20. Blake
CHAPTER TWENTY
blake
T HE CLUB BUZZED WITH an undeniable sexual energy that went beyond whatever was happening between Delaney and me.
With each step we took inside, I felt it build inside me. The music infused my bones, driving toward some kind of peak. My body ached more and more with every second that passed, with every person who danced around us, some out in the open, others half-hidden amongst the red velvet curtains that fell thick and heavy along the walls. Lips sought lips, bodies sought bodies, all with a carnality I felt intensify as we drifted further into the club.
For the most part, we went unnoticed as we entered, but once we passed through an interior velvet-adorned doorway, I felt eyes following us, hot on my neck. I pulled Delaney in front of me, wanting to be able to scan the room and keep her within my eyesight at the same time. A quick survey of the club led me to a few young guys chatting amongst themselves in the corner, beers in each of their hands. But their eyes kept flicking to us. Or, more accurately, to Delaney.
My grip on her tightened as she led us toward the bar, squeezing into an open spot along the counter. As soon as she stopped, I wrapped my arm possessively around her.
Not a single word I’d said to her outside was exaggerated. There was no way in hell I’d be letting go of her in a place like this. The waiter’s remarks at dinner had injected concern into my veins, the way he’d promised they would love Delaney here. I couldn’t blame anyone for loving Delaney, but if they dared to touch her, I’d probably lose my fucking mind. No, I would lose my mind. No doubt about it.
Delaney shouted at the bartender, holding up two fingers, telling me she’d ordered for me, too. When she leaned back into my arms again, waiting for our drinks, her head brushed against my nose. The smell of her sweet hair temporarily overpowered the sex haze in the air, and I pressed a kiss to her head. Delaney glanced back at me over her shoulder, giving me a soft smile.
There were a million words in that soft smile, and fuck if I didn’t hear all of them loud and clear.
I kissed her again and then dropped to brush my lips against the shell of her ear.
“What’d you order me?”
“Your favorite,” she said over her shoulder.
I frowned because I wasn’t aware that I had a favorite drink.
“An appletini,” she laughed, and my lips cracked into a grin.
Thank fuck Delaney hadn’t let that cranky bartender ruin her love for appletinis forever and that she’d walked up to the bar tonight and ordered two without a second thought.
Tonight’s bartender—a man with suspenders, a grizzled beard, and a shiny, bald head—slid our drinks across the counter a few minutes later. They didn’t look like appletinis since they were in regular glasses instead of martini ones, but I reached over Delaney to pay for them anyway, slapping the euros on the bar top and letting the guy know I didn’t need change. He thanked me and rushed to help the next person waiting along the cramped bar.
Delaney turned in my arms to face me, but we were so close that I had to suck in a breath to keep my shit together. I could see the dark blue outline around her irises and the equally dark twinkle in them.
“Here you go,” she said, offering me the drink.
“Thanks, Lane.” I took it, debating if I should tell her the truth about the drink. That it was, honest to God, one of my least favorite drinks in the world, but decided against it. It didn’t fucking matter. Right now, the only thing that mattered was how proud Delaney seemed of herself when she handed it over.
“You’re welcome,” she said. Her eyes stayed glued on me as she slipped her straw into her mouth and sucked, making me choke on air. By the time she lowered her drink, my cock had stiffened in my pants. “I loved that bar we used to go to off of Madison Street.”
“It was a good bar,” I muttered because I didn’t have any other words in my brain. All of my thoughts at the moment were geared toward Delaney’s mouth and how she’d returned to toying with the straw, biting on the end of it. “Yeah. Good bar.”
She smiled at me like she knew I was struggling.
Fuck if I cared.
What I did care about was the movement behind her, the eyes following her. They were the same eyes that had been watching us when we’d walked in. Watching her.
“Do you want to dance?” I offered, wanting to get her away from them.
She nodded. “That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
Right. Because we weren’t here just for me to sit and stare at Delaney’s mouth.
Without another word, I whisked her toward the dance floor. When we reached it, she spun around in front of me and took the lead, which was for the best, considering I didn’t have a rhythmic bone in my body.
Well, maybe one.
But that one wasn’t the one I needed to come out to play at the moment.
Delaney shimmied backward, her body loosening with every step until I could almost see how the music flowed through her. She beckoned me with a curl of her finger, walking me like a dog as I followed her.
But then she got distracted, forgetting about me as the song switched to something with a quicker beat, something synth-filled and intoxicating. Delaney threw a hand up while clinging to her drink with the other, giving a joyful shout. And then she let the music sweep her away, her eyes closing and body melting into the sensual rhythm. Her hips rolled and dropped like they had a mind of their own, and shit, my mouth ran dry at the sight.
I could get drunk just by watching her. What a fucking vision. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Delaney this carefree, this alive, and it was beautiful. She was beautiful. And Christ, did I want her.
She danced. I watched. She peeled her jacket off. I took it from her. She nearly spilled her drink all over herself. I plucked it from her hands and set both our drinks on a nearby table, throwing her jacket there, too.
Delaney didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes remained closed. They didn’t flick open again until about halfway through the song, like she’d suddenly remembered I existed. Her gaze immediately searched for me, and when she found me standing still nearly a foot away, she pouted.
“You said you were going to dance with me.”
“Sorry.” I cleared my throat as I stepped forward, happily slipping my hands onto her hips and tugging her toward me. Delaney gave a little shriek of delight as our bodies collided. “I was too busy watching you,” I breathed in her ear.
Even with the music blaring, I heard—or maybe felt—her breath hitch. And then she admitted, “I’d rather have you touching me.”
“ Fuck , Delaney.”
Hearing her say words like that aloud after so many torturous years of being her best friend who kept his distance was just unbelievable. I didn’t have a way to describe how it made me feel, but I knew it was like nothing I’d ever felt before.
“Mm,” she hummed in her throat. She pressed her hips tighter to mine, urging my body to mimic hers as if she wanted to teach me how to move like she did. And because we seemed to be stuck in some sort of magnetic field, I found it impossible not to follow her lead, not to move my body at the same tempo as her, with the same sway, following the same pulse.
Delaney wound her arms around my neck, and I took that cue and ran with it, wrapping myself around her and locking my hands on the small of her back. Locking her against me.
Her gaze tracked upward, looking at me from beneath long lashes. Her expression was inviting, urging me to move with her. Which was good because I didn’t know how to turn back now. I rocked against her, following the rhythmic beat reverberating through the club like a pulse. Time seemed to slow, our electrical impulses delayed. Arrhythmic.
Because nothing about this moment was normal. But every bit of it felt right.
I didn’t take my eyes off Delaney. A pretty flush reflected on her face, either from the heat swirling around us or maybe a reflection from that devastating red dress. God, the feel of her in that goddamn thing while pressed so close to me— fuck . She toyed with her bottom lip, also red, also devastating. Plump and kissable. She bit down on it like she was holding in a moan before tilting her head back, presenting me with the column of her throat. She was letting herself feel the music, letting the bright hues from the strobe lights dance across her face.
Once again, I was overwhelmed with the desire to taste her, to press my lips to her skin, and to learn things I didn’t know about Delaney London—the only things I didn’t know about her. Expose the secrets we’d been holding in our chests. Become the kind of friends who did talk about their sex lives. And their kinks. And then fucking explored them together. I wanted to know everything about what Delaney wanted, and then I wanted to give it to her.
I was about to lean forward and whisper precisely those words in her ear when I caught a glimpse of that same group of men from when we walked in. They stood along the edges of the dance floor, circled with their beers once more. But I couldn’t help but notice the glinting interest when one of their gazes passed over us again, or rather Delaney, and felt my blood boil hotter.
“What?” Delaney asked over the roar of the music, and I realized she’d straightened in my arms, looking funnily at me. Probably because I’d instinctively clenched my jaw so hard that my teeth might be bleeding.
I leaned in to explain in a low voice. “The guys over there haven’t taken their eyes off you since we walked in.”
Keeping one arm around her, I splayed a hand on her back possessively while using my free palm to cup her cheek. I didn’t want her to look around to try to find them. Didn’t want them to notice her awareness. And I also did want to feel the flush beneath her skin, experience the heat radiating from inside her.
“And you haven’t taken your hands off me,” she pointed out, her lips twisting with an amusement that told me she didn’t mind that I’d been all over her. Good. “I’m clearly not available.”
“I don’t think it’s clear enough,” I rasped, shaking my head. Then, I used my hand on her back to press her closer to me. “I don’t think it’s clear enough that you’re my wife, Lane.”
“No?” Delaney responded by dragging her palms over my shoulders and onto my chest, as if she wanted to make it clear. And her wanting other guys to know that she was unavailable, that she belonged to me, was making the possessive side of me roar to life. God , yes.
Delaney watched me for a reaction as one of her hands flattened over my heart, probably feeling how erratic it was because of the way she was touching me. Probably wishing she had a stethoscope to hear how wild she drove me for herself. Her gaze shone with mirth as she rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, pulling all my attention to her mouth. Fuck , that mouth. How I wanted it on mine again.
“No, it’s not clear enough.” I trailed my fingers over the gorgeous contours of her face, slipping them beneath her chin, ready to lift it. “So I need you to tell me, Delaney.”
She pressed up toward me, lifting onto her toes. Instinctively, I leaned to meet her, stopping only when I could feel her breath on my lips. “Tell you what?”
“Tell me the occasion calls for it,” I begged, brushing my thumb over her luscious mouth, hating and loving how it tempted me. My lips grazed hers, barely a taste, but it kept me alive while I waited for her reply.
“The occasion calls for it,” she whispered, just as I realized I couldn’t wait to get my lips on her again and dragged them along her jawline, eager to explore more of her, all of her.
“Good girl,” I murmured. My mouth lowered further, finding the pulse point on her neck, sucking gently. “Tell me this is okay.”
“ Yes .” She gasped softly, winding her arms back around my neck, her fingers tangling in my hair at the base of it. She tugged slightly, making my vision haze over temporarily.
“Yes, it’s okay?” I probed huskily. “Be clear for me, sweetheart.”
“It’s okay.” I felt her lips flirt with my ear, and I swallowed a groan. Especially when her wondrously breathy voice started speaking aloud my fantasies. “You gave me permission to claim you whenever the fuck I want, Blake. This is me giving that back to you.”
“ Fuck , Delaney,” I cursed roughly, and my restraint snapped.
I pulled back, found her lips waiting for me, and then crashed mine onto them.
Claiming her just like she gave me permission to do.
And holy hell , did she taste good.
Delaney tasted like the sugary sweetness of her appletini, and suddenly, it was my favorite drink in the world. I’d drink it day in and day out. Nothing was better—absolutely nothing. An appletini a day would never, ever keep this doctor away.
“ Mine ,” I declared, nipping at her bottom lip as I wound my hands into her hair, fisting her silky strands. She gasped between kisses, and that either of us had time to come up for air told me that I wasn’t kissing her good enough, deep enough, thoroughly enough. I covered her mouth with mine, drinking in her groans and dragging my tongue along the seam of her lips, begging her for entry. And when she allowed it, I swore I understood heaven for the very first time.
Control began to slip away as I slanted my mouth over hers, deepening the kiss until Delaney’s tongue was exploring my mouth and my hands were dragging down her body. And just when my palms were about to slide over the curve of her ass, someone bumped into me from the side, knocking awareness back into my brain and forcing me to step back.
Fuck, I was losing it. From the second my lips touched her, the force of just how badly I wanted her had knocked through the well-built dam I’d constructed years ago, and now, nothing was holding me back.
“Blake,” Delaney breathed, and I realized she was staring at me, her chest heaving from the pure adrenaline of the moment. She lifted her hand to her mouth, tracing her lips lightly as though she couldn’t believe a kiss like that existed in this universe.
Same, baby. Same.
“I…” Bewildered, she looked around. “What was… Wait, where did my drink go?”
I might have kissed the fucking sense out of her, but I was okay with that.
I shook my head with a soft laugh, stepping back to take my place—arms around her, bodies locked together. “Doesn’t matter. I need you to stop drinking anyway.”
She looked confused. It was adorable. “Why?”
Leaning down, I brushed my lips gently over hers, forcing restraint on myself. At least while we were in public, even though the other people in this room sure didn’t care about that. Right behind Delaney, two men were feasting on a woman’s neck.
“Because it’s either you stop drinking, or I stop kissing you, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to do the latter.”
“Ah.” Her lips stretched into a smile that I felt. “My husband, the gentleman.”
I moved my mouth to her ear, nibbling on it before whispering a promise. “Your husband is not the fucking gentleman that you think he is.”
God, it felt good to say that aloud.
“Oh?”
The single syllable released from her lips on an upward hiccup. I pulled back to see the burning wonder in her gaze. But instead of answering all the questions in her expression, I kissed her again. Simply because she was tempting me, and I could .
“More dancing?” I asked, ripping my mouth from hers before I got too carried away.
Delaney cocked her head to the side, and all I could do was stare at her swollen lips. “I thought you wanted to kiss me.”
Yes. God , yes, that was what I wanted to do. But I also wanted to do so much more than that—a problem considering we were standing in a packed club in the middle of the red-light district.
“I think I can do both,” I said, gripping her hips and then spinning her so her back collided with my front. It might be safer this way. I couldn’t see her lips, those ridiculously kissable lips. Or her eyes as they begged me for more. Bending my head, I dragged my mouth to a spot just below her ear and asked, “Where else do you like to be kissed, Delaney?”
“I—” She broke off with a moan when I traced a line down her neck with my tongue. “I don’t know.”
Fuck, did I both love and hate that answer. Delaney deserved all the kisses. She deserved to have someone to make her feel confident in what made her feel good. But if I got to be the one to help her understand that? Help her learn what she liked? Well, I sure as hell didn’t mind that.
“Mm,” I murmured in her ear, and she dropped her weight back into me, letting us mold together. “We can work on that.”
Delaney sighed her approval, letting her head fall onto my shoulder as she danced in my arms. She felt so fucking good that I couldn’t help but grind against her, and her reaction was instantaneous, her realization that I was hard as a goddamn rock for her.
Delaney’s lips curved into a tilted grin as she looked back at me. “Just a man, right?”
I matched her expression. “Something like that.”
“Is it the dress?” she asked, a teasing note in her voice because she fucking knew it wasn’t the dress.
“Yes, but no.” I let my fingers wander over her hips and down her thigh, finding where the fabric stopped and her smooth, bare skin began. “It’s what I know is underneath the dress.”
Delaney pushed her ass into my crotch as she danced, seemingly determined to end my life. “Kind of like how I know what’s in your pants, right?”
Bursts of heat exploded inside me, brighter and hotter each time she rubbed against me. I gripped her thigh, fingers digging into her flesh, on the edge of losing it. “Delaney, if you keep doing that— fuck .”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” I croaked, “but you have to.”
She was going to have me coming in my pants like a fucking teenager.
Delaney straightened immediately, and I dropped my forehead to her shoulder, taking deep breaths to steady myself.
“Why?” she murmured in my ear.
“Because,” I muttered, kissing the curve of her collarbone, “I want you too fucking bad to be teased right now.”
I glanced over to find her gaze on me. It reflected the flashing lights in the club, giving it a luminous quality, especially when strokes of blue light crossed her face, deepening the color of her eyes. “Who said I was teasing?” she challenged, and suddenly, I felt a finger trail up the length of my erection, making me shiver with nearly unbearable desire.
Gritting my teeth to hold back a stream of expletives, I grabbed Delaney’s wrist to stop her torture with one hand and used the other to wrap around her throat, drawing her back until she was looking up at me with those gorgeous sapphires. When I spoke, my breathing was uneven, and my voice wavered, threaded with need. “Delaney Rose London, if you touch my cock one more time, I’m going to have to find something to bend you over.”
Delaney’s lips stretched in a slow smile at my threat.
A fucking smile .
And then she dared to toy with me even more and ask, “What are you going to do with me once you’ve got me bent over?”
“Fuck the little tease right out of you,” I grunted, lifting my hips just enough that she’d feel how ready I was to do that. “And then I’d fuck that smart mouth of yours while I’m at it.”
Delaney’s lips parted, and she grew speechless for the first time. It was as though she couldn’t talk because she was too busy imagining what it would be like to have my cock in her mouth. Or her pussy.
“You like the sound of that, don’t you?” I worked my thumb over her jawline to her mouth, brushing over it. And when her lips parted just a bit further, I popped it in, letting Delaney suck on the tip of my thumb. God, her wet, hot mouth was so fucking exquisite. And when her cheeks tucked in, I nearly expired on the spot.
“Mhm,” she moaned.
“Yeah?” I asked, my ability to breathe declining by the second as Delaney swirled her tongue over the pad of my thumb. “Does thinking about having your lips around me make you wet, Lane?”
I pulled my thumb from her mouth so I could hear her response.
“You can find out for yourself,” she said breathlessly, and it took me a second to realize that she really wasn’t teasing. There was no tilt of her lips, no glint in her eyes; the only thing filling her expression was a need, thick and heavy. “No one will notice. And if they do, they won’t care.”
“ Fuck , sweetheart.” I closed my eyes to try to temper this new level of desire coursing through me, a level that I didn’t think existed before this moment. “It’s unbelievable how badly I want to touch you. But—” I broke off with a groan. “God, you’re making me lose my goddamn mind. What the?—”
“Should I find out for you, then?” she cut in, clearly seeing me lose my mind with indecision. “If you’re not going to?”
“Jesus Christ, Lane,” I cursed, and I might have fallen to my knees if I didn’t have her in my arms to hold up. “You have no idea what the thought of you touching yourself does to me, but that’s a show I want all to myself. Like hell do I want anyone else seeing you like that.”
“Okay, Blake.” She nodded, but I could nearly taste the desperation in her expression.
She would just have to wait, though. I knew people were watching her, including those guys from earlier. I caught them circling closer out of the corner of my eye, and fuck if I’d let them see Delaney like that. I was a greedy bastard who had absolutely no plans of sharing my wife. And I felt more and more unhinged about that fact as it became clear that other interested parties were closing in on us.
Which was why I couldn’t be more grateful when Delaney said, “Then I think we should go.”
We were out the door in a matter of seconds.