by Alicia Rae
I turned to look up at the man beside me. “And how about you, Damien Heathman?” I asked, slowly taking a step backward toward the commotion. “Are you the type of man to sit back in the chair and watch?” I briefly bit my lip, wondering where that line had come from. I blamed it solely on the alcohol coursing through my veins and then continued on with my preposterous bravery, “Or are you the kind of guy who’s going to swoop me off my feet?”
He didn’t look like a dancer. He was too…reserved and quiet, almost uptight.
But I planned to loosen him up.
His eyes gradually ran up and down the length of my body, as if undressing me by incinerating my dress to ashes. By the time his grays returned to my greens, they were smoking hot with a naked desire. “I’d definitely prefer to see that body of yours move from afar. That way, I won’t miss a thing.”
As tempting as that sounded coming from his mouth, I had other intentions, so I shook my head. “That doesn’t work for me. I want to feel your hands on me as I sway my hips to the beat.”
“Oh, you’ll feel them,” he stated confidently. “Later.”
I wanted to win this battle, so I countered, “Not if you don’t dance with me, so I suggest you come and find me.” I spun on my heels and sashayed my hips with purpose and sass just so he’d know what he was missing out on if he denied me.
I went to join my friends on the dance floor where I immediately turned my mind over to the music pouring out of the speakers. I listened to the sound of the tempo more than the lyrics as I found my rhythm.
Tim came into my line of view, and I noticed he was coming my way, so I swiftly rotated and gave him my back. I knew Damien would be perusing me from a distance, and I wasn’t foolish enough to mess with his possessive streak. I had no interest in Tim, but he was my friend, and I didn’t want to see him with two black eyes.
I saw Joshua twirl Iris under his arm, and I smiled when she laughed. They seemed genuinely attracted to one another, and I was happy for her. It had been a long time since she dated a man. And after meeting him, I hoped he intended to stick around.
A ping of disappointment fell over me when I realized Damien wouldn’t be joining me. It was okay though. I understood it wasn’t who he was. He’d let me in by allowing me to lie on his bare chest, even if it was just that once in his bedroom, and he’d taken me on his boat where I’d witnessed him in his natural element. I couldn’t blame him for being more reserved in public. Normally, without the power of alcohol under my belt, I was, too.
The DJ skipped the record and flawlessly shifted into another song. I changed my rhythm to match the new beat, as it was more flirty and sensual.
A couple accidentally bumped into me, so I pivoted out of their way. The people slightly parted in front of me, and my breath caught in my lungs. My movements came to a stop as Damien slowly stalked toward me with a deliberate purpose, stealing the show.
He stepped to the left and rocked those damn hips of his in perfect synchronization to the music, and then he glided to the right and rolled that waist of his again. All the while, his eyes were on me, only me, and each time he came a little closer, my heart beat a little faster. I was utterly hypnotized by him.
Oh. Fucking. My.
The man could move. This domineering sexy man was giving me a private dance while owning the floor.
My blood pressure spiked feverishly, yet my eyes blurred with unshed tears. I threw my hand over my mouth to hold back my urge to cry at his gesture while smiling like crazy.
He’d come out here for me, no one else but me.
When Damien finally reached me, he rocked his hips into me with a wickedly sensual bump and grind of his pelvis. His smoldering grin was one to behold, and I feared for the safety of my heart.
I launched my arms over his shoulders, suddenly feeling unsteady. “You dance?” I asked in pure disbelief that this was real, that he was here, standing in front of me.
“Only for you, Raelyn.” He bent down to kiss my lips. “Only for you,” he murmured with a tender smile. “Now, dance with me, gorgeous girl.”
“Thank you,” I returned his expression, feeling a tear slip down my cheek.
Overcome with my emotions, I let my head fall against his chest. He began to sway back and forth with me in his arms, leading me. Our motions were slower than the people around us, but I didn’t care. Damien was holding me, so I was perfectly content.
We stayed the same for three more songs until the DJ changed the music to a more upbeat song. Once again, Damien shocked me by guiding me around on the dance floor. He even twirled me beneath his arm. There was not a single second that I wasn’t beaming from ear to ear.
By the time we were done, my arms were limp, and my legs were shaky. I felt completely famished.
He led me back to the table and pulled out my stool for me to sit down. Iris, Joshua, Kate, Noah, and Tim were already seated. I noticed the bar was even more packed with people now that it was getting later into the night.
Damien peered down at me and asked, “Would you like another amaretto sour or a glass of water?”
“A water, please.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back,” he said before heading off to the bar.
“He dances?” Iris asked in that teasing tone of hers. Then, she winked at me.
“It would seem so.” I laughed, still stunned myself.
As my friends started to converse with one another, my body temperature seemed to rise at an alarming rate. I inhaled deeply through my nose and released it, trying to calm myself.
It didn’t work.
In fact, I was getting hotter by the second, and now, my stomach was beginning to spasm. It seemed that I definitely couldn’t hold my liquor, and the loud music was making it worse.
A few seconds ticked by, and a sharp pain slashed through my temples. I gripped the bottom edge of the table to steady myself as Iris told Kate something about her ultrasound class, but I couldn’t clearly make out her words. They were fuzzy in my mind.
My palms went clammy, and a thin sheen of sweat pooled at my nape. I was going to be sick.
Not wanting my friends to see me in such a sour state, I forced myself to slowly rise from the table and turned away from them before saying, “I need to use the ladies’—”
“Want me to come?” Iris cut in.
I held up my hand behind me as I advanced forward, not facing her. “No, no. I’m good. Be right back,” I told her, surprisingly maintaining an even voice.
I hoped she believed me, but I didn’t stick around to find out. I went straight into the crowd and weaved my way to the restroom. The strobe lights acted as stars brightly flickering before my eyes. It made it difficult to walk without staggering.
This isn’t good.
Choosing the last stall on the end, I threw myself down on my knees and gagged into the porcelain. “Gosh, I hate you,” I groaned, well aware I was talking to a toilet. I’d seen enough of them during my chemo to last me more than a lifetime.
I closed my eyes as my belly muscles churned. Now, it hurt so badly that I did want to puke, but my body rebelled against me, denying me any signs of relief.
I sighed in defeat. I hadn’t drunk that much to make me feel this dizzy, but I was never going to mix taking shots with amaretto sour again. It must have been a horrible combination of the two drinks or something.
A vicious tremor raked through me, causing me to grip the toilet seat so that I wouldn’t fall on the gross restroom floor.
I made my mind focus on something good while I silently counted to ten. I wasn’t surprised when Damien was the first thing that came to me—that handsome face of his, that smile he seemed to reserve only for me, and those moves of his tonight. Hot damn. He was never going to get out of dancing with me again.
After a minute or several, my nausea finally seemed to pass. I needed to get back to Damien, so he could take me home. I spread my fingers wide to balance myself and stood to my feet to turn.
I heard t
he restroom door close as I came out of the stall. My eyes broadened when I saw Sage breezing into the room, looking fresh and delighted. I felt as though my eyes were playing tricks on me, but they weren’t. It was definitely Sage, Cale’s ex.
“Sage!” I smiled, distracted from my physical state at the sight of her. “It’s so good to see you!”
“Oh my gosh, Raelyn!” She beamed and quickly came toward me to embrace me. “It’s been so long.”
I held my breath at the tight pressure she was inflicting on me, too thrilled to see her, and my lungs deflated when we pulled apart.
“You’re right. It has been too long.” I gave her a once-over to see she was wearing a stunning red dress that made her strawberry-blonde hair glimmer. “You look amazing, Sage. How are you?”
“I’m wonderful!” she exclaimed, repositioning her purse over her shoulder that must have fallen down her arm when we’d hugged. “I’m working on a whole new me since my dreadful divorce with Cale.”
“I’m so sorry. That must have been awful for you both.” I set my arm on hers as a comforting gesture, feeling genuine sadness for my friend. “I didn’t know you two were having trouble with starting a family. I would have been there for you guys.”
“A family?” Her head jutted back on her shoulders. “Raelyn, Cale and I weren’t trying to have a baby. Sure, we talked about having kids someday down the line but not until I was at least thirty.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I frowned in confusion. “I must have misunderstood.” My chest began to ache at Cale’s continued dishonesty.
“Don’t worry about it. Seriously, Cale is history.” She facetiously waved her hand in the air. “I’ve moved on. Damien, a friend of mine, was kind enough to let me stay at his house while I get back on track.” She raced on, eyes glowing, completely missing my shell-shocked expression, “Damien has been so kind to me. I’d be lost without him. He is even helping me work on the details of opening my business to be a wedding consultant. You know how much I love to coordinate details and decorate for lavish events.” She grinned, looking over the moon to share her news.
I thoughtfully tilted my head to the side. “You mean, Damien Heathman?” I questioned. I was sure that I already knew her answer, but I wanted to be positive.
“Yes.” Her smile broadened. “I don’t think you’ve ever met Damien. Although, I’m sure you remember hearing of him. He was Cale’s best friend. He was just devastated by what Cale had financially done to me over the last several months. And now that Damien and I have been spending more time together”—her eyes twinkled as she batted her long eyelashes and shrugged—“I’m hoping something might grow between us in the future.”
Sage was always a babbling brook. Most of the time, I loved that about her, but tonight, not so much.
A bad combination of jealousy and anger bubbled inside me, and I didn’t like the feeling. It wasn’t the idea of Damien helping Sage financially, but she was making it sound as if it was much more than that.
I lifted a finger. “Excuse me. I have somewhere I have to be.”
With her jaw dropping in astonishment at my curtness, I skirted around her with no time to explain. Oddly, my body felt better. I was thankful the queasiness and headache had subsided, but now, my heart hurt for a whole different reason.
The restroom door burst open before I could reach it, and in stormed the man himself.
His panicked eyes scanned the length of me, assessing me, and then they landed on my face. “There you are.” He sighed in relief. “Are you okay? It took forever to get two waters from the bar, and when I returned to the table, you were gone.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Sage beat me to it.
“Damien, what a pleasant surprise!” She stepped around me and then came to an abrupt halt. “Wait.” She glanced between Damien and me. “You two know each other?”
I smiled humorlessly. It was about time she figured that part out.
Damien took no notice of Sage, completely disregarding her, while he kept his eyes glued on me. He closed the gap between us, still scoping me out. “Raelyn, are you okay?” He drew his brows together as his hand came to my forehead. “You look pale.”
“I’m fine.” My voice was impassive as it dawned on me how foolish I’d been to trust another man. “I just need to get back to Iris.”
I sidestepped to the right of him and scurried for the exit. I made it to the door without Damien getting ahold of me. It didn’t last long though because he gently captured my arm in the midst of all the people as I tried to make my way back to my friends.
“Raelyn, what’s gotten into you?” he growled, spinning me to face him.
I stared past him to see Sage quietly observing us with a look of pure jealousy plastered on her slender face. She wasn’t even trying to mask it. It seemed my friend had claws when it came to Damien Heathman.
“Talk to me, please.” Damien used his other hand to guide my cheek back to him, intently searching my gaze. “What happened in the time between when I left you to get us drinks and now?” He sounded genuinely hurt.
Well, so was I.
I didn’t like having an audience, so I answered, “Nothing. Let’s go back to our table.”
His jaw danced with irritation. “Fine.” He sighed and then narrowed his eyes at me with a stern glare. “But we are going to discuss this later.”
We wouldn’t because I wouldn’t give Damien the chance to hurt me with anything he might have to say about him and Sage.
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled.
I spun around to head to Iris, eager to get to her, with Damien hot on my heels. Lucky for Sage, she didn’t follow us.
Once I neared my friends, I saw Kate, Noah, Iris, Joshua, and Tim all throw back another round of shots. Tim was sitting on my stool. If I weren’t pissed at Damien, I would have given Tim a piece of my mind.
I purposefully leaned over the empty stool next to Iris, so Damien couldn’t eavesdrop, and I asked her, “Can you and Joshua take me home?” I hoped they hadn’t had too much to drink. In my head, I tried to count how many alcoholic beverages we’d had since our arrival.
“Why? What’s wrong?” she queried, setting her empty glass on the table.
I gave her my not-now expression. “Is Joshua okay to drive?”
“Um…” She turned to glance at her date. “Can you drive?”
“Raelyn, if you want to leave, I’ll take you.” Damien’s steel voice cut in from behind me as he gently grasped my arm and pulled me upright to face him.
I met his hard stare with one of my own. “No, thank you. Iris and her date will drive me.”
“No, they won’t.” He briefly scouted out my friends before returning his attention to me. “They’ve both had too much to drink. You’re not getting in the car with anyone but me.”
“I’ll call a cab,” I retorted, standing my ground.
“Whoa. What’s going on?” Tim piped in, making Damien’s shoulders go taut.
“Nothing that concerns you,” Damien replied dismissively.
“Anything to do with Raelyn does concern me.” He scrambled to his feet.
I noticed Iris, Joshua, Kate, and Noah were all silently watching the scene unravel before their eyes.
Tim came to my left side and set his hand on my shoulder, earning himself a territorial glare from Damien.
Tim didn’t appear intimidated by Damien as he informed me, “Raelyn, I’ve only had a beer at lunchtime and two shots since then. I’m perfectly okay to drive you home.”
Damien’s large hands planted firmly on either side of my hips, and he pulled me into his side, the one that was farthest from my assistant. “Tim, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of this.”
“Hey, I don’t mean any harm, but—” Tim objected.
“Then, stop talking,” Damien cut him off.
I was positive my jaw connected with the floor as I maneuvered myself to gape at the ridiculously overbearing hunk at my side.
Damien’s glower drifted from Tim to me where it immediately shifted to a smug smile. He knew I wouldn’t accept a ride from Tim.
“Now that we’ve concluded no one is driving you anywhere but me, are you ready to go?” His lip twitched in amusement.
The cocky bastard.
“You are taking me home—to my apartment,” I clarified before striding off.
I made it ten steps before I felt his hand on the small of my back, navigating me through the throng of people.
By the time my feet hit the pavement outside and the fresh air invaded my nose, I was a ticking time bomb ready to detonate at the slightest irritation.
Damien wasted no time in leading me through the parking lot to his car where he guided me inside and then came around to the driver’s side. “Are you going to tell me what is the matter?” he snapped impatiently, slamming his door. “Or do I have to pry it out of you with a crowbar?”
I detested his metaphor of my inability to express myself, but then I thought of how fitting it truly was. In addition, he wasn’t one to talk.
I was achy and tired, and I longed for the security of my own bed. So, I pushed my head into the back of the seat.
“A crowbar isn’t strong enough to pierce steel,” I whispered to myself.
Damien’s eyes burned into mine before I let my own heavy ones fall shut.
“We’ll see,” Damien told me before he started the vehicle and began to drive off.
I stirred when I felt my body being lifted. The sound of a door closing startled me, and I threw my arms around Damien’s neck to hang on to him. My body was weak with exhaustion.
“It’s okay. I got you,” he soothed before kissing my hair.
Blinking rapidly, I took in my surroundings. We were in his garage.
I was wide-awake now. “I asked you to take me home, Damien.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you by yourself.” He frowned, appearing lost in his thoughts. “Especially when you weren’t feeling well at the bar.”
He made it into the breezeway connecting the house and the garage before I struggled against him so hard that he had no option but to put me down. I slightly swayed on my feet until I steadied myself.
