Dangerous Embrace (Embrace #1) (27 page)

He gripped her hips and pulled her closer as he kissed her. When he felt a rush of air escape her lips, he opened his eyes, prepared to see that stark fear again, but he was greeted with desire. He lowered her back down on the bed and removed what was left of his own clothes.

“Easy, baby,” he whispered, sliding his hand down toward her inner thigh as she arched closer him. “Sarah...may I touch you?”

She didn’t speak, but the moan that escaped her lips was affirmation enough.

Mark lowered his hand and parted her, forcing her to cry out in pleasure. He smiled, watching her beautiful body wave and curve gracefully as he drove her to climax. Mark continued to move his fingers inside her until she finished, her nails digging into his flesh as she trembled beneath him.

“Mark,” she cried, pulling him closer so her mouth could meet his. When her body tremors calmed, he slowly pulled his mouth away.

“Sarah, baby, may I—”

“Yes,” she murmured, and groped for him too late, he was already lowering himself, pushing into her as he cried out in relief. When her wetness surrounded him, he felt a rush of panic, then relief, then pleasure with every surge forward. Her hands clamped on his hips as he moved, her body moving in sequence with his as he pushed her to peak again. He felt her tighten when she cried out, her eyelids fluttering, a satisfied smile spread across her face with each crest of pleasure.

Sarah clung to him, her nails cutting his skin, but the pain was pure pleasure because she was giving into him, letting go and trusting him more with every surge of pleasure.

“Baby,” Mark cried out this time. “Sarah...” A feeling of completeness rushed through him at the same time as passion flooded her face and his name escaped her lips in a whisper.

Before he could take another breath, Mark flexed and released with one long, fluid motion. She joined him in his culmination, their bodies matching time perfectly. Sarah cried out with his last surge, and his body started to tremble. He collapsed on top of her. When he tried to move to her side, she held him in place.

“Wait,” she breathed. “Just...wait.” They were both breathing heavily, their hearts matching time, and he tried to look into her eyes but they were closed tight.

He carefully wrapped his arms around her and held her until her breathing slowed. “Are you okay?”

She nodded as a big smile spread across her face. She gave a deep, throaty chuckle before letting him go. Mark leaned in and kissed her forehead, before spooning her hips with his. With his arms around her, they lay quietly until their pounding hearts slowed.

Mark held her close. He was completely enchanted and could’ve held her until the end of the world if she would only let him. When he heard a quiet sniffle, he looked down into her eyes.

“Baby, did I hurt you?” Mark sat up on his elbow and cupped her face to look into her eyes.

She wasn’t sad—her eyes were bright and wet, but she was smiling.

She reached up and traced his lips with the tip of her finger. “Of course, you didn’t hurt me.”

Mark took her hand and kissed it. “How
do
you feel?”

“Relaxed...”

“You...”—he carefully poked her nose with the tip of his finger—“are absolutely stunning, do you know that?”

“You are patient and caring and...
smart
,” she said, not hiding her surprise. “What made you think of that?”

“I don’t know. I was trying to give you control. I wanted you to feel comfortable with my touch.”

“It worked, thank God,” she said as she lifted her head to kiss him.

On Wednesday, Sarah talked Mark into giving her a couple of hours alone at home. She wanted to get ready for their date without him around, hoping to maintain some of the element of surprise that came with first dates. Mark was pretty easy to convince, which surprised her. He’d usually baulk at her being left unprotected, but then she realized he must have put one of his agents outside her house while he was gone. The thought irritated her but it wasn’t worth fighting about. She was too excited about their date to care.

She checked Mark out thoroughly when he returned, from his brown boots to his stylishly messy hair. He wore a perfectly fitting khaki, knit, long-sleeve crew shirt, enhancing his well-formed, broad chest. With it, he had on a pair of even more perfectly fitting blue jeans. Sarah appreciated the well-fitting jeans and had to force herself to stop staring at him.

“What are you looking at,” he said self-consciously as they climbed out of her Mustang.

“I’m looking at you, you look good.”

“You are stunning. I should have chosen something other than jeans.”

“Thank you, but”—she winked at him—“the jeans are perfect.”

Sarah had decided on a slimming, V-neck, navy blue tank dress with gathered stitching to enhance her breasts. The tapered waist hugged her hips and then flared out at her knees.

They entered the club hand-in-hand, and when Mark expressed his surprise, she had to wonder what he was expecting.

The place was huge. With two stages and at least three bars, it looked like a small city. On one of the stages, a DJ played pop-ish, top-forty dance music, but nothing obnoxious. Around the dance floor, low-backed, round booths were lined up in a circular fashion to create smaller seating areas to accommodate groups of people instead of all being back-to-back.

They were inside for a couple of minutes when Gabby rushed her and sent her into a deep dip.

“Dahl-ling, where have you been all my life...,” Gabby said as Sarah hung in his arms with her head inches from the floor. When he lifted her up, she gave him a big hug.

Sarah introduced Mark to Gabby and her friends. Gabby, Paul, Ryan, and Josh were all body builders from Sarah’s gym. Gabby was the biggest of the quartette. He kept his long, blond hair in a ponytail at the base of his neck, and he looked immaculate in his black slacks and a pinstripe blue and black button-up shirt. While big, Gabby was harmless. He wore a big, goofy smile and constantly winked at people when he talked. It was obvious that Mark fought to suppress a smile when Sarah introduced them. She loved this group of guys, and she hoped Mark liked them too.

“So, gurl, where did you meet the hunk?” Gabby asked, smiling and looking Mark up and down.

The question surprised Sarah. “Ah, we met...”

“I installed the alarm system on her house,” Mark answered for her.

“Gabby, where is everyone else, I thought this was a party?”

“Daniel and Scott are fighting again, so they’re not coming, and I guess since it’s Wednesday nobody else wanted to par-tay. Let’s dance,” he said, and held out a hand to Sarah.

“No, I need a drink first.” She waved away his hand.

“Okay, girl, you owe me one.” He grabbed Paul’s hand and spun him gracefully onto the nearest dance floor.

Sarah was all smiles as she led Mark to the bar to buy him a drink.

“Hi, Robbie.” She smiled at the bartender and handed him a gold card. “Can we have two draft beers?”

“Hey, sweetie, where have you been?”

“Oh, you know, school’s back in session so I’m working and staying close to home.” He placed the drinks down in front of her and then moved to help someone else.

“So...tell me again why you hang out with a bunch of gay men,” Mark asked.

“I don’t only hang out with gay men. We have other friends that are straight, but they didn’t show up. We mostly know each other from the gym. Be happy Gabby didn’t have his party at The Rainbow Mic.”

“The Rainbow Mic, what the hell is that?”

“It’s a gay karaoke bar.” She laughed at his expression. “It’s actually a lot of fun watching that group of guys get up on stage and sing Diana Ross songs.”

“Gee, sorry I missed that,” Mark said. He leaned close, inhaled, brushed his lips on her cheek, and whispered, “So let’s go find a quiet corner to hang out in.”

“I know the perfect place,” she said, and picked up her drink.

She turned toward a glassed-in VIP lounge separate from the rest of the club. When the large, glass doors were closed behind them, she could easily see everything happening in the rest of the club, but the noise level dropped dramatically. They could also still hear the music on the other side of the glass, though it was comfortably muted. The large, round room was quiet enough to have a conversation but still enjoy the music. It had a brick fireplace in the center of the room and a full bar along the far wall.

When they entered the lounge, Sarah pointed to a booth nearest the fireplace. They sat close and never released each other’s hands. Sarah felt incredibly good with him. She remembered thinking of him as her talisman a couple weeks before. Touching him now felt much the same. It was Zen-like, very calming.

“So what do you think? Is this better than a crowded dance floor?”

“This is perfect.” His breath brushed her ear, and he kissed her neck right below her lobe.

Sarah looked over his shoulder and out at the club where Gabby, Paul, and Josh were standing behind the glass, pointing and pretending to laugh. She felt her face grow hot as they entered the lounge and approached the booth.

“Okay, enough with the PDA. I thought this was my party,” Gabby said when Sarah hid her face in Mark’s shoulder.

They took the table directly across from her booth.

She laughed and felt like a little kid and had to tell them to shut up. She didn’t want to make Mark uncomfortable with their teasing, but he ignored them, his attention focused solely on Sarah. When she looked into his eyes, the penetrating gaze he held made her nervous. Their eyes stayed locked on each other’s until the cocktail waitress interrupted them.

“Can I get you two another drink?”

“I’ll have another beer, my card’s up with Robbie.”

“Gotcha covered—and you?” she asked Mark.

“Nothing, thanks,” he said without taking his eyes off Sarah.

When Gabby ordered a round of Patrón tequila shots from the other table, Sarah gave him an exasperated look.

He waved a hand at her. “Oh, stop it, you can handle one shot.”

A few minutes later their drinks arrived. Sarah’s beer and two shots sat in front of her and Mark. She took her shot with the other boys, but Mark still declined.

“Go ahead,” he said, gesturing toward the second shot of tequila. Sarah gave him a sideways smile.

“Oh, sure get me drunk, you know what happens when I drink tequila.”

Mark shrugged and flashed a sexy smile.

“Too bad for you—I’m not a first date kind of girl.”

Mark’s face broke out into a big grin as she shot the tequila. She set the glass down and sucked on a lime wedge, her eyes still locked with his.

“Would you like another?”

“Ha-ha, very funny.” She stood. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

He got to his feet. “Where are you going?”

“Ladies’ room.”

He reached out and grabbed her hand. “Wait, I’ll go with you.”

“To the ladies’ room?” She pushed his hand away. “I think I can do it on my own. I haven’t had that much to drink.”

“Sarah, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll come with you and wait outside the door.”

She pointed through the glass toward the other side of the club. “I’m just going over there, see the restroom sign, you can see it from here. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay.”

Sarah frowned and leaned close to his ear. “Please don’t do this in front of my friends.” She met his eyes and said, “You can see me from here, you don’t need to hover.”

“If you’re not back in five minutes, I’m coming to look for you,” he warned, his expression dead serious.

“Okay, I’ll see you in less than five minutes.” She turned away from him and stepped out of the V.I.P. area, through the large, glass doors and toward the ladies’ room.

She walked into the small waiting area that separated the club from the bathrooms. It was oddly deserted. She didn’t see anyone until she pulled the ladies’ room door open and was surprised by two women coming out. She moved aside for them to pass and then turned to enter. Before she could step inside, someone grabbed her from behind, twisting her left arm behind her back.

Sarah cried out, pulling away. Her stomach coiled from the smell of whiskey and cigarettes. She tried not to panic, but she couldn’t breathe. The air caught in her throat and kept her from screaming. She reached up and grabbed for his face. She missed and ended up with a handful of hair at the base of his skull, where she dug into his neck with her fingernails.

He yanked her arm again, and she felt the sickening snap in her shoulder. She gasped and cried out, trying to turn out of the twist, but her arm went limp.

He released it and reached across her, restraining both her arms and body tightly against his chest with one arm. He was twice her size, and his arm reached all the way around to her right side, holding her easily. She squirmed to wiggle free as he pushed her toward the ladies’ room. She lifted her leg, braced herself in the door jam, and pushed away. He started to lose his balance, but righted himself and squeezed her tighter.