Goddess Sacrifice (2 page)

When the game was over, everyone made their way to the dance. When the homecoming court arrived, the DJ announced Calli as the queen again and made her dance. She and River looked great together, and after they strutted their stuff, Calli walked over to Legacy. River followed behind with his head down.

“Congratulations, Calli!” Legacy threw her arms around her in a big hug.

“Thanks,” Calli said, and then leaned her head over to Legacy’s ear. “Thanks for everything. I couldn’t have gotten through this week without you,” she whispered.

Legacy pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Yes, you could have, but I’m glad everything worked out.”

They hugged again before pulling away from each other. She glanced at River as she stepped away from Calli, but he didn’t look at her.

“You look nice, River,” Legacy said as she looked at him.

He flashed his eyes over to her and smiled. “Thanks. So do you.”

“Thanks.”

Then River looked at Calli. “Would you like to dance again?”

“Sure.” She shrugged, and they walked back out onto the dance floor.

She watched as they walked away, not sure what to think, feeling bad for making River come, but also feeling a little hurt by his actions. Adin stepped up to her and stroked her arm.

“Sweetheart, don’t take it personally. I’m sure he’s just trying to do the right thing for everyone.”

She shrugged and turned to Adin. “I know. I’m glad he’s helping Calli, but I can tell he’s not happy to be here. I made him come, so I feel kinda guilty.”

“Let’s not worry about it. He’s here whether he wants to be or not.” Then Adin smiled at her and leaned his head down to her ear. “May I have this dance?”

She chuckled. “Mmmm-hmmm.”

Adin took her hand and led her out to the dance floor. They held each other tightly while dancing to several songs. Her confused feelings of hurt and guilt were soothed, forgotten.

“You’re really good at this,” Adin whispered in her ear.

She looked up at him. “I’m really good at a lot of things,” she said with her eyebrows raised.

“Mmmm, I know,” he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her.

If only.

They kept dancing throughout the night, and talked and laughed and tried sneaking in a kiss when they could. The chaperones where roaming the floor, so they didn’t get to kiss often.

Even though she was having a really great time being in Adin’s arms, after they had danced for awhile, she needed a break. They grabbed some drinks and sat down.

“Do you mind if I ask Calli to dance with me?” Adin mumbled as he took a drink.

“Umm, no. That’s fine with me. She’d probably be tickled.” She shrugged, looking at her drink.

Adin sighed, and she looked over at him. “I don’t mind if you dance with River.”

She smiled at him. “It’s very sweet of you to say that, but I know you don’t want me to.”

“No, I don’t, but he is here as a favor to you. If I ask his date to dance, then there’s a chance that he’ll ask you to dance. I’m just letting you know that I don’t mind.”

She kissed him, and he indulged her before pulling away, smiling back at her. “
Once
.” He laughed. “He can dance with you once, and I’d prefer it’s a really short song.”

They both laughed.

Calli and River walked toward them with drinks in their hands. She and Calli chatted for a few minutes about the gowns some of the girls were wearing, and then Adin looked over at Calli.

“Calli, would you like to dance?” he asked her with a crooked smile.

Calli glanced at Legacy with wide eyes. She smiled at Calli, and then she glanced at River. He shrugged. “Okay.”

Adin and Calli headed to the dance floor. She looked at River, but he was watching their dates dance together.

“So…he gets to dance with you
and
with my date,” River mumbled, not making eye contact.

She scooted closer to him. “You know, you could ask me to dance with you.”

River sighed, not looking at her. “Legacy, I’m trying to stay focused on doing the right thing here.”

“We’re still friends, River. Friends can dance together.”

“We can’t. You already told me that,” River mumbled.

“I don’t think I came right out and told we couldn’t.” She hesitated, wondering if maybe he really wasn’t interested, “but you don’t have to dance with me if you don’t want to.”

River’s eyes flashed to hers. “Of course I want to,” he whispered.

“Then ask me,” she murmured.

River stared at her for several seconds, and she could hear his breathing accelerate. “Will you dance with me?” River breathed, shutting his eyes.

“Yes.” She stood and looked down at him.

River stood up and stared at her without moving. She extended her hand for him to take. He looked down at it and sighed as he placed his hand gently around hers. He guided her out to the dance floor, and they started to dance.

“I’ve had a really,
really
hard time keeping my eyes off you tonight,” River whispered as they swayed to the music, staring at each other.

“I know.”

River sighed. “You look so beautiful, Legacy.”

“And you look very handsome, River.” She smiled.

He squeezed her tighter, and she stepped closer to him. “This is the first time I’ve held you in weeks.” He shut his eyes.

“Yeah,” she murmured as she stepped up to him and laid her head on his chest.

River’s breath caught, and he wrapped his arms tighter around her.

They danced closely for the rest of the song. When it was over, she pulled away from him, and he stared at her with loving eyes.

“Thanks for asking me to dance,” she whispered.

He didn’t say anything, just nodded.

She turned around to walk back to her seat with River following behind. By the time they got back, Adin and Calli had made it there too. They all talked a little more casually until they were ready to start dancing again.

Legacy and Adin danced the rest of the night, and she wasn’t really sure if River and Calli did. She kept her eyes closed as she snuggled into Adin’s warm embrace. When her eyes were open, she didn’t take them off him.

When it was time to leave, they all said their goodbyes, and Adin took her home. He spent the ride to her house holding and kissing her hand, stroking her knee, caressing her face. It truly was a magical evening. When they arrived, he walked her to the door with an arm around her, and she started to go in.

“Legacy?” Adin grabbed her waist with his free hand, turning her around to face him. “I should probably go change before I come in.”

She figured this was Adin’s way of giving her some privacy to get out of her dress, so she nodded. “Okay, sweetie. I can’t wait to get out of these shoes.” She laughed.

Adin smiled at her and stepped up against her. He leaned down and kissed her softly. “You looked so wonderful tonight.”

She smiled at him and kissed him.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he whispered.

“Okay. Just come on up when you get here.”

She went inside and took her shoes off before she even went upstairs. The stilettos were cute, but her dogs were definitely barking. Being beautiful didn’t come without a few sacrifices. After she rid herself of her shoes and walked up to her bedroom, she took her hair down and ran her fingers through it. Then she took off her jewelry before tackling the dress.

She started to unzip it, but it didn’t budge. It felt as if she had grasped the zipper, but maybe she’d grabbed part of the dress instead. She walked over to the mirror and tried to watch herself as she reached for the zipper again.
That’s weird
. She
did
have a hold of it. She struggled with it for what felt like several minutes, but still didn’t have any luck. The zipper wouldn’t budge. It was stuck.

It was stuck!

She tried not to panic, but as she fought with the stubborn closure of her dress, the knowledge that Lissa wouldn’t be home for awhile kept screaming in her head. Her guardian was at an office party, so that only left one person to help her take off the dress. Adin.
Crap!

Chapter Two

Legacy frantically struggled with the zipper again, but it wouldn’t budge. Would. Not. Budge. She heard Adin walk in the front door, and her heart started racing faster than the footfalls she heard coming toward her. This was it. At least she’d bought new undergarments to wear with the new dress. Yep, Adin was about to get an eyeful. When she and Calli had bought their dresses, they took the gowns with them to buy their bras. They needed to make sure they fit properly, and since Legacy had to buy a new bra for the dress, she’d picked a pretty blue color that matched the blue in her dress. While she was at it, she thought
what the hell
and got the matching panties too. Sure, she’d considered the possibility of seeing how far Adin would go if he got a chance to see her in the sexy ensemble. But she hadn’t envisioned it happening like this. Ugh. Oh well, if Adin was about to help her take her dress off, at least she didn’t have to worry about him seeing her in old, ratty underwear!

She quickly turned to her mirror and smoothed her hair, taking deep breaths to calm herself. Then Adin knocked on her bedroom door, and she winced. Gods, this was going to be embarrassing.

“Come in,” she said as calmly as she could manage.

Adin walked in wearing athletic pants and a t-shirt, staring at her in her dress. He frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but she shook her head and put her hand up.

“I’m stuck.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, walking closer to her.

“I, er, can’t get my dress unzipped.”

Adin rocked back on his heels, stopping in his tracks. “Oh.”

She took a deep breath while she stared at him. “Can you help me?”

“Umm, sure.” He shrugged. “I mean, of course.” He tried to sound casual when he spoke while he walked over to her. Yeah, he wasn’t fooling her. She turned around and lifted her hair up for Adin to reach the zipper. He gently tugged on it, but it wouldn’t unzip.

“See,” she said as if she were defending her weak arms. Or her lack of zapping it open. Her luck, she’d end up in the hospital because of that ability. Again.

He chuckled. Then he grabbed the top of her dress to pull it taut and tugged on the zipper again. It quickly unzipped past where it was caught, but he stopped and took a step back. “I think I got it.”

She took a deep breath. She obviously hadn’t planned on something like this happening, but now that she had Adin practically taking off her clothes, she was going to push this moment the gods had blessed her with...however awkward it was initially. She steeled her nerves and looked over her shoulder at him. “Can you finish unzipping it for me?”

“O-okay,” he said nervously. He stepped back up to her, and she grabbed the top of her dress to keep it from falling to the floor when he got it unzipped.

He slowly slid the zipper down. When she felt him draw it past her bra, surely exposing it to his view, he stopped, and his breathing spiked. Because she knew he was reacting to what he was seeing, her heart took off. She tried to keep her breathing even while she waited for him to finish unzipping the dress, but he just stood there and the seconds ticked by.

“Is it stuck again?” she asked, knowing it wasn’t, but she didn’t know what else to say.

“No,” he breathed. “Um, how far do you want me to go?”

She turned her head to the side, glancing over her shoulder. “I want you to go all the way.” As soon as she said the words, she realized how they actually sounded. She was talking about the zipper, but her response was laced with innuendo.

Adin cleared his throat and continued unzipping the dress. She didn’t remember the zipper being this long! It felt like it was taking forever for him to fully unzip it. And it seemed as if the lower the zipper went, the faster he breathed.

The zipper finally came to a stop at the top of her panties. She knew Adin had to have seen that they were the same blue color as her bra.

He stood still for a few seconds, and she licked her dry lips while she wondering what he was thinking. He wasn’t still for long.

He slid his hands into her dress and onto her back. She gasped at his gentle touch, and he stepped closer to her. He rubbed from the small of her back to the tops of her shoulders and back down again, his hands grazing over the lace at her back. Then he slid them around her waist as he stepped up against her.

“I think that’s as far as it’ll go,” he whispered in her ear as he caressed her bare tummy.

She kept hold of the dress with one arm and reached up with her other hand along his neck and into his hair. Adin leaned down and kissed her shoulder before slipping his hands out of her dress. After his hands were free, she turned around and looked at him. His eyes were burning with desire, but he was keeping himself in check, trying to stay in control. She wasn’t having that. She reached up and stroked his cheek while she kept her other hand firmly locked onto her dress.

Adin’s eyes fluttered shut at her touch, and he panted. She wanted to kiss him, so she stepped up to him and stretched up on her toes. She ran her hand into his hair to coax his head toward her, but he didn’t move. He was resisting her. She knew it wasn’t because he didn’t want her. He was trying to do the right thing here. Well, “right” being totally subjective.

“Kiss me,” she whispered slowly.

He groaned as he let her slowly bring his head down. When their lips touched, she could feel his hot breath in her mouth for a split second, and then his tongue forged ahead, kissing her without anymore hesitation. There was no slow building of it. He possessed her mouth, and she was willingly giving it up to him. His hands went straight into her hair—she figured he thought that was the safest place for them—pulling her against him. She threw one arm around his back to squeeze him up against her as they kissed passionately. His tongue rubbed against and around hers without any finesse, taking her mouth in ways she’d only dreamed of him taking her body. And it was hot! As they devoured each other, Adin moaned, and his fingers knotted in her hair, holding her for his sensual assault, the light sting on her scalp shooting to other, needier parts of her body.