Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
MELTING
Jules
I’ve always loved to dance. I wasn’t kidding when I told Omar if I could, that’s what I’d be doing with my life. The closest I got to having lessons was dancing in the mirror with my childhood best friend until we were sweaty and exhausted. But give me a crowded dance floor with a good DJ, and I’ll give you my best impression of the dancing queen I’ve always wanted to be.
Tonight, the Calypso music has been just right. Jodi and I haven’t been dancing long when Omar walks in. But my T-shirt is already sticking to my sweat-slicked back.
I wave at him, and he nods in response and heads to the bar where Dom is sitting. I’m about to go say hello when “Dolla Wine” by Colin Lucas comes on. It’s one of those songs that, no matter how tired you are, will bring you to the dance floor. Jodi grabs my hands and draws me back to the center of the throng of people.
Nights like this draw in a crowd that’s made up of first-timers and occasional patrons. And it’s obvious who they are because they surround Jodi and me, grinding and touching in a way that no one who comes here regularly would.
Dominic appears behind her suddenly and whispers something in her ear. She waggles a finger at me to say goodbye and lets him pull her into one of the dark corners. As soon as she’s gone, a hand slides across my abdomen and pulls me back into a hard chest. “Hey,” I cry and push him away. He starts to come back for more, but something over my shoulder makes his eyes go wide. He doesn’t look at me again as he dances away and sways his hips into the woman directly behind him.
I turn around to see what caused his retreat and throw my head back and laugh when I see Omar leaning against a table watching me with a terrible scowl on his face. I motion for him to join me, and he shakes his head.
If the mountain won’t come to me…I’ll make sure he knows what he’s missing.
Winding my waist and moving my body to the music, I turn around and swing my hips even faster.
“You’re playing with fire.” His voice floats into my ear, his lips touching the skin behind it. “And you smell so good.” His hands encircle me and pull me back until there’s no space between our bodies. He moves his hips with mine. I drape my hands around the back of his neck, and he drops his head until his warm, soft lips are nibbling at the side of my throat.
Heat races over my entire body. “You taste even better,” he whispers.
“I’m melting, Omar.”
“Well, you’ve been dancing like crazy. I’m not surprised.”
“I mean on the inside…when you touch me like this, everything turns to liquid.”
He groans softly and grabs me by the hand and spins me out. I gasp with unadulterated delight and he twirls me back, dips me low, and holds me there.
His face is just inches from mine, and his eyes are so dark they reflect the lights over the dance floor like the sky does the stars. I’m breathless when he lifts me back up and pulls me into his chest.
“I thought you didn’t dance,” I tease.
“I guess I found the right beat, because here I am.”
“You like the beat of Calypso?”
“I like the beat of you .”
My heart is beating so hard I think it might explode. His lips are so close, but not close enough. “Kiss me.”
I’ve barely finished speaking and his lips are on mine, coaxing but unrelenting and so soft that mine meld themselves to them. His cold tongue tickles them, and they part for him. Then, I’m completely lost.
He tastes like Guinness and salt and a chance . He’s kissing me so hard, his tongue is so deep, it’s like he’s trying to steal the breath from my lungs. His hands slide down my waist, cupping my ass through my skirt, and he squeezes at the same time his body grinds into mine.
He’s hungry. But I’ve been waiting for this my whole life, and I’m starving .
I grasp his head, trying to get deeper, closer, more .
He sucks, licks, bites, soothes, plunders, and possesses, and I pray this claiming kiss is a blueprint for what he’s going to do to me later.
The dance floor is a sea, and we are an island erupting from a volcano in the middle of it—with parts unknown waiting to be discovered. But what burns between us is as ancient as time itself, and my body knows what it needs.
His lips blaze a trail down my chin to my neck, and I run my hands over his body, the muscles of his back and waist and ass only heightening my frenzy. “Can we go?”
“Where’s Jodi?” Instead of being annoyed by the delay, my heart marks his question as proof of its good judgment.
“With Dominic.”
“Get your things,” he growls in my ear.
I pat my pocket. “It’s all here.”
He takes my hand and leads me through the crowd and out the door. It’s raining hard, and he tugs me to a stop under the tiny awning. “Let’s wait it out here. My car is at the end of the street.”
He drapes his arm over my shoulder, and I wrap mine around his waist and snuggle against his chest. “Where’s your umbrella?”
“At home,” he mutters.
I lean back and clutch my imaginary pearls. “What in the world has gotten into you?”
He cuts me a side eye. “The forecast called for a 10 percent chance of rain.”
“You were being optimistic,” I say with exaggerated pride.
“I wasn’t. I read the forecast and was stupid enough to believe it.”
“Aww, come on. Admit it. You believed it because you were being optimistic.” I tickle his side.
“I wasn’t.” He makes a grab for my hand, but I move it before he can. “Jules, stop it,” he demands and tries in vain to catch it again.
“Admit it, and I’ll stop.” He stops struggling and stands still like he’s completely unaffected, but when I tickle his other side, I find his funny bone. His stoic resistance disappears, and he bursts into a wild laugh. “Fine, fine. I was being optimistic,” he shouts, and I stop.
“I’ve brought you over to the bright side.” I wiggle my eyebrows and rub my palms together in relish.
“You sadist,” he grumbles, then peers out at the rain and scowls. “Fat lot of good it did me.”
“Indeed. Because one of the greatest desires of my heart is to kiss in the rain. The universe knows and timed it all perfectly.”
I step out from under our shelter and into the rapidly falling rain. The soft, tiny droplets cool my hot skin. My father loved the rain. I know he’d want me to be happy tonight. I know it as surely as I know my own name. I fling my arms wide, splay my fingers, and tip my head up to the heavens.
“It feels so good,” I shout with my eyes closed and spin slowly, reveling in the downpour. The light touch of his fingertips to mine startles my eyes open.
He steps out from under the awning and slides his hand up until our wet fingers are linked. The rain soaks his hair and runs down his beautiful face as he walks me back until I’m pressed against the brick wall of the building.
He cups my face with one hand and slides the other into my wet hair, making a fist and tugging my head back.
He lowers his head so close that the falling rain drips from his lips and onto mine. “I had my mind set on being the only thing that gets you wet tonight.”
The sharp shot of lust takes me by surprise, and I clench my thighs hard. I wrap my arms around his back to pull him as close as I can. “But if a kiss in the rain is what you want, then I’m going to give it to you.” His lips cover mine, and the wet cool of the rain is no match for the heat his touch ignites.
If our kiss on the dance floor was an island erupting, this one is its first flower bud blooming: sweet, tender, and perfect.
But far too short. I try to drag his mouth down to mine when he breaks the kiss. He grabs both of my wrists in one hand and lifts them over my head. He cups my bottom and tilts his hips so the hard length of his dick presses against my stomach.
Then he presses his lips to my ear. “I’d love to keep kissing you. But once I start, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop. So unless you want me to take you right here, we need to go now.”
“Oh,” I gasp at the scrape of his teeth on the sensitive skin behind my ear.
He steps away but holds out his hand. “Are you ready?”
I slip my hand into his. “Absolutely.”