Chapter 17 #2
I giggle softly to myself and circle my hips, ending with a slow, roll into him that drags my core over his hard shaft.
A rush of heat floods through me, and his head falls back briefly against the chair on a moan.
The sight of him enjoying this as much as I do nearly ruins me, and confidence sparks under my fingertips as I settle my hands on his shoulders.
“You really liked that, hm?” I tease, and he opens one eye to glare at me.
“You know I fucking did.”
“Then maybe you’ll like what I do next too.” My hands slide up his neck and curl into the back of his hair, tugging as I roll over him again, pressing harder into his length.
“Oh fuck,” he breathes. “Yeah, I really fucking like that too.”
My hips keep moving instinctively now, the rhythm almost trance-like beneath the music.
Every stroke of my core over him sends another pulse of heat straight through me.
That floaty feeling drops into a heavy weight in my core, and I don’t know what’s happening inside me anymore, but I know I want us to be closer.
No not closer. I desperately want to be filled.
My forehead drops to brush briefly against the edge of his mask, actually a soft leather over the hard material underneath.
“Hatter… I think… I think I need…”
I drift off, swallowing the rest, and he shakes his head.
“No, baby.” The way he says those two syllables… they drip like warm syrup from his mouth, making me shiver.
“You’ll have to use your words with me.” One hand slides lower, down my skirt until his fingers drift underneath the loose fabric. The other drifts to the ribbon at the base of my corset and winds it around his fist, tugging and making my breath huff out from the tightness.
I’m shaking now, unsure how to say exactly what I want. Unsure if I should even ask. This whole thing has gone sideways, and my body is one throbbing pulse of need I don’t know if I can indulge in.
“I know I don’t want you to stop touching me,” I finally admit, reaching back to tug his hand at the base of my spine, drawing one loop of the ribbon loose like I do on stage.
The corset pops with the release, and Hatter drives his hand up the threads and pulls.
It falls between us, and the lace bralette I’m wearing underneath with red hearts over the nipples is so much less support, I feel like my breasts feel naked too.
“Goddamn you’re pretty,” he murmurs as he sits back to take me in. His hand traces up my spine to rest just beneath my breast, cupping my ribs with his index finger and thumb outlining my right breast.
Underneath my skirt, his index finger winds around my thong. His gaze rises to meet mine. An emotion I don’t know how to name flashes in his eyes, tenses his chin. He shivers.
“Tell me what to do next, Alice. We can stop here or… you can talk me through it.”
“I… I want… ” My voice comes out embarrassingly breathless, and my courage almost dies right on my tongue.
But I push through it, focusing on how good his thumb drawing circles on my inner thigh feels.
The reverent way he holds me and doesn’t so much as dip underneath the lace covering my breast. Not until I tell him.
“Make me feel good,” I whisper.
His eyes close briefly like the words physically hurt him, and when they open again, the resolve in his expression is as tantalizing as it is unnerving.
“I’ll do it, but I’m not touching you more than this tonight,” he says roughly. “Do you understand me?”
“I understand,” I nod immediately, though I’m actually unsure how on earth both can be true. But honestly, I think he could tell me to jump off the dock and fly right now and I’d probably ask how far.
He blows out a breath. “Any time you want me to stop, just say so.”
“I won’t—Oh.”
His hands slide to my hips again and guide my movement lower over him, lining his hardness under my core before moving my hips for me.
“Oh my God,” I gasp when one very controlled roll ends with my clit pulsing against him, beginning a fervent rhythm.
“That’s it,” he murmurs near my ear. “Just like this.”
The friction builds almost unbearably. Every slow stroke against him sparking pleasure through my entire body.
“Close your eyes and lay against me. Let me move you where you need me.”
I bury my face into his neck, barely in time to hide the embarrassing moan that escapes me.
He chuckles. “Don’t forget to breathe, bunny.”
I try. God, I try. But every roll of my hips makes the pressure build throughout my body, tightening in my chest and abs. I’m drowning in sensation and him.
“Fuck, that’s it. I can feel you tensing under my hands. You’re so good at letting me lead,” he murmurs. Then he kisses my shoulder, featherlight. “You’re almost there, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I moan and clutch his shoulders, not caring that I’m probably piercing his skin through his shirt, or that I’m breathing heavily now, chasing the build up of pleasure thrumming in my veins, like waves holding back in a tsunami until—
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Hatter?” X barks, and I yelp, jolting violently in Hatter’s lap.
His arms immediately wrap around me, holding me against his chest hard enough to hide most of me from view, but I peer over his shoulder to see X lifting his arms in frustration in the open doorway.
“…Seriously?”
“What?” Hatter says flatly, completely unapologetic.
“We don’t get lap dances on the clock, dumbass.” X massages his forehead. “I was gone for five minutes and you disappeared on me. I’m supposed to show you around, not drag your ass out of a VIP room your first damn night.”
My brain screeches to a complete halt.
“On the clock?” I squeak, then shove backward hard enough to nearly tumble out of Hatter’s lap entirely. “You work here?”
Hatter’s lips twitch slowly upward beneath the mask. “Guilty.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You never asked.” He shrugs. “And it was super fun teasing you in the back hallway. Not to mention, you did owe me a dance.”
“Oh my God.” I stare between him and X while a mix of frustration and horror crawls up my spine. “When did this happen?”
X sighs. “I offered him the job today, and apparently, he wanted to make sure I immediately regretted it.”
Hatter smirks at him, but my mind is stuck in a spiral.
“Did Castle tell you to hire him? When?”
Did he not trust me to get the information? Is this how he knew Hatter would be back? Or is this all some setup against me?
Hatter wraps his arm around me again and shifts to try to meet my gaze, but everything’s a blank wall as I try to gather my thoughts.
“Alice?” he murmurs just loud enough for me to hear. “What’s going on in there?”
X answers in my periphery. “Castle told me a week ago I could hire a new bouncer, and I made the call. I told Castle just now, that’s where I was when this asshole apparently decided to make a move on you.”
Hatter ignores him, cupping my cheek. “Alice, hey. Are you okay?”
But X’s answer snaps me back into the present, and I shake my head.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I… I need to get on the floor.” I grab my discarded top from between us and wrap it around me, tying it up with both hands as I go.
“Bunny, wait—”
“Let her go, man. You have a job to do, remember?”
“Jealous?” Hatter snaps.
“Jesus Christ. Shut the fuck up and come with me, will you? Castle wants to meet you before the floor gets too busy.”
Tension thickens the room behind me, but I don’t stop to question it as I yank the Flower Room door open.
“Fuck, Alice, wait!”
But I’m practically fleeing into the hallway before either of them can stop me, my heartbeat pounding loud enough to drown out everything else entirely.
I sensed that Hatter was dangerous the first time I saw him on the stage. But it was a danger I thought I could control. Castle did too, or else he wouldn’t have given me the task to try to break him.
But that stunt Hatter just pulled? That stunt I just fell for? Hatter isn’t just dangerous anymore. Now he’s terrifying.