Chapter 10 #5
“Taste it.” A faint smile tugged at his sinful lips, and his stare became all-encompassing.
He moved the glass to my lips without ever breaking his stare, and I did as he’d requested.
I put my lips on the exact same spot where his had been moments before and took a sip.
At first blush, the drink was delicious.
But then I felt the tequila aftertaste on my tongue along with an intense burning in my esophagus.
“How is it?” he asked and took another drink after me, and I lingered on the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. I wanted to kiss him, and it felt like I was already drunk.
Drunk on him. On his smell.
No drink could ever have such an effect on me.
I acted on my impulses and did something truly stupid.
“I’d rather taste you,” I whispered in his ear, and he froze with his glass in midair, staring at me.
He frowned and set the drink down, giving me a mocking smile.
“Babygirl, you don’t know the first thing about…” He inched closer to my lips. “…my taste,” he continued in a seductive murmur. I looked at him, bewildered. I had been talking about kissing him, but maybe he meant…
My eyes bugged slightly, and I shifted awkwardly on his knee as I realized what direction this conversation was taking. Neil pulled me closer to him, tightening his grip around my hips. I was a genuine na?f, and now I was playing with fire.
What an idiot.
“Hey, we’re going to go dance. You coming?” Logan took Alyssa’s hand and gestured to the center of the dance floor, between the still-vacant platforms. I had forgotten those two were still present.
That was how it always happened.
Whenever Neil let me into his world, I forgot my own entirely.
We were completely defective together but, sometimes, in some moments, I felt like we understood each other completely.
I could feel the energy between us, the incandescent fire that brought us together.
I could feel our thoughts linked by a single thread, a subtle understanding that was slowly peeling away his armor.
“No,” Neil answered, and I agreed with him.
Logan gave us a wicked look before walking off with Alyssa, as though he’d known from the beginning how this was going to end.
A moment later, I turned to Neil and caught him examining my dress.
Specifically the plunging neckline. I bit my lip and decided to finally ask him the question that had been on my mind for hours.
“Do you like it?” I asked, all in a rush. Even I didn’t know where I got up the courage. Neil took another sip from the margarita and licked his lips thoughtfully. No emotion and no flicker of weakness or vulnerability crossed his face.
“Yeah, it’ll do,” he said, glancing around out of boredom.
And what the hell did he mean by that?
“It’ll do?” I echoed indignantly.
“You got it. I mean, you look pretty and…” He deliberated for a few moments before adding, “Fuckable.” He tried to hand me the margarita, but I shook my head. His words had hurt me, and he didn’t even notice.
He took the last drink and left the empty glass on the bar with a sigh.
“Fuckable is an insult. You do realize that?” I retorted. It was especially insulting considering the way he’d said it.
“Is that not what you wanted?” he taunted me again.
“Have you picked one yet? Oh, that’s right, I’m supposed to do it for you.
Tell me what you like.” He glanced around, drumming his fingers on the bar.
I watched his hand, taking note of the steel ring on his middle finger.
Reflexively, I stroked it with my own finger, and he went rigid.
He wasn’t used to those little spontaneous gestures.
“Brown-haired,” I answered, resting my hands on my thighs. He didn’t want to be touched just then, so I forced myself not to.
“Lots of guys with brown hair here,” he commented, contemplating some of them. Had he lost his mind?
Neil was seriously looking for tonight’s lucky winner. I kept playing along, but the longer the charade went on, the more offended I got that he actually believed I was going to go through with it.
“Tall. Very tall and strong. With a perfect nose and full lips and strangely colored eyes,” I continued.
Neil stopped examining his surroundings and finally looked at me with that haughty frown that made him so irresistible.
“Oh, and he has to have gleaming amber skin,” I added, raising a finger while he watched me in the most devastating way. He was serious, reflective, and could turn me to jelly without uttering a syllable.
“That’s a pretty tall order.” He smiled, stroking his lips with his index finger. He leaned comfortably on one elbow and had adopted such a sexy stance that I couldn’t look away from him.
I didn’t care about any of the other men there.
I wanted him.
“I’m particular. I’m not interested in just anyone,” I said.
It was true, I wasn’t attracted to empty, superior, or self-absorbed men.
I had always valued substance over style.
I could appreciate outer beauty, sure but what really drove me wild was the beauty inside.
Neil was the sum of all those things, which was why I was so fascinated with him.
He bit his lower lip and, once again, looked at mine.
Why wasn’t he kissing me if that’s what he wanted?
It looked like he was trying to control himself, just like he had been in the pool house.
He chuckled, apropos of nothing, and moved his eyes over my shoulder.
All at once, I watched his face change. The levity of the moment evaporated.
I could tell that insidious thoughts were filling his mind.
I followed his gaze, looking for whatever had caused this lightning-quick change, and spotted a woman, black-haired and beautiful, walking into the club.
Though the place was packed, she drew almost all of the male attention.
She wore a simple pair of leather pants and a black, low-cut top that was tied off around her rib cage, leaving her midriff exposed.
She was with a blond girl and had an arm draped over her shoulders.
The girl in black turned to smile at someone, her wavy black hair fluttering with the movement.
I looked back at Neil and found his eyes still locked on her.
It seemed ill-advised just then to keep sitting on his lap, so I moved over to the next stool, the one Alyssa had vacated. Neil seemed to agree with my instinct because he did nothing to stop me. He did nothing—absolutely nothing—to keep me close to him.
“Shoot your shot. I doubt she’ll reject you,” I said testily. There it was—jealousy pressing down on my chest like a boulder. Neil turned his gaze to me and frowned.
Was he pretending not to understand?
“What?” he murmured absently.
“The black-haired girl you’re staring at. If you try to pick her up, she’s not going to say no,” I repeated more clearly. It seemed like a fairly obvious observation.
Who would say no to him?
I was positive that Neil had never been rejected by a woman in his entire life.
“You think?” he said mockingly, though he didn’t seem to have any plans to seduce her. He absolutely could have but instead remained right there in front of me looking like a god: beautiful and out of reach.
“You’re just sitting here staring at her. I don’t want to hold you back. You’ve found tonight’s lucky girl. Do what you gotta do.” I gave him a smile, but it was tight and forced.
“What I gotta do?” he repeated, sounding amused.
“Yup. Bonus: She has great breasts. Big, like you like them,” I grumbled. I was going too far, but I was so terribly nervous. My legs had even started shaking. Neil managed to keep from laughing in my face and leaned against the bar to get closer to me.
Here he was—Neil the seducer.
Handsome, shameless, and sensual.
“Your breasts aren’t so bad,” he said softly, casting an approving glance at my chest. “I’ll remind you that I’ve felt them, licked them, and sucked on them. I don’t usually give that kind of attention to anything I don’t like,” he asserted.
“Could you be a little less…explicit?” I blushed and looked around to hide the redness in my cheeks. I could feel myself getting hot, and my underpants bore the evidence of my body’s weakness: I was aroused.
“I’m usually even more explicit, Tinkerbell.” He smirked at my reaction, and I avoided meeting his eyes again. He was too close; I could feel his breath on my skin. So I shot him a sideways glance and saw that he was still watching me.
“Why are you staring at me?” I huffed. Neil was definitely looking at me now and not at the beautiful girl in black.
“Because I prefer the black-haired girl, right?” he shot back wickedly.
I automatically glanced at the lovely green-eyed stranger and then back at him. He was still focused on me.
“I’m the one you’re staring at, though,” I answered thoughtfully. There was a hint of an enigmatic smile on his face and…
Damn it, he had to stop smiling like that.
“So…?” he whispered. He couldn’t possibly mean he liked me better than that woman. No, the idea was absolutely absurd.
“You cannot prefer me to her.” I shook my head. I could not be what he wanted. Whatever happened between us, Neil would always be attracted to other women, women like the total smokeshow who had just come in. I wasn’t delusional; I knew he didn’t feel the same way about me as I did about him.
“Did you know men don’t like it when a woman’s too insecure?” He smiled at me, and it actually seemed like Neil Miller was flirting with me.
“Doesn’t matter. I don’t want you to like me.” I hoped I sounded convincing. His eyes slipped down to my hands, which couldn’t stop shaking, and he instantly had all the confirmation he needed.
“Such a liar,” he said in a soft, amused voice.
I found myself squirming awkwardly on my stool because my body was apparently responding to the siren call of his stare.
He could have stripped me naked right there on the spot.