The Stand Off (20 page)

“Who was that man you were
dancing with?” were the first words out of Dean’s mouth.

“That was no one. I didn’t expect
to see you tonight,” she said standoffishly.

He immediately noticed that she
was trying to change the topic. He’d play along for now, but he vowed to find
out the mystery dancer’s identity by the end of the night.

“You didn’t think I’d come to
congratulate you?”

“No. I wasn’t sure since my win
could almost be considered your loss.”

“I gave you this building because
I wanted you to have it. I didn’t lose anything; I think that I’m the one who
really won. I got the better deal; I got you.” He stepped closer and grabbed
her waist.

“Sex with me was a better deal
than your million dollar contract for this block?”

“Everything about you is better
than a million dollar deal,” he answered honestly as he slid his hand down to
her hip.

“Says the man who believes that
everything has a price.”

“You proved me wrong,” he
admitted with a shrug of his large shoulder.

“How? By having sex with you for
this building?”

“You didn’t have sex with me for
this building; you had sex because you wanted to. Because you like me. Admit
it.”

“I don’t like you,” she lied and
turned her head so he couldn’t see her eyes.

“Yes you do.” He pulled her
closer and gently kissed her lips. “And you know I can prove it.”

“Not right here; not in front of
all these people,” she said but did not attempt to pull back.

“Why not? They’re going to find
out eventually.” He pulled her even closer and bent to whisper in her ear,
“Let’s go up to your room.”

She swallowed hard and stood up
straight before she responded, “I told you, I’m no longer having casual sex
with you.”

“There’s nothing casual about my
sex,” he whispered in her ear as he sunk his fingers deeply into her hips.

“No more meaningless sex.”

“I want to fuck you like a beast.
I feel like a huge, fucking monster dying to stake his claim. I want to mark
every inch of you. I want to lock you in my room for the rest of your life…
there’s nothing meaningless about that,” he growled as he clutched her rear
end.

She felt her vagina pulse and her
nipples harden so tightly that she feared they would slice through the front of
her dress. If he said another word, she would be the one fucking him on this
dance floor. She had to regain control lest she do something she would regret.

“Stop,” she whispered softly as
she attempted to pull back.

“No,” he growled softly as he
held her tight.

“If you’re just going to continue
groping me on the dance floor in front of everyone, let’s at least pretend like
we’re dancing.”

She began to move her feet to the
beat, being careful not to sway her hips lest they both lose control. She could
tell he was holding on by a thread. That mischievous glint in his eyes revealed
an anxious beast ready to pounce on her. She couldn’t tell if she was scared or
as anxious as he.

“You can dance all you want, but
I’m still going to grope you until you admit that you like me and / or tell me
who you were dancing with.” He kissed her again and slid his hands across her
butt to hold it. “I’ll give you another minute before I start pinching those
nips.”

She glared at him as she tried to
take a tiny step back, but he pulled her closer. She could actually feel the
faint collective gasp of her sister and friends from across the dance floor.
Lux turned to see them all staring at her, wide eyed, with their mouths hanging
open.

Pixie’s jaw had dropped as low as
it would go as she openly stared at her sister.

“Do you see what I am seeing?”
Pixie asked.

“Yes I certainly do,” Kiki said
with a growing smile.

“PDA? Lux? It’s like the fucking
twilight zone. I fucking knew it,” Pixie smiled widely.

“Finally!” Kiki giggled in
excitement.

Lux was not prepared for everyone
at the lounge to see her reaction as Dean groped her. She knew she would not be
able to control herself if he continued in this manner; she was already having
a difficult time. She looked into his eyes and she swore the heat from his
stare was burning through her clothes and caressing her nipples.

“Stop,” she hissed softly.

“Admit it,” he insisted.

She looked into his eyes for a
moment before she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close.

“I do like you Dean Blake; but
it’s pointless, don’t you think?” she asked before she kissed the side of his
cheek.

Dean held her close, refusing to
let her pull back.

“It’s not pointless. I like you
more than I ever thought I could like anyone. I didn’t even know this type of
thing really existed.”

She pulled back, she needed to
see his eyes; in there, she would see the truth.

“Really?” she asked, wanting to
hear him confirm it.

“Yes,” he answered, and she could
see the truth in his eyes. “Now tell me who were you dancing with?”

“I don’t know,” she answered.

He grabbed her hip tightly and
growled, “Answer me.”

“I don’t know.”

She couldn’t give up Clifton’s
identification. He was a private detective after all; he preferred to keep
anonymous. Although she’d never heard Clifton’s name before, that didn’t mean
that Dean would not recognize it. Crazier things had happened.

“You don’t know?” he slid his
hand possessively across her butt and pulled her even closer, “You let
strangers
get that close to you?”

“He wasn’t close.”

“I can still smell his cheap,
drugstore cologne on you,” he hissed in her ear. He bit the side of her neck
and sunk his fingers into her ass. He pulled her lower body closer to his as he
pressed his massive erection against her.

“Not here, there’s to many people
watching,” she tried to pull back.

“Come on.” He grabbed her hand
and took a step.

“Wait!” She tried to pull away,
but he pulled her back to him.

“I’m done waiting.”

“I can’t just leave the party,”
she said although leaving the party with him sounded ideal.

“Until you tell me his name,
you’re out of options,” he growled.

“But,”

“Enough! Between the thought of
some guy's hands on you and you swaying those hips…I’m ready to explode. I’m
warning you now.” He grabbed the back of her neck as he bent to whisper in her
ear, “I’m ready to bend you over right here and fuck you from behind until you
tell his name. Now either we go to your room or we do it here. Your choice;
either way I’m getting inside of you
or
I’m getting answers.”

He pulled back to look at her,
daring her to object. She knew from the look in his eyes that he had lost most
of the control he’d been using.

“My room,” she answered.

“Good, come on,” he insisted
before he began to usher her though the crowd.

She walked as fast as she could
in her four inch platforms, but even in sneakers she wouldn’t be able to keep
up with Dean.

“Faster baby, I can’t hold it
much longer,” he whispered in her ear.

“I’ll break my neck in these
heels.” She explained.

He bent his knees, put his
forearm below her butt, and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck
and laid her head on his shoulder as he cut through the crowd. Once he was out
of the lounge, he ran top speed through The Music Hall to the door leading to
her house. Once inside, he rushed to the stairs, which he took three steps at a
time. He raced to her bedroom, slammed the door, and locked it behind him. He
slid her down his body until her feet hit the floor, and she instantly stepped
back.

“Who were you dancing with?’ he
asked as he stepped closer to her, almost backing her against the wall by the
door.

“I told you, I don’t know who he
was,” she answered, wishing he would just leave it alone.

“You let guys you don’t know
touch you like that? Tell me who he is!” he barked as he took another step
closer to her.

“Okay, then let’s try it this
way… it’s none of your business.” She hated to be so rude, especially right now
when her body was begging her to just tell him the truth. But she could not
give up her source. He was powerful enough to destroy Clifton, and there was no
question that Dean would do it with a smile. She watched the rage flash across
his face as he backed her against the wall.

“Who were you dancing with?” he
roared, refusing to relent.

“Why do you care?” she spat back,
wishing she was in a position to tell him.

“Because I do; I care a lot more
than you think,” he admitted, although he could tell by her expression she did
not believe him.

“No you don’t, all you care about
is property, meaningless sex, and money,” she scoffed.

“I care about you more than all
of that,” he whispered in her ear as he pinned her tightly against the wall.

“You don’t care about me,” she
frowned and pushed him at arm’s length, despite the sudden hope flooding her.

“Yes I do. What if I decided we
could
try
being exclusive?”

“
Try
? I’d tell you to
shove your exclusivity up your ass.” She frowned at him.

“Then let me rephrase that… as of
now we
are
exclusive.”

“By exclusive do you mean just
exclusive sex
minus
the relationship? Because I’m not having sex again
until I’m in a relationship. I want to be with someone who sees me in their
future.”

“You better not be talking about
that guy you were dancing with,” he warned her.

“What if I am? Why should it
matter to you? You don’t really want a relationship, so why would you try to
stop me from having one?” she snapped back although the thought of a
relationship with anyone but Dean was excruciatingly unappealing.

“You can forget about any
relationship with anyone but me… it’s never going to happen.” His anger was
rising at rapid speed.

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“How would you stop me?”

“I will lock you up in my fucking
room before I let you be with someone else. You can bet on it.”

“Maybe I
will
bet on
that,” she said as she raised her chin in a haughty fashion.

He grabbed her chin in his hand
and bent his head closer. “Careful baby… I’d be happy to reteach you the rules
of this relationship.”

“Relationship? You mean sex
sessions,” she said although she wished the words weren’t true.

“It’s not just the sex… it’s
your
sex, and everything that comes with it. I could never find anyone else like
you,” he admitted, skimming her lips with his thumb. “It’s your mouth, your
words, your personality, your conversation, and just your presence.” He trailed
his fingers down her neck and to her chest. “I like the way you piss me off and
that you’re not afraid to stand up to me. I like that look you get when you’re
angry. I like that emotion you’re able to conjure within me. I want to be
around you.”

She looked at him in disbelief
before she spoke, “You’re serious?”

“Dead serious. I want to be your
first relationship. Actually I
will
be your first and
only
relationship. As of tonight there will be no one else. From here on out it’s
just me and you.”

“You really want to be in a
relationship?”

“Yes.”

“Have you thought this through?
Do you know what it entails?” she asked skeptically.

“I know what I want; we can sort
out the details later,” he answered as he slid his hands down her arms to hold
her hands. “I’m not prepared to let you go; being without you is difficult, I
can’t even concentrate. I think about where you are and what you’re doing down
to what you’re wearing. I think about the way you smell and the way your skin
feels.” He lightly kissed her lips, “I want to see you all the time. I have to
know that I can always see you, whenever I want. I’ll do whatever I have to do
to keep you near me.”

“Do you really mean that?” she
asked although she knew by the look on his face that he did. She just needed to
make sure; it seemed too good to be true.

“With all my heart,” he answered
with a sincere smile.

She wrapped her arms around his
neck and stood on her tiptoes to press her lips against his. She then pulled
back to whisper, “If you’re lying, I’ll kill you.”

“I don’t lie about relationships,
you know that.” He held the sides of her head and kissed her. What started as a
soft, lazy kiss quickly escalated into something much more passionate.

The top of her corseted dress was
tight and flattened her breasts against her chest, forming an extreme cleavage
at the top. He slowly rolled the top of the corset down her breasts to stop
right below her nipples. The snug material crushed the lower halves of her
breasts, narrowly avoiding the tips. Her bare nipples felt extraordinarily
sensitive from the partial confinement. The constricting material pulled at
them and she was dying for him to touch her.