When Dominic finally pulled back looking rather pleased with himself, Dahlia sighed. “You pull something like that again and it’ll be the last time you see me.”
Mocking her, Dominic brushed a hand down the curve from her waist to her hip. “Ah, come on, baby. You can’t resist me forever.”
Dahlia’s hand closed over his. It didn’t look to be backed by aggression, but Dominic winced as her fingers closed around his wrist. Every muscle in her arm was taught as she removed his hand from her body. “This is your last warning, Vancaster.” She shoved his arm away from her and spots of blood from her fingernails welled on his wrist.
“Damn, baby. You don’t have to mark me to lay a claim.” His words were cocky, but he took a step back all the same. He nodded his head to the bouncers on either side of him and walked down the hall without even glancing at me. I wasn’t quite as invisible to the rest of the people standing in the hall.
Both Big and Less Big were looking at me with bland expressions while Dahlia seemed more confused than anything else. “Sanford? What are you doing here?” She looked at the bodyguards, who were apparently with her and not Dominic like I had initially thought. “Dominic was my last appointment.”
They nodded and I took that moment to stand and try not to think about what grime I’d picked up on the back of my jeans. “I just wanted to talk.”
Dahlia’s posture morphed from wary to hipshot, her expression dry. “We already talked. It didn’t go well.”
“Look, I’m sorry, I just…”
Shaking her head in a way that cut me off, she turned to Big. “I need to clean up. Watch him.”
With that, she disappeared back into the room, the lock snicking closed behind her. I wasn’t totally sure whether she expected me to wait or just go away, but I hadn’t sat in the hall for two hours just to be told off. She didn’t want people to think she was into drugs, maybe she shouldn’t be walking around campus acting like a dealer.
Whatever Dahlia needed to clean up sure took a hell of a long time. It was also likely she was just trying to make me wait as long as possible. I wouldn’t put it past her at this point. Eventually the door popped back from its frame and Dahlia stood there looking like a pack mule. Honestly, she looked a little ridiculous with the two black boxes—which looked like oversized cloth-covered tackle boxes—draped in a crisscross style across her slender body. I wasn’t even sure how she was managing them because they looked like they weighed more than she did.
“You want any help loading up?” Less Big asked her.
Dahlia eyed me, then shook her head. “I’m good. You guys can head out. Thanks for the help tonight.”
They both nodded and left. Dahlia stood there staring at me for a few seconds before walking over to where I was still leaning against the wall. “So, what’s your deal, Sanford? You stalking me or something?”
“Stalking you?” I snorted. “Hardly.”
She tipped her head to the side to indicate I should follow and started down the hall. “Then what?” She nudged a couple of people aside at the top of the stairs so we could get through. “I run into you on campus and then you show up here, waiting outside the door like a lost puppy.”
Not exactly appreciating the comparison, my curiosity was temporarily replaced by irritation. “Look, I’m sorry I jumped to the assumption that you were dealing. What with all the handoffs and secrecy, I can’t imagine why I might have thought that.” Insert eye roll. “I was serious about the police planning to watch the campus more closely. Whatever the hell it is you’re into, I don’t want to see you get tagged, all right? That’s it. Take it for what you will.”
We were thick in the middle of the dancing bodies by then, and Dahlia was having a hard time making it through the crowd with her ridiculous baggage. Knowing she’d probably slap me for offering to help, I reached forward and snatched one of the straps from around her neck before she could react and slung it over my shoulder. When she looked back to glare at me, I gestured for her to get moving. Her answering scowl got the same in return. Like I was really going to open up her secret box in the middle of a hormone riddled crowd of coeds. I didn’t want to be seen with whatever she was toting around in these things.
It wasn’t until we were almost to the front door and I spotted Lillian chatting animatedly with some girl I thought I recognized from one of my classes, that I remembered I was trying to avoid her. Her gaze started to shift, like she could sense me coming. Reacting on impulse, I grabbed Dahlia’s arm and shoved her outside before Lils could see me. A startled, “Hey!” trailed out the door as we escaped.
The door wouldn’t stay closed for long so I continued to push Dahlia down the steps until we were hidden by enough bodies that I thought I was safe. As soon as my grip relaxed, Dahlia ripped her arm away from me and shoved me back. “What the hell, Sanford?”
“Sorry, I just didn’t want Lils to see me, and unless you wanted to be separated from your James Bond luggage strapped around my neck, you needed to come with me.” She could be pissed if she wanted. I was kind of over the whole curiosity thing by that point. If I just left, I was sure Harvey would be able to find a ride home.
Dahlia’s outrage morphed into disgust. “Please don’t tell me you’re dating Lillian Devry. I thought you had better taste than that.”
“First of all, no, I am not dating Lillian. If she weren’t friends with Cori, I’d never see her at all. Girl can’t take a hint, let alone me telling her I’m not interested over and over again.” Why wouldn’t she just back off? “Secondly, you don’t know me at all. Definitely not well enough to think you can judge my taste in women.”
Looking slightly offended, Dahlia stopped in front of a car—which I assumed to be hers when she leaned against it—and gave me the kind of look that said I was an idiot. She dropped her bag on the curb and motioned for me to do the same. Which I did. Then she turned her attention back to me. “We went to school together for what, like seven years? I think I know a little something about you, Sanford.”
“Oh yeah? What do you know about me?” I challenged.
She looked like she was about to respond, but her mouth snapped closed again just as a syrupy voice called, “Sammy! There you are, sweetie.”
I cringed and wondered how on earth she had seen me. I was about to turn and tell her to leave me the hell alone, but I never got the chance. The next thing I knew, Dahlia’s hands were wrapped around my neck and my mouth was on hers. Not once in my plan to find out what she was up to did I ever consider kissing her. I figured she’d sooner punch me.
My hands were on Dahlia’s waist a split second later. She went all in, pressing against me and running a hand up into my hair as she continued to work her mouth against mine. My brain completely shut down at that point. I’d kissed my share of women, but this was in a whole other realm. Heat ripped through my body and I was panting for breaths between each kiss, my tongue dancing against hers as thought abandoned me.
I felt unattached to my body as my hands squeezed Dahlia’s waist and lifted her to sit on the trunk of her car. It gave her enough height that I didn’t have to lean down as much to reach her, but it put us chest to chest as well. I knew she could feel every inch of me pressed against her torso and didn’t care in the least that it was plenty obvious how much she was affecting me. It seemed to egg her on, deepening her next kiss as she pulled against me. Part of my thought I must be imagining the whole encounter, but Dahlia wasn’t backing off.
In the distance I heard a huff followed by angry stomping, but the sounds I was focused on were Dahlia’s breathing and soft scratching of her fingers running through my hair. I was seconds away from dragging Dahlia into the backseat of her car when she abruptly shoved me away.
“She’s gone,” Dahlia announced everything she’d been feeling shut off like a switch had been flipped and she wriggled out from between me and the car and hopped to the asphalt. I was still reeling as she popped the trunk and started loading the first bag. She couldn’t
have looked less affected by what just happened than if we’d spent the last few minutes watching a documentary on buffalo migration patterns, but seconds earlier she had been just as consumed as I had been. No way she was faking all of that, right?
Trying more than just a little to shake off my stupor, I reached down to grab the bag at my feet and stepped off the curb to put it in the trunk. Dahlia grabbed it out of my hand halfway there and shoved it in after the other bag. She looked back up at me, her lips still swollen, but only to say, “You’re welcome.”
Then she was around the car, in her seat, and speeding away before I even had a chance to process what had just happened.
Also by DelSheree Gladden
The Handbook Series
The Crazy Girl’s Handbook
The Oblivious Girl’s Handbook
(Coming Dec 2016)
Eliza Carlisle Mystery Series
Trouble Magnet
The Catalyst
The Ghost Host Series
The Ghost Host
Escaping Fate Series
Escaping Fate
Soul Stone
Oracle Lost
(Coming Soon)
Twin Souls Saga
Twin Souls
Shaxoa’s Gift
Qaletaqa
The Destroyer Trilogy
Inquest
Secret of Betrayal
Darkening Chaos
Someone Wicked This Way Comes Series
Wicked Hunger
Wicked Power
Wicked Glory
Wicked Revenge
The Aerling Series
Invisible
Intangible
Invincible
The Date Shark Series
Date Shark
Shark Out Of Water
The Only Shark In The Sea
Shark In Troubled Waters
About the Author
DelSheree Gladden was one of those shy, quiet kids who spent more time reading than talking. Literally. She didn't speak a single word for the first three months of preschool, but she had already taught herself to read. Her fascination with reading led to many hours spent in the library and bookstores, and eventually to writing. She wrote her first novel when she was sixteen years old, but spent ten years rewriting and perfecting it before having it published.
Native to New Mexico, DelSheree and her husband spent several years in Colorado for college and work before moving back home to be near family again. Their two children love having their cousins close by. When not writing, you can find DelSheree reading, painting, sewing and trying not to get bitten by small children in her work as a dental hygienist. DelSheree has several bestselling young adult series, including "Invisible" which was part of the USA Today Bestselling box set, "Pandora." The “Date Shark Series” is her first contemporary romance series, now joined by her first romantic comedy, “The Crazy Girl’s Handbook,” and the comedic “Eliza Carlisle Mystery Series.”
Connect with DelSheree Gladden Online
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDelShereeGladden
http://www.delshereegladden.com/
https://twitter.com/DelSheree
http://www.pinterest.com/delsheree/
https://plus.google.com/+DelShereeGladden/posts?cfem=1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvhRQvJy3KJhllsepnX6ogQ/videos
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http://writepublishrepeat.libsyn.com/ (podcast)
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