Page 100 of Beautiful Prey

“Just take it, stormbird. Live a little.”

That gets me a ghost of a smile. He studies the glass for a long moment before picking it up. “One glass. Because you’re crazy.”

“One glass. Because I’m crazy.”

He drinks it too fast, the way he does everything he’s decided to resent, and I pour him another as I talk. I’m good at this part. I tell him about the worst party I was ever forced to attend and the ambassador who fell into the fountain. I tell him the champagne he’s drinking is older than both of us, bought by a man who never once in his life had any fun.

By the third glass, his shoulders ease a fraction, his jaw unclenching as he sinks farther into the chair. “You’re doing this on purpose. This.”

“This what?”

“Charming. Nice.” He says it like an accusation. “It’s worse than when you’re a monster. At least when you’re a bastard, I know where I am.”

“And where are you now?”

“I don’t know.” He looks down into his glass, thumb moving over the stem. “That’s the problem.”

Somewhere behind us, the music changes to an old Tempest song I know well. I glance toward the bar, wondering which poor bastard Ryven paid before he left. Motherfucker.

Standing, I hold out my hand. Jade immediately shakes his head, so I leave it there. “One dance. It’s just one song, prey. Surely even you can survive that.”

“I don’t dance.”

“Tonight, you do.” I wiggle my fingers at him. “Come on.”

His eyes narrow, but they drop to my hand.

“Dance with me, Jade. Just this once. Nobody’s watching. Who’d dare tell anyone?”

He hesitates, looking from my hand to me. Then he takes it, and fuck me, the smug satisfaction of that tiny surrender feels almost indecent.

“One night. Then you stay away, keep your word, and let us go.” Letting me pull him up, he steps closer. “Take me to the stars, rich boy. Show me what all your money buys. Just for tonight.”

You don’t know how close that is to the truth.

I pull him in. He fits against me like he was made for it, one hand in mine, the other coming up to my shoulder as if it doesn’t trust the decision his body already made. We move slowly to the beat as I lead us out of the light and into the shadow of a pillar. Then the room falls away, leaving just us and the music’s low pull.

Bringing my thigh between his, I slowly roll my hips against him. He stiffens and tries to pull back, but I slide my hand down to his ass and hold him against me, squeezing hard enough to keep him from getting far. His breath catches against my jaw, his fingers tightening on my shoulder. Then his hips betray him, grinding down against my leg as we pretend it’s still a dance.

“Ash,” he pants, his mouth a breath from mine. “We shouldn’t⁠—”

“There’s no one here but us.” I nibble his lower lip, breathing him in. Soap, champagne, and the faint mineral dust that Calder seems to leave on everything. “Just you, just me, just the music. Nobody’s watching. Feel that?” I squeeze his ass again and press my thigh higher, making him grind down against it. A low moan escapes him. “That’s all I want tonight. You, stopping fighting, taking what I give you.”

His forehead rests against mine, but his hips won’t stop moving. “You’re going to make me say yes.”

“Yeah.” I mouth along his jaw, down the line of his neck. “I am.”

I walk him farther behind the pillar, deeper into the shadows, until his back meets the wall. Then I go to my knees in front of him, the music loud enough to cover every sound he’s about to make.

He looks down at me, lips parted, pupils blown wide, breathing hard. Fuck, I want him like this.

“Eyes on me.” Freeing his cock from his trousers, I take him into my mouth.

He bites down on his fist. His other hand finds my hair and holds on like I’m the only thing keeping him upright.

Maybe I am. I want to be.

Licking up the throbbing vein on the underside of his shaft from root to tip, I rub my tongue across the head to catch the precum beading there. He shakes and mumbles something filthy that I still manage to hear above the music, spurring me on, making me even hungrier for him.