by Jill Monroe
“I know Dallas is my town, but if you keep driving, I’ll stay on the lookout for anything shiny along the road.” After all, most of what they’d done appeared to have been her wish fulfillment. Hmmm. What did Tony fantasize about?
“Sounds like a plan.”
The sides of the highway thickened with businesses and neighborhoods and hotels as they approached Dallas, and another lane joined the highway to accommodate the added traffic.
There’d been plenty of signs advertising dance clubs and sports bars but nothing really unique. Nothing that would have blurted out Turn off the highway now—here is where you must go.
But something did catch her eye. “Check it out,” she said, pointing outside his window. “Ten o’clock.”
“What? Do you see a club candidate? Is it behind the mall?”
She shook her head. “No, it is the mall.”
Skepticism flickered in his eyes as he glanced at her sideways. “So your lack of judgment or moderation took us to the mall last night?”
“No, but my common sense and reason takes us there today. I’m sure they have a computer store there. We can log in and use one of those locate-my-phone apps. Might lead us somewhere.”
“I sure reeled myself in a smart one last night.” He changed lanes and aimed for the off-ramp. “Didn’t realize people still went to the mall.”
“Yes, Mr. California Excitement. This is Texas—we go to the mall here. Giant enclosed ones with carefully controlled climates, too. Let’s pop over to one of those kiosks by the food court—we can buy a burner phone.”
“Did you say burner phone?”
She began to giggle. “I guess I did. I like to watch those clandestine spy shows on TV. I think the kiosk is called OnTheGoPhones. Does that work for you?”
He draped an arm around the back of her seat. “It all works for me.”
* * *
“YOU WEREN’T KIDDING. This mall’s kind of happening,” Tony told her as they maneuvered around clumps of people standing in front of store windows and generally being way too slow.
“Why is it that everyone on the planet is in no hurry at the exact moment you want to get someplace fast?” she asked, but they soon found the mall directory. “The computer store is on the second floor, one spoke over.”
They hiked up the escalator and reached the second floor at a record-setting pace. Only to stop at the large line in front of the store. “Oh, no. I forgot people were camping out here tonight to get the new phone on Monday.”
A college-aged kid with a clipboard and friendly smile approached them. “If you take your spot here, we can’t guarantee there will be any stock left on Monday. Your best bet is to order online.”
Hayden leaned over and spotted dozens of people in the store, playing around on computers and music players. “What about if we just want to try out your products?”
He stepped aside. “That’s free. Check out the new video editing software. It rocks.”
“Oh, yeah?” Tony asked.
“Come on, Mr. Movie, we can play around with that later.”
Hayden and Tony fled the crowd standing in line and joined the crowd milling around the store. Hip but catchy music played over the high-end sound system above their heads while they waited until a free computer opened up. After two failed attempts at remembering her password, a progress bar flashed on the screen. She crossed her fingers. “Here’s hoping I have some battery life left.”
A beautiful blue dot sprouted on the high-resolution wide-screen monitor, then a map appeared. “Yes!” she shouted. “If I were the kind of person who high-fived, you’d be so fived right now.”
Tony shrugged. “I can think of other things we can do to celebrate. Still involving your hands.”
“I’m going to ask you to share those with me later.” Two could play the flirting game.
Hayden zoomed in and a little animated signpost appeared. Tony copied down the address and directions on the menu of misdeeds.
“Click on the signpost and see if there’s a picture corresponding with the address. We could get a name of the business.” But when she moused over that option, the picture was all blurred. “Must be a privacy thing.”
“Which brings up all kinds of questions about what exactly this place could be.” Her thoughts flew to the naughtiest ideas: sex club, burlesque theatre, adult toy shop—places where the patrons frowned on digital surveillance.
“And there’s no phone number, either. This keeps getting more and more interesting.”
“Guess we don’t need the burner phone,” she said and logged out. Then she stepped aside so Tony could log into his account. Of course he remembered his password on the first try, but unlike her, no blue dot appeared.
“Phone must be dead. It gets a lot of use, so if I don’t keep it charged, the battery goes down quickly. It’s basically my portable office, and I can use it to get great video in places where it’s hard to drag in a ton of equipment. I also use it to edit on the fly. I’ve got over eight hours’ worth of video on the modern-day cowboy project on that phone. Not sure what I’d rather lose, my car or my phone.”
“Maybe it’s beside mine, it’s just dead,” she said trying to reassure him.
“Then let’s go find them,” he said.
They got back into the car and headed for the coordinates of her phone, but she still kept her eye out for a place that would have appealed to no-inhibitions Hayden. Luckily the early evening fall sky still provided plenty of light for her to keep searching out the window. But her shoulders slumped as they drove closer to her phone with still no club that appeared even mildly intriguing.
“Even if I find this place, maybe we should still go pick up my phone first. It’s possible the club is not off the highway, but closer to where I left my phone. Heck, the club could be where I left my phone.”
“True, but same as at the casino, I don’t think a phone would be turned into lost and found. Too easy to pawn or get crushed under dancing feet.”
Then she spotted it. “Oh, my God, Tony.”
“Save that for later.”
She tapped her finger against the window. “Look at that billboard. It’s a place where you can actually swing from the chandeliers.”
“You think that’s our club?”
Excitement pounded through her. “Oh, yeah. I know that’s our club.”
“Where do we go first? Club or address?” he asked.
“How far away are the two?”
“Five minutes.”
“Club.” Because curiosity trumped common sense.
* * *
ONLY A FEW cars dotted the parking lot of Lavish, most likely staff vehicles, but Hayden suspected that by nightfall, there’d not be a free spot in sight and a line outside the door and around the building to get in.
“I’ve heard people on campus talk about this place, but now I understand why it’s so popular,” she said, pointing to the large placards on the building advertising the endless entertainment available inside. After you paid the cover charge, of course. Lavish seemed to cater to the most outrageous kinds of fun, and hanging from a chandelier was just one small example. They boasted one room full of foam, and another of snow, and of course, one room filled with a few mechanical bulls because they were in Texas. “My friends say the club has several different floors, each playing a different kind of music, from hip-hop to electronic funk. I think they even have a rooftop terrace for dancing when it’s warm.”
The front door was unlocked, probably as a convenience to the staff. They walked through a long, dark, draped hallway that distorted sight and sound and heightened the senses. Had she walked this hallway last night with Tony? Or had she met this sexy stranger here?
The hallway opened into a large room. Several brightly lit bars spanned the walls, along with inviting VIP booths, but the large dance floor dominated the space. She imagined the lights at their feet pulsing to the rocking beat of the music, but right now only a lazy test pattern lit the floo
r. The house lights were up and a waitress rushed past them, only to stop and glance their way. “You here about a job?”
Hayden shook her head.
“Then we don’t open until eight.”
“Actually, we’re trying to find... That is, I think we were here last night, and...” She took a deep breath and tried again. “Can you swing from a chandelier here?”
The waitress squinted. “Oh, hey, I remember you now. Yeah, you two were wild about the idea of taking the swing. You had one of the private rooms upstairs. Number eight, I believe.” And she pointed to a wraparound staircase, and moved on, too busy with setup to care about them anymore.
Signs inviting them to Ride It and Make the Thrill lined the stairwell. “They must get their suggestive advertising from the same company as the Endeavor.” Tony chuckled.
“Well, sex sells.”
The second floor had ten different rooms for private parties but also opened up to an elaborate balcony that overlooked the dance floor below. And there, secured to the railing, waited three swings. One was the promised chandelier. The second was a gilded cage. The third was a bed with silky black sheets big enough for two.
“I bet we tried all three,” Tony said, standing so close to her his breath tickled the hair at her temple. She shivered at the intimacy.
She’d bet she’d kissed him on that bed, for once feeling sexy and daring because she’d finally dropped the self-protection and tapped into primal instinct. Stopped blocking what she’d wanted to try and what convention and society told her she should never, ever do. Did she have the guts to do it again? Completely clearheaded?
Something experience tells us we’re not allowed to want.
Last night, had she been the experience Tony wasn’t allowed to want?
“Let’s check out room number eight,” he suggested. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. More than anything she wanted to be alone with him. To touch him.
Make the Thrill...oh, yeah.
He pushed the door open and shoved it closed behind them. Heavy drapes lined the walls in here, too, masking the outside noises and leaving only the sound of their breathing. Padded silken chairs were set up in intimate pairs in the corners and nooks of the room. A balcony took up the fourth wall so VIP guests could look out over the dance floor if they didn’t yet need the privacy of the corners.
She crossed to the balcony. A DJ must have arrived to test the sound system, because a low rocking beat began to pump below them. The house lights lowered and the strobes began to pulse and flash with the music and her hips began to sway to the beat.
She felt Tony’s incredible heat against her back. “Last night I would have rented all ten of these rooms if it meant I could have been alone with you. Wouldn’t have cared about losing eight hours of video.”
Her eyes drifted shut for a moment from the powerful effect his admission had on her body. She felt light and heavy. Her mind cleared and fogged. She turned to face him, the rapid rise and fall of her breasts a finger distance from the breadth of his chest.
His eyes grew black with desire and need. “It was all I could do to stay on my side of the booth at the diner.”
“You were a mile away.”
“All day has been one long buildup. Agonizing foreplay that has never ended,” he admitted.
She began to sway to the music, her hips matching the beat of the music thumping below them.
“You’ve tortured me, all damn day, keeping me wondering when you were going to try to jog my memory again with a kiss.”
She reached for his hand and drew his finger to her lips. She darted her tongue out for a quick taste then sucked his index finger into her mouth. His eyes closed for a moment as he groaned. “Whenever you use this finger, I want you to think about being inside me.”
His gaze dipped to her lips. “You’ve got a mouth that...”
“That what?” She wanted to know. Had to know.
“Makes me want to do this.” Then he hauled her against the solidness of his body as his lips brushed hers. Once. Twice. His tongue slid along the seam of her lips, then stole inside her mouth, tangling with hers. His hands explored up and down her sides, cupped her ass and demanded a response.
This was old-school ravishment like the kind in her granny’s historical romance novels. Only she wasn’t an unwilling ingenue. Or unknowing. She sank her fingers into the hair at the back of his neck and pulled him closer, kissing him with all the ramped-up and tamped-down need that had been stored inside her since she’d woken up beside him tangled between the sheets in bed.
Or when he’d cupped her breasts and teased her nipples in the dressing room.
Or when he just stood beside her. Breathing.
If carnal temptation had a flavor, Tony must taste exactly like that. Erotic, sensual and heady. His hands circled her waist and drew her against him tightly. “Here,” he whispered against her lips.
“Here?” she managed to ask after a long moment.
“Here, alone in the dark, is where I finally would have stopped fighting.”
“Why here?” Her throat constricted and her stomach fluttered.
“Because I would have smelled your hair, heard you talk, felt that sexy body of yours all night.” He laughed, self-deprecating and oh-so delicious. “Of course I sold my car.” He cupped her face between his hands, his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks. “Because you, Hayden, you I want like nothing else I’ve ever wanted in my life.”
Her body began to tremble and her nipples tightened almost painfully against the soft material of her cami. “I want you, too.”
The DJ changed the music and a low thumping bass began to pound through the club. Red, blue and yellow lights pulsed along with the music, alternately filling the private room with brightness and casting them in darkness. Every few moments, the glow would gift her with a clear view of Tony—the tight angles of his face, the strain around his beautiful brown eyes—then the beams would shift again and he’d be hidden in the dim.
Tony pushed her deeper into the corner of the room. Into the shadows and against the wall. She met his mouth this time, opening for his kiss. Pleasure and excitement rolled through her. She lifted her leg against his and hooked her foot behind his knee, drawing his hips against hers.
The hardness of his cock brushed between her legs, sending a spark of naked thrills through her. She thrust against him and he groaned. She rubbed harder and gripped his ass and he groaned more, the sound of his erotic reaction inflaming her. “Mmmmm, Tony. You fit between my legs perfectly.”
His breath rushed from his chest in a heavy exhale. “Hayden, you can’t say things like that to me.”
She thrilled at the roughness that spiked his warning. As if he was in exquisite agony. Good. That’s exactly how he made her feel. Wanting and needy, and yet sexy and desirable. She swallowed and bit back a grin, excited to poke the bear a bit. “It’s true, though. I want you, here, with nothing between us.” She ground against him to prove her point, sealing her lips against his.
His rock-hard penis grew with every push of her hips into his.
With a tormented growl, Tony gripped her by the shoulders and spun her away from him, propelling her against the covered softness of the wall. The fabric cooled her forehead, which was tinged with perspiration. Her skin felt overheated and her clothes too tight.
He draped his chest against her back while his hands circled around her hips. She reached above her head, her hands drawing his head down. His lips found their mark along her sensitized neck. And oh, did his tongue find the sweet spot below her chin.
The tight knitted sweater rode up her stomach as the warmth of his fingers traced patterns on her exposed skin.
“This is what I wanted in that dressing room today,” he told her.
“Me, too.” And so much more. Hayden rotated her hips in time to the music until she found the hard ridge of his cock. Then she teased and tormented him some more. He jutted against the curve of her ass, and her knees almo
st buckled. If last night had been half this amazing she’d have been in trouble.
She performed a little shimmy, as if she was the stripper and he was the pole. Tony groaned against her neck, his breath teasing her skin. She swayed again. And again.
His hands cupped her breasts, molding and shaping them.
“Mmm, that feels so good. You make me feel so good.” Her words sounded little more than a slurred moan.
“It’s about to get better,” he whispered against her ear.
His left hand continued to cup and shape her breast, holding her against him. Not a problem—she had no plan to leave. But his right hand—that questing right hand dipped lower. His fingers trailed oh-so slowly along her rib cage. The muscles of her stomach coiled when he slid past her belly button and sank under the waistband of her jeans. He gave her a light, teasing caress.
Her knees did give then, and he hauled her tighter against his chest. “Easy,” he ordered, his voice sounding pleased by her charged reaction.
Hayden’s mouth dried in anticipation of his next touch and the air in her lungs felt heavy.
But his hand didn’t move.
“Tony?” Her voice was a groan of utter frustration laced with intense expectation. She wanted more. Needed more.
“Tell me you want me. This.” He stroked her clit with the lightest of touches.
She managed to nod, a frantic movement of her head. Hayden leaned into him, nearly mindless, craving and so, so achy.
“Tell me what to do,” he whispered, and she squeezed her eyes tight.
She licked her dry lips. “Touch me. Make me come.”
His fingers found her clit again, but still he only gave her a light-as-silk stroke. Her muscles clenched as aggravation and disappointment warred within her. Oh yeah? Two can play like that. She bucked against him, and his cock surged hard against her backside. “More,” she ordered on a moan. She added a “please,” just in case.
His soft chuckle vibrated through his chest and into her back, and damn if it didn’t make her hotter. Then he stroked her clit fully and she moaned.
“Oh, yes, Hayden. Just like that. You have no idea what it does to me to hear that I’m giving you pleasure. That I’m giving you what you need.”
