Page 13 of The Mastermind
Worry threatened to resurge as she handed me a cold glass with contents I couldn’t see. Sniffing it, I smelled the alcohol. I should’ve protested but I was already breaking so many rules tonight. What was one more? I took a tentative sip. Sweet, but with a kick that made me choke.
Ciara laughed, slapped my back and handed me a pair of over-the-ear headphones. ‘Come on, drink up. It’s time to get our groove on.’
I sipped more of the drink, a little surprised to see it wasn’t so bad and went down easier once I got used to the alcohol’s burn.
I finished it, set the empty glass down and slid on the headphones.
It felt like it was written in the stars when the last strains of Rihanna’s ‘Disturbia’ gave way to ‘Paralyzer’ by Finger Eleven. Two of my favourite songs back-to-back? Ciara’s grin widened at my delighted screech.
Elbows locked, we rushed to the dancefloor.
An hour of this was almost worth being caught. But just for extra protection I sent a quick prayer to Saint Nick to protectthis particular child from her grandfather’s wrath before I threw myself into the moment.
Time and reality slithered away.
At some point, Ciara pushed fresh cocktails into my hand and I dutifully hydrated.
I was near euphoric and drenched in a fine sheen of sweat when a hard body slammed into me, knocking me off balance. Several more bodies joined the cascade effect, flashing terror through me at the thought of falling and being trampled beneath hundreds of dancing feet. My arms windmilled as I pitched forward. But before I could scream, hands snatched me upright then dragged me free of falling bodies.
The centre of the dancefloor was pitch-black, but I felt the power throbbing from my impressively tall saviour.
‘Thanks,’ I gasped before I remembered he – and I knew it was a he because I was plastered to his hard, chiselled body – couldn’t hear me with our headphones in place. But whoever he was, he smelled incredible in that cross between woodsmoke and a dawn sea-breeze that some genius found a way of bottling to make millions while making women drool.
Besides, unless I was tangled up with a seriously butch chick with a stubble, then my rescuer, whose hands had begun their own expedition over my body, was rampantly male.
The thin material of the cocktail Lycra dress I’d let Ciara talk me into borrowing from her wardrobe heated up under his exploration, and it felt as if he was touching my bare skin when his hands slowly tracked up over my hips to settle on my waist.
He squeezed slowly, as if not wanting to scare me. Or maybe that was just the way he liked to seduce.
Whatever it was, my breath slowly strangled in my lungs, my body lifting itself up onto my tiptoes, just so I could strain closer to him. To breathe in that intoxicating smell I wanted todrown in. His breath hissed as his hands stopped just beneath my breasts.
I swallowed, self-awareness impinging on the moment. People had returned to their dancing, the brief toppling incident already over. I’d lost track of Ciara, and to be honest I wasn’t sure I wanted my best friend to stop what was happening right now.
This felt illicit, decadent in ways I’d only dreamed about late at night, when I watched risqué movies on my portable DVD player.
My thoughts stalled when he commanded my attention once more. Unlike me, he had no qualms in dropping his head to my neck, breathing me in. I was wearing my favourite perfume and it thrilled me that he seemed to like it.
He muttered something I couldn’t hear against my neck, and I shivered at the feel of his mouth brushing my skin. I hoped he was saying I smelled incredible.
I strained to see him in the dark, frustration biting at me when I couldn’t. His hands dropped to my ass, and he pulled me closer into his body, snatching a gasp from me when I felt the thickness behind his fly.
I knew all about sex. I lived in a mansion within a compound full of men who loved to brag about their exploits. So while I was a virgin, I knew the ins and outs of sex probably more than I should have done.
He was thick and hard, and my thighs clenched in shocking response to his virility. His head dropped once more, and I swore I heard him growl right before he muttered something else.
I shook my head to indicate I had no clue what he was saying. Then I sensed his frustration just before he lifted my left headphone.
‘Come outside with me.’
The sound of his voice shot a million volts of electricity through me.
Not because it was sexy, and trust me, it was the sexiest sound I’d heard in my life. Not because that rasped demand feathered his breath on my ear, a sensation that somehow tunnelled straight between my legs, setting off a dampness that shocked and thrilled me.
But because I recognised that voice.
I should’ve snatched myself out of his iron grip and fled right then. It wouldn’t have been difficult to lose myself in the darkness amongst the sea of gyrating bodies. Especially when he took one hand off my hip on the way to capturing my hand.
But between one blink and the next, the window of opportunity had closed. At least that was what I told myself as I followed him, feeling a quiet awe as the crowd parted for him.
