Of course I hadn’t. What would she see? Me dancing ballet? Right. And I had totally forgotten about going out with Robbie to take pics of tourist points to appease my parents, to keep up with my lie.
“I’ve been busy.” That was an understatement. “And I guess the novelty of living in New York is fading too.”
She chuckled. “I guess that was bound to happen, though I thought it would take longer.”
“When you have classes all day and lots of projects to work on, I guess you have to make it happen sooner.”
“It makes sense. All right, dear, I’m gonna let you go back to your project. Talk to you soon.”
“Bye, Mom.”
I disconnected the call and almost threw my phone against the wall of a store. Damn it. One of these days, my family would catch me in my lies.
I needed a drink.
Instead of going back to the hotel, I turned toward the pub. At least it wasn’t the middle of the afternoon anymore.
***
Rayna
I woke up from my nap with a start, my heart racing and my hands sweaty.
“It was just a dream,” I whispered to myself. Closing my eyes, I tried to banish the images.
I had been dancing with Josh on stage when I twisted my ankle and fell on my face. From the audience, my mother stood and pointed her finger at me. “I knew you would screw it up! You ruined our dream!”
I tried to get up so I could run off the stage and hide from her, but couldn’t. My legs were made of lead, and across the stage, Josh watched me with disgust in his eyes. I felt like I was back in my bed with him hovering over me, until he backed away from me as if my skin had turned into mold. “You disgust me. I hate being around you.”
He turned and marched off the stage, leaving me alone. Then the audience started laughing, pointing at me and laughing some more.
Groaning, I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. The red lights read 6:43 p.m. No wonder my stomach was hurting. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast—I was starving.
After shoving on my jeans, a casual blouse, a black denim jacket, and ballet flats, I decided to go out and hunt for someplace to eat. Better than staying inside that hotel room and reliving my dream for the rest of the night.
For no reason, I looked inside the glass windows of the pub as I was walking by and saw Josh seated at the bar, a plate of fries and a beer in front of him.
I almost kept on walking, but decided it would be childish of me to pretend I didn’t see him there. After a long breath, I entered the pub and sat beside him.
“Hi.”
He raised his eyebrows at me, surprised. “Hey. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“Well, for the record, I actually only came in like twenty minutes ago.”
“What were you doing before?” I asked, then quickly added, “Sorry. It’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s okay. I went for a walk.”
“Oh, nice.” I signaled to the bartender. “I took a nap.”
One corner of his lips turned up. “At least you’re all rested now.”
I sighed. “With the dream I had, not really.” The bartender came over and I ordered a soda and the menu. I was hoping this place had more to eat than french fries.
“Want to talk about it?”
I shook my head and looked at the menu. I never refused a burger, not when I could help it. I called the bartender and ordered my burger with a large plate of fries and a beer. Yes, a beer, which I used my fake ID to buy. Even though I didn’t drink much, I thought I deserved one tonight.
“All right, I’ll join you,” Josh said, ordering a burger for himself.
The bartender brought us the beers and we toasted our performance, clinking our bottles then taking a long sip. We made small talk about the other dancers and other casual topics while we waited for our burgers.
At the first bite, I moaned. I couldn’t help it. Josh watched me with wide eyes. Heat spread on my cheeks. “Sorry. It’s just … it’s so good.”
Frowning, he bit into his burger and then groaned as well. “Yeah, really good.”
We ate the rest of our burgers in silence, and after we finished our beers, we asked for another. And we started talking again—about the competition mostly. We talked about the other couples and what they had done right and what they could have done better.
Two hours and three beers later, Josh and I walked back to the hotel.
At the hotel lobby, we watched an old lady step out of the elevator, her gray wig twisted until it looked like clown hair. I wanted to tell her it wasn’t right, but I felt too bad about it, especially since Josh and I began laughing and couldn’t stop.
We were still laughing when we boarded the elevator and exited at our floor. But the laughter died as we approached our suites’ doors. The air became tense and suddenly everything felt awkward.
Without looking at him, I pulled out my key card from my pocket. “Well, thanks for the company.”
Hands shoved inside the pockets of his pants, Josh halted only three feet from me. “My pleasure.”
I made the mistake of looking into his eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. They glowed with too much meaning, too much feeling, too much intent.
“I should …” My hands shook as I reached for the door so I could swipe the card and hurry inside my room, where I could hide from his intense eyes.
“Rayna.” He reached over and closed his hand around my wrist. Slowly, he turned me to him. A little shocked, I let him turn me to him, and stayed put while he closed the distance between us.
But when he leaned over me, I snapped out of it and took a big step back. “What the hell are you doing?”
The shine in his blue eyes darkened. “Unless you object right now, I intend to finish what we started that night.”
I stared at him with wide eyes, but he never wavered. He wasn’t joking. A jolt of electricity ran through my body and butterflies took off in my stomach.
“Oh,” was all I said.
“You had your chance,” he whispered, closing the distance between us again. With a growl, Josh closed a hand around my nape, wrapped his other arm around my waist, pulling me against him as he leaned over me. “I’ve been dying to do this for real since you first started dancing with me,” he whispered, before brushing his lips over mine.
Chapter Twelve
Josh
The moment my lips touched hers, I was lost. She moaned against my mouth and I felt her body shuddering with the same electric jolt that had run through mine. Fuck, I had to have her. I angled my head and claimed her mouth, pushing my tongue through her parted lips. I wanted to taste her again; I needed to kiss her again.
I unwrapped my arm from her waist, grabbed my key card from my pocket, twisted her around so her back was pressed against my suite’s door, and swiped the card. The lock clicked and, still kissing her, still tasting her, I pushed us inside my room. The door closed with a loud thud, but I kept kissing her and walking, pushing her back in the direction of the bed.
We stopped kissing long enough to pull my shirt over my head and throw it to the side, then, noticing the bed was right behind her, I pushed Rayna until she fell on the mattress.
She put both her hands over her face.
What the hell?
I crawled over her, and, straddling her, clasped her wrists and pulled her hands from her beautiful face. “What happened?”
Looking at the ceiling, she shook her head. “A big case of deja vu. We were in similar positions when you abandoned me that night.”
I leaned down until my face was right above hers. “I didn’t want to leave you that night. I felt like the biggest jerk after, and also stupid. Why the hell had I left such a beautiful girl alone? I still stand by the reasoning that made me leave, but damn, did I regret it.”
“And what was that reasoning?”
“That I wasn’t the kind of guy who took a beautiful girl home, slept with her,
and then never saw her again.”
“And I’m not the kind of girl—”
“Who has one-night stands, I know that.”
She tilted her head. “When did you know that?”
“When I noticed how nervous you were in your apartment, and to be honest, that helped with my decision to leave.”
“So, all this time, at the company, you never thought I was a slut?”
I chuckled. “What? Of course not. You thought I thought you were a slut?” Her cheeks reddened at my question. With a smile, I lowered my face to hers. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”
She slapped my shoulder, but instead of withdrawing her hand, she clasped my shoulder and pulled my body to hers so I was spread over her, pressing her down. She moaned and I dove, taking her mouth into mine.
She moaned some more and I groaned. Fuck, if she made all these noises just from kissing, I couldn’t wait to find out what she sounded like when I was inside her. My erection grew harder thinking about it. I was ready for her, so ready, but I wanted to make this last. I wanted to devour her, to taste her, to explore every inch of her body.
I slid my mouth from hers and rained a trail of kisses down her jaw, her neck. Her back arched and then she surprised me. I didn’t even notice her hands had traveled south until she was unbuttoning my jeans and slipping her fingers inside my boxers.
“Oh,” I groaned as she closed her hand around my hard-on. Pumping up and down, making me dizzy and achy and needy. My body thrummed and all I could think was that I needed more. More of this. More of her. More. Now.
She tightened her grip, and I bit the soft spot between her neck and shoulder. Her movements became faster and harder and I couldn’t take anymore. Groaning and cursing, I pulled away.
Frozen, she stared at me with big eyes.
I leaned down and brushed my lips on her. “If you keep that up, this would end sooner rather than later. And I want later. Much later.”
Rayna smiled that beautiful, unhindered smile that only she could offer me. I smiled back at her before crawling out of the bed.
Again, she watched me, questions swimming in her eyes. Before she could say anything, I grabbed her ankles and pulled her to the edge of the bed. Swiftly, I pulled her pants and panties off, and knelt before her.
“Oh, oh,” was all she said.
I placed a small kiss on her knee and slowly, made my way up, and all the while she squirmed and gasped. I bit back a smile. She buckled once I met her center, my tongue running over her clit. Then she stilled. I did it again, and again she buckled. I put pressure on her clit and slid my finger inside her—she stilled again. Fuck, she was wet and tight and ready. I slipped another finger inside her and started pumping fast and hard. Rayna buried her hands in my hair and I groaned. Loving her reaction to me, I sucked on her clit. Moaning, Rayna arched her back—and froze. Two seconds later, she was shaking uncontrollably.
With a satisfied grin, I shrugged off my clothes and crawled over her—a condom in my hand. I was glad I still had one in my wallet because I wouldn’t have been able to stop. Not this time.
I gently tugged her to the middle of the mattress and rested my body over hers. She greeted me with a lazy grin, and I chuckled before taking her mouth with mine. She gasped as I plunged my tongue past her lips and claimed her for myself, but she didn’t stop me. Oh no, she parted her lips and opened her mouth wide, giving me full access.
I worked on the condom and positioned myself between her parted legs. She broke the kiss and sucked in a sharp breath as I slid inside her.
“Oh …” she whispered as I buried myself deep and stilled, getting used to her, to her tightness, to her wetness, and how fucking glorious she felt.
I groaned, trying to hold on. After five seconds—I counted—I couldn’t hold it anymore. With another groan, I started moving. Slowly at first, savoring each rub of her on me. It was too much and it still wasn’t enough. With a growl, I pounded into her, taking from her as much as I could. Rayna arched her back, and I wound an arm around her waist, keeping her close to me. I grazed my tongue across her mouth, her chin, jaw, shoulder, and down to her breasts. I clasped a hand around one while I slid my tongue along the curve of the other. Rayna moaned, arching her back more and more. Like she had done before, she buried her hands in my hair and held my face against her. I teased her, flicking my tongue around her breast, then her nipple, all the while thrusting into her, hard and deep. Rayna cried out, telling me all I needed to hear. I sucked on her nipple, then opened my mouth and took as much of her breast as I could. She cried out again.
Shit, she felt so good, so tight, so wet … and the sounds she made. I wasn’t sure I could hold on much longer.
Surprising me, Rayna pushed on my shoulders and rolled us over. She straddled me, her hands on my chest, her torso straight and her head thrown back, her hair a dark wave on her back. She started moving. Up and down, up and down, up and down. With each stroke, she went deeper and deeper, and seeing her over me like this, looking like a sex goddess, it made me hot and crazy and needy.
I closed my hands around her waist and helped her as she went up and down, up and down, keeping in rhythm with her, taking her even deeper. Then, Rayna slid her hands from my chest, to her thighs, up her stomach and to her own breasts. She clasped them and pinched her nipples, letting out a raspy moan. Shit. Oh shit, this was the sexiest thing I had ever seen. And she was here, with me. I was inside her.
I felt my climax building. Truth was, it had been building since our first kiss outside the bedroom.
With a growl, I wrapped my hands around Rayna’s upper arms and pulled her torso down until it was flush against mine.
“I want you right here,” I said, as I slid my hands back to her hips and held on tight as I lifted her just a little.
Then, I captured her mouth with mine, kissing her hard as I pounded into her. Rayna moaned against my mouth and her nails clamped my shoulders, holding on tight.
“Oh, Josh, keep going …”
I increased my rhythm. “Like this?”
Her eyes closed, she moaned in acknowledgment.
One, two, three thrusts and she cried out, coming around me. And with another one, two, three thrusts, I came too.
Rayna’s body went limp over me, her face tucked into my neck, her hot breath tickling my skin. I wrapped my arms around her, enjoying how well we fit together.
Rayna’s breathing slowed, and when I looked, I found her asleep on top of me. Very gently, I moved her to my side, but kept her tucked under my arm, so I could feel her hot body against mine while I too allowed sleep carry me under.
***
Rayna
I woke up with a start, totally unaware of where I was and what was going on. But only for two seconds. Then I saw the handsome man sprawled beside me and the memories of the previous night rushed back to me.
Heat crept up through my body and cheeks. I pulled the white sheets over my naked chest.
Oh. My. God.
What had we done? Well, I knew what we had done and it had been incredible, but … It would be even more awkward now between Josh and me. Was I just supposed to go back to my routine as if nothing had happened? At least the competition was over and we wouldn’t have to dance together anymore.
A pang cut through my heart at the thought of not dancing with him anymore.
Josh moaned and rolled to the side. The sheet fell from his chest to his hips, and I stared at his perfect, perfect body, trying to memorize each one of his hundreds of muscles.
Biting back a groan, I slid out of the bed, put my clothes on, not really caring if they looked crumpled, and tiptoed out of the room.
In my room, I sagged against the door and let out a long breath.
Oh. My. God.
Trying not to think about him and us and the previous night and wonder how things would be from now on, I took a shower and put on fresh clothes.
It was still sort of early, and we didn’t really need to be at
the theater again until after lunch, when the judges would announce the winners, so I decided to see if the hotel was still serving breakfast.
I had just filled a mug with black coffee when my cell phone rang.
Afraid to look at the screen, I answered the call.
“Good morning, darling,” my mother’s sugary voice said. “Sleep well?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes. How are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Just missing my daughter.”
Holding the phone with my shoulder, I walked through the self-service area and grabbed a muffin and an apple. “I’ve only been gone for like thirty-six hours. I’ll be home tonight.”
I found a little table it the corner of the hotel’s dining room, and sank into one of the chairs, right beside a window overlooking a beautiful courtyard.
“What time do you get here again?”
“I’m not sure, actually. But I know it’s late. Eleven, maybe? I’ll have to check my email.”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed. “That’s too late.”
“For what?”
“Practice, of course. What else?”
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. To practice, of course. What else? If she had her way, I would practice at eleven on a Sunday night, especially because I had Mondays off. But she knew not to push that much.
A small, sarcastic smile turned my lips up. Thank goodness she couldn’t see me now. “And here I thought you were really missing me.”
Just then Josh sat on the chair across from me. Brows knotted he crossed his arms over the table. “Who else is missing you?”
Chapter Thirteen
Josh
When I woke up and found the bed empty, I first thought Rayna was in the bathroom, or had gone to her room to change clothes and would be back. Time passed. I sat up and called for her but she didn’t answer. And when she didn’t come back from her room, rage swept through me.
What the fuck?
After the perfect night we had, I thought …
I ran a hand over my tumbled hair. I didn’t know what I thought.
Dazzle Me (When You Dance Book 1) Page 10
