CHAPTER THIRTY #2
“That was the point.” His lips twitched as he stopped a few feet away from me, the glow from the mixing console lighting the sharp lines of his face.
I gestured vaguely toward the hallway. “You didn’t have to do all of that. The decorations, the DJ, half the label showing up.”
“I know.” The way he said it made my words stall. Nathan’s gaze dropped briefly to the console beside me before lifting again. “I wanted to.”
The simple honesty of it knocked the air out of my lungs. I looked down at my hands, suddenly unsure what to do with them. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?” I said softly. “Throwing a whole party because your assistant is leaving.”
Nathan took another step closer. “You aren’t just my assistant.”
The words hung between us, making my pulse race. I was the first to break eye contact, glancing around the room.
“I never told you this,” I admitted quietly, nodding toward the booth, “but this is where I first realized you weren’t as scary as everyone said.”
Nathan’s eyes darkened slightly. “Oh, I’m still scary.”
My breath caught. The space between us had shrunk without me even realizing it, and I was suddenly very aware of how close he was standing.
“Nathan…” I started, though I wasn’t even sure what I meant to say.
His gaze flicked down to my mouth before returning to my eyes. “Do you want me to go?” Nathan’s gaze pinned me in place, molten heat flickering behind his eyes.
Yes. No.
My breath trembled. “No.”
Nathan’s smirk was slow, dangerous, and entirely too confident. I watched as he lifted a hand and gently curled his fingers around my wrist, guiding me closer until my back brushed the edge of the mixing console.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
Then his mouth was on mine, hungry and unrestrained, his hands gripping me like he’d been starving for this moment as long as I had.
Nathan exhaled slowly against my mouth, like the last thread of restraint had just snapped. His hands tightened at my waist, lifting me easily onto the edge of the console. The movement made my breath hitch, and his gaze flickered over my face, dark with something intense and barely controlled.
Nathan’s mouth lingered near mine for a moment before he pulled back just enough to look at me. The dim glow of the mixing console reflected in his eyes, making them look darker than usual.
“Come here,” he murmured.
Before I could ask what he meant, his hand slid around my waist and guided me toward the vocal booth, the small glass room tucked into the corner of the studio.
The door opened with a soft click.
I stepped inside, turning back to watch him through the glass.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Nathan didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt another inch and leaned over the console, his fingers brushing across a few switches with practiced ease.
The sight sent a strange flutter through my stomach. It was the exact same posture from the first day I’d watched him in this room.
Focused. Controlled. Completely in his element.
“Nathan.” I warned, suspicion creeping into my voice.
He glanced up at me through the dim light, that slow, wicked smile spreading across his face as he reached forward and pressed the record button.
A small red light blinked to life above the booth.
My heart skipped. “What are you doing?” I asked, looking around, as if that one act suddenly sent off a bat signal to the entire building.
Nathan leaned toward the control room microphone, flipping the switch that routed his voice into the booth.
“You’re standing in a recording booth,” he said calmly. His voice slid through the speakers around me, deeper and rougher than before. “Seems like a waste not to make a little noise.”
My mouth fell open.
He couldn’t possibly be suggesting what I thought he was.
Nathan Edge had officially lost his mind.
I must have too… because part of me was actually considering it.
“Nathan,” I said, half laughing, half breathless. “We shouldn’t.”
Nathan’s smile only widened as he pushed away from the board. The chair rolled slightly as he stood, his gaze never leaving mine as he crossed the room and opened the booth door.
Suddenly the space felt much smaller.
Much warmer.
Nathan stepped inside and closed the door behind him, the soundproof seal shutting out the distant thump of music from the party. For a moment, the only sound in the room was our breathing.
Nathan looked down at me again, that same dangerous heat returning to his eyes. “Ready?” he murmured, brushing his thumb slowly along my lower lip. “We’re gonna make one hell of a track.”
My stomach flipped so hard I had to grip the edge of the console behind me.
Nathan’s mouth brushed mine again, urgent this time, hungrier. My fingers fisted in the front of his shirt before I even realized what I was doing.
Somewhere down the hall, the music swelled again.
But inside the studio, the world narrowed to nothing but Nathan and the warmth of his mouth against mine.
***
“LET’S GET OUT of here. I’m tired of sharing you with people.”
“Someone's clingy tonight,” I teased, but honestly I was ready to be alone with him too. “Let me go say bye to my friends first.”
I stepped out of the studio, my heart still racing from what had just happened. My skin was warm, and I could feel the flush on my cheeks. I paused, staring at the floor for a moment, trying to collect myself before meeting up with my friends.
“I would ask where have you been, but that just fucked glow answers my question.” Alessia said when I joined her, Kelsey, and Taylor.
“Have I told you how much I love how blunt you are?” I glared at her as Kelsey and Taylor giggled. “Do you think anyone else noticed we were gone?”
“I don’t think so. Everyone here has had one too many glasses of champagne.” Kelsey reassured me.
“Is everyone enjoying the party?” Nathan’s deep voice, calm and unexpected, sent shivers down my spine.
I forced myself to act as normal as possible as he came over to me and my friends, trying to hide the way my heart skipped at his presence.
I had known him for years, but the effect he had on me never seemed to fade.
“Some more than others,” Alessia answered, taking a sip of her champagne. I swear, if she wasn’t my friend, I’d make Nathan kick her out.
Nathan chuckled, unfazed by Alessia’s innuendo. I could tell he was getting used to it. His eyes flicked toward me then, and I could feel the weight of his gaze even before he spoke. “And you, Elise? Are you having a good time?”
The weight of his words charged the air around us and stirred a new ache between my thighs as I thought about our little tryst in the studio just a few minutes ago. “It’s a night I’ll never forget.”
He leaned closer, his gaze flickering to my lips for a brief, dangerous moment before he straightened up, his voice light but edged with something more. “Me either.”
“If you guys can barely keep it together for a few hours at a party, I wonder how you’ll survive with Elise away in Florida for a few days.” Kelsey said.
Home.
My family.
It wasn’t just about my mother’s birthday dinner. It was everything that came with it. The expectations, the quiet pressure.
And my father.
I had no idea how I was going to tell him I’d quit my job to pursue dancing full-time.
He had always been so proud of my stable career, the steady path I had carved out for myself.
But dancing, the thing I had always wanted more than anything, was what I truly wanted to pursue.
The thought of telling him terrified me.
I didn’t want to disappoint him, but I knew I had to follow my dreams, even if it meant risking his disapproval.
“We’re not that bad,” I argued, though the dampness of my panties said otherwise. “You can handle a few days without me, right?”
“A few days without you? That’s not a break, cupcake. That’s a punishment.”
I tried to laugh it off, but my heart skipped a beat at the way his eyes softened, the deep affection there impossible to ignore.
Nathan wasn’t the type to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but every time he said something like that, it made me feel like the center of his world and made me silently hope all upcoming flights from LAX to MIA would be canceled.