Hooker (L.A. Liaisons Book 2) (10 page)

His lips skimmed my neck so lightly I thought I’d imagined it before I heard, “I’d make sure you were looking at me as I let my eyes roam over you. This dress”—he fingered the hem of the material that reached the top of my thigh—“if I didn’t know better, I’d think you wore it for me. Short enough that I can feel how smooth your thighs are without having to slip my fingers underneath. Not that that would stop me…because once I had you out there…had my arms around you…had you tight against me so I could feel every part of you…then I could let my hands wander.”

I felt those same fingers move higher underneath my skirt, crumbling my already weakened defenses, and it took everything in me to push his hands back down.
 

“Tell…and then show. Those are the rules,” I said, trying to not let myself get carried away by his words. But damn it was hard. Especially when he gave a light chuckle and moved his hands back to my hips to fit me flush against his body. My struggle to remain aloof wasn’t the only thing that was hard between us.
 

Oh sweet Christ…

“Fuck the rules,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out to the dance floor.
 

As I squeezed through the bodies around me sensually grinding to the pulsing beat, I felt my heart accelerate in anticipation of feeling the man in front of me once again pressed against my body.
 

Maybe whatever happened in Vegas really
could
stay in Vegas. It wasn’t like we had to get married or anything. I mean, he was just this really hot guy to have fun with for one night only, and if we could just get the explosive sexual chemistry thing out of our systems, we could go back to L.A. and be normal. Like it never happened.

At least, that was what I wanted to believe.

Once Nate reached the center of the room, he turned around and gripped my waist, pulling me forward until there wasn’t a breath of space between us. Sweaty bodies crowded in on us, so close it was hard to tell where one couple began and the other ended. The lights were hot and flashing, and this close, I could smell his delicious scent—the salt of his sweat mixed with the faintness of his cologne and my drink that still lingered on his sweet breath. I wanted to run my tongue up his neck to taste him. But I didn’t want to stop there.
 

As my gaze lingered on his neck before moving up to his mouth, his lips tipped up. “Feel like sharing what that look’s about?”

I was dimly aware I was throwing caution to the wind, but after as many drinks as we’d had…
Oh, what the hell.
 

My stare turned confident. “I was just wondering what you’d taste like.”

His hold on my hips turned almost painful, and I could feel him growing hard against me. Hard and long…
 

I squeezed his arms tighter, and he responded by moving a knee between my legs and rocking with me so that I was straddling his thigh. My already swollen clit rubbed against his pants, the thick muscles underneath creating a delicious friction as his hands on my hips guided me, rolling me with him. Slow at first and then harder, my breath coming in irregular pants. My flimsy panties were no match for how wet I was, and I tried to push away.
 

“No,” he growled, and pulled me tighter. I looked around to see if anyone was watching, but we were so immersed in the crowd that even with the hundreds of bodies surrounding us, it almost felt…private.
 

The pulsing between my legs needed to be sated, and I didn’t try to escape this time. Nate kept one hand on my hip, still moving me against him, my thigh rubbing his hard length at the same time. His other hand moved to the edge of my hem, just as he’d promised earlier, and then disappeared beneath the fabric. The rough pads of his fingers slid up the back of my thigh slowly, moving up to grab a handful of my ass, kneading and drawing me even closer against him.
 

We moved to the pounding beat, and it was just the right amount of pressure to stoke the fire building inside.
 

Oh God…I could come right here.
In the back of my mind, I knew I was with Nate, in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by people, but all that registered was the way my sensitive flesh rubbed against him in exactly the way I needed.
 

Nate pressed a kiss beneath my ear. “You feel so good, Shayne.”

With those words, I grabbed a fistful of his dark hair and buried my face in his neck as my orgasm violently burst and shuddered through me. His fingers tightened on my skin when he realized what was happening, but he didn’t stop moving or pull away.
 

Where the hell did that come from? Did I really just… On his… Oh my God.
 

As I came down from the high and loosened my grip on his arms, he slowed our pace down and moved the hand under my skirt up my back to hold me still while I struggled to get my breathing back to a normal tempo.

“Holy shit.” He leaned back, his eyes wide on mine. “Hottest fucking thing…” he started, but then his hand went to the back of my neck, and he brought my lips to his.
 

He tasted even better than I’d imagined. Not that I’d imagined it…much.
 

Okay, maybe somewhere deep in my subconscious I had, and
hell
…he did not disappoint. As he swayed us to the music, his mouth stayed hungry on mine, his tongue a caress I wanted over my entire body.
 

I didn’t care that I was kissing him on the dance floor like other couples I’d made fun of before. I didn’t care—and I should’ve—that I’d just had an earth-shattering orgasm in the middle of a crowded room where anyone could see. And I certainly didn’t care to pull away from him when I heard familiar voices around us.
 

I heard Quinn’s wolf whistle and then, “Well, I’ll be damned. Don’t stop on our account.”

“I think she’s trying to give Paige a run for her money,” Ryleigh said.
 

“Who’s giving me a run for my— Holy shit, Shayne. I’m so proud. Someone give her the room key.”

As Paige’s voice rang out behind me, I pulled away, but even as I turned, Nate’s hands on my hips positioned me directly in front of him.
 

Oh…okay, that’s hot.
 

The girls broke into slow claps when I faced them, which normally would’ve embarrassed the hell out of me, so what I did next was way out of character.
 

I curtsied. Fucking curtsied.

“Thank you, thank you,” I said.
 

“Next showing in an hour,” Nate said from behind me.

Paige fanned herself. “Hot damn, I’d like to see that, but our girl here is a shy one. So how about you two take the key and get the hell outta here?”

“What? I’m not leaving you on your birthday,” I said, stepping forward and lowering my voice so Nate couldn’t hear me. But Paige wasn’t having it.

“Oh yes you are. Your birthday gift to me is to take sexy Mr. Suspenders upstairs before he combusts. In fact, I demand it.” She winked and then handed me the key card Ryleigh pulled out of her clutch. “Just make sure it happens on your bed, not mine.”
 

CHAPTER NINE

Well, Aren’t You a Right Bastard

ONCE WE’D LEFT the heated confines of the club and headed back to my room, it wasn’t reality that set in. Nope, it was the buzz that had my skin tingling and my mind solely focused on Nate and starting round two of what had begun on the dance floor.
 

Amazing that alcohol could do a one-eighty on your brain.
 

When we reached my room, I ran my hands up and down his suspenders. It was a shame those would have to come off. “So…do you want to come in?”
 

Not like he was going to say no, but I figured I’d ask anyway because I wanted to hear him say yes. The girls were heading to another club and we had at least a couple of hours to be alone, so I wasn’t about to waste time getting a repeat of what had happened only a short while ago.
 

While I wasn’t big on the one-night stand circuit, especially not lately, I wasn’t one to shy away from enjoying myself. And right now, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d wanted to be with someone so much. Who would’ve thought hours ago that this was the way things would turn out…

Nate’s lips brushed my throat in a kiss before he gently pushed my shoulders away and looked me in the eye. Through the haze of my alcohol-induced state, it took me a minute to work out what the expression on his face was. There was longing, there was lust, and there was…regret.
 

Wait—regret? That can’t be right.
 

I squinted at him again and tried to figure out what else that look could mean. Nope…still there. An icy chill spread through my veins at what that look said was coming.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“Shayne—”

“No,” I said, pushing away from him. I looked him up and down, trying to find some clue of what I’d missed, what signal I’d misread. His hands stayed by his sides and he didn’t attempt to move toward me to tell me I was wrong. The blood pounded in my head, the alcohol adding fuel to the anger and hurt and embarrassment all fighting for dominance.
How the hell did I get this so wrong?
 

“It’s not you—”

I scoffed. “Don’t. Do
not
give me the rest of that sentence. Was this some kind of game for you?” Then the realization hit me all at once, and I could barely make out my next words. “A dare… Was this a dare?”

“Christ, Shayne, of course not.” He gripped the back of his neck as his eyes pleaded with mine for understanding. “I like you.”

Seconds passed by as I waited for the rest of the ball to drop.
 

“And…?”

“And I’m not an idiot. We’ve both been drinking. I know you’d probably wake up tomorrow hating my guts again or picking a fight, and I’m not about to take advantage of the fact that you like me right now just to have one night with you.”

“Nope, ‘like’ is not a word I’d use to describe how I feel about you.”

He dropped his hand. “I’d like to see you again.”

“And I’d like a Mack truck to run your ass over, but we can’t all get what we want.”

Nate took a step toward me, and I took two steps back.
 

“Don’t do this. We had a good night tonight.”

“‘Had,’ past tense, and now it’s over. Good night, Nate.” I turned and reached into my bra to pull out the key card, but pulled out a Post-it note reminding me of what time to meet Ace instead. Where the hell was the key card…

I felt around in my bra, but it wasn’t in there. Did it fall out? Still stuck in my dress?
Damn B-cups…
Ah, screw it. Tugging at the hem of my dress, I wiggle-danced until the dumb card dropped onto the floor.
 

Nate laughed. “Wait, can you do that again? I forgot to take a video.” He pulled his cell out of his pocket and a light flashed on my face. “Okay, now again, but in slow motion.”

“How about I slow-motion-slap you instead?”

“On the ass? Kinky.”

“Oh shut up,” I grumbled, and pushed the door open. My heels had me teetering—well, that and tequila—and I grabbed on to the frame before I fell over. After kicking my shoes into the room, I turned to slam the door in his stupid, arrogant face, but then his hand shot out against the handle and stopped me.
 

He got a glare for that. A big
screw you and your big penis
one.

“Let go,” I said.

“Not until you agree to go out with me when we get back to L.A.”

A rumble of hysterical laughter forced its way up my throat. So much so that I had to bend over to catch my breath.
 

Everyone check out the balls on this wanker.
 

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. ‘Hey, I know I led you on all night and when it came down to business couldn’t follow through, but would you like to go to the Cheesecake Factory sometime so I can do it again?’” My eyes narrowed to slits. “Do I have ‘gullible dumbass’ written all over my forehead? Because that’s the only way I’d ever say yes to you again.”

I attempted to shut the door again, and he blocked it.

“You know,” he said, running his hand through his hair, “I think you like to test my patience. And it’s something of a game to you, so that’s fine, but let’s make things clear. First, you’ve never been a dare. I pursue you because I want to even when you make me crazy by spouting off mouthy shit I know you don’t mean. Call me crazy, but it turns me on. And I really enjoy the way your forehead wrinkles up like that when you look at me like I’ve grown two heads.” He looked down at the front of his pants and then grinned. “Well, I’m not far off on that one.”

“Such a comedian. And my forehead doesn’t have wrinkles,” I said, reaching up to check.

“Shayne.”

“Yes, asshole?”

“Can I finish?”

I raised an eyebrow but kept my mouth shut.
 

“Second, I like you enough that I don’t want to be a one-night stand you can’t remember.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but he put his finger on my lips.
 

“You know I’m right about that. And I’ll be honest, I know how much I’ve had to drink, and I’d like to remember the way you look under that dress the first time I get to see.” His eyes trailed down my body, a look of appreciation in his eyes that I had to admit was mildly satisfying. But I kept my expression firmly in the annoyed zone. I think. It was feeling a bit numb, so hopefully it was cooperating.

“And second,” he said, lifting his eyes to mine.
 

“You already said second.”

He growled. “Fine. Third.”

I nodded for him to continue, and he shook his head.
 

“Okay, third—trust me when I say you won’t get away from me next time.”

“Awfully presumptuous of you to assume there would be a next time,” I said. “Don’t the dorms close early?”