but it was Dag. His dark intent eyes fastened on her face. “How’re you doing?”
“Good!” She gave him a bright smile. “You? Having fun?”
He shrugged, sipped his drink again—Scotch? Probably.
Chris returned with drinks. He couldn’t sit beside Kassidy because Dag was there now, but she didn’t want him to sit far away on another couch. Then Dag shifted away from her, pulling her with him so there was room for Chris on her other side. She took her drink from Chris, shoulder-to-shoulder with big, warm maleness on both sides of her.
Other friends came and sat too, and they all talked and laughed while Kassidy tried to ignore the achy fullness in her pelvis.
After a while, Dag said, “Come dance with me, Kassidy.” He set down his drink and rose to his feet. He held out a hand, and she looked at Chris, who smiled and nodded. She took Dag’s hand and followed him back to the dance floor, feeling a little like she were being led down a dark downtown alley at midnight, nerves fluttering in her tummy and her pulse leaping.
They moved to the music, a throbbing Latin drumbeat. Dag was a good dancer—of course—nothing flamboyant, but he knew how to move his body with an athletic grace. She let herself absorb the music, let it move her body, never taking her eyes off his face. When the rhythm slowed and merged into a slower song, he slid his hands over her waist, hips, around almost onto her ass. His heat enveloped her, the scent of his sultry aftershave filled her head as she slid her arms over his shoulders. Their hips moved together to the beat of the music.
Sex.
It felt like sex. Liquid heat slid through her body and pooled between her legs.
She bit her lip and looked over to where Chris sat. He’d crossed one ankle over the other knee, one arm stretched out along the back of the couch, looking so big and handsome and watching them.
Watching you with anyone would be a turn-on.
He lifted his chin in acknowledgement of Kassidy’s glance. She was almost afraid to tear her gaze away from him and return it to the dangerous man she was dancing with.