Twenty-Four #3
I glanced around and saw Pat’s eyes riveted on his wife as she writhed beside me on the dance floor.
Chaz lifted his hand to me with a blank stare as his mouth dropped open.
His wife, with her head back, eyes closed, feeling the music, had all his interest. I pointed my finger around so he wouldn’t miss any of the other appreciative stares on her.
I saw the surprise on his face and couldn’t contain my smile.
I turned my head to find Sam, but he was nowhere to be seen.
I wasn’t worried, instead concentrating on grinding it out with my girls, all of us in tight front-to-back formation, hands all over each other.
In no time, other wives and girlfriends abandoned their partners and came to join us, and when the DJ saw how many of us were out there, he put on “The Hustle,” which everyone seemed to know.
Even those who didn’t could follow along and get the hang of it pretty quickly.
Once we were back to more disco and had finally reached the Earth, Wind & Fire collection, Sam’s partner, Chloe, came and danced with me, Ersi, and Stephanie.
When Pat came to claim his wife from me, I got a slap on the back of the head as a warning and a huge smile from his wife.
I had put a spotlight on how hot she was, and got a kiss blown to me in appreciation.
When I looked up to find Stephanie, I saw her leaning on the bar, Chaz with a protective arm around her.
Both women had been claimed, and I was pleased with myself.
“It’s Jory, isn’t it?”
I turned and found Sam’s captain’s wife. “Yes, ma’am.”
Her smile was shy. “I missed doing the Hustle.”
I gave her a wide smile in return. “We can do it again,” I promised, darting across the floor to the DJ to make my request, then back to her side in moments.
We had a good time, she was a wonderful partner, and as the music progressed afterward, I found out that the seventies were apparently her decade.
She dissolved into throaty laughter when I dipped her.
Back on her feet, she hugged me tight before leaning back to kiss my cheek.
“Oh, Jory, you’re delightful.”
I spun her out and back as the next song started.
A half hour later, I excused myself to go find the bathroom, promising to be back over whistles and catcalls as the captain joined his wife. He squeezed my shoulder as I slid by him, and we shared a quick smile before I bolted off the floor.
Walking quickly back from the bathroom a few minutes later, I was yanked hard into one of the darkened rooms. Before I could form words of protest, before I could even push back, I was pinned to a wall by an equally hard wall of muscle.
“You move nice,” he growled, his mouth close to my ear, sending a wave of goose bumps down my side.
“Sam,” I sighed, drawing his name out.
“Kiss me.”
“No, stop,” I ordered, worried for him, trying to push him off me. “Get away before somebody sees you.”
“And if they do?”
“Sam, you—”
“Look at me.”
When I lifted my head, he bent and kissed my chin, jaw, and finally my lips.
The kiss went deep, and I felt how excited he was as his body pressed against mine.
I couldn’t stop the sound that came out of me, and the mouth grinding down over mine was ravaging.
He was taking his time, and even though I couldn’t breathe, I didn’t care.
He put his hands on my face, holding me still, making sure I couldn’t get away. My knees went weak.
“God, you taste good,” he growled against my throat when he finally pulled back.
“What are you doing?” I asked breathlessly. “This is a work function. You’re gonna get in trouble.”
“For doing what? Kissing my domestic partner?”
“Yeah. People will freak out.”
“No they won’t.”
“Sam, you—”
“Fine. Some will, but most of the people here know me, and I have more friends than I thought, and really, honey, it’s been in the news. You’ve been in the news, which means I’ve been in the news. There will be no hiding.”
“Yes, but—”
“If there’s fallout, there’s fallout. I’m ready.”
“But you shouldn’t have to be.”
He shrugged. “There are more important revelations.”
“Oh? Like?”
“I had no idea you could dance like that.”
I chuckled.
“I mean, every woman out there is thinking ‘if he moves like that on the floor, what must he be like in bed?’”
I laughed at him. “You’re insane.”
He grunted. “And all the guys are thinkin’ ‘damn… I wish I could move like that.’”
It didn’t matter what anyone else thought, the important part was that I had obviously enchanted my man.
The way he was pressing against me, the way he bumped my chin with his nose, making me lift up so he could reach my throat with his mouth, the way his breath caught, his hands under my shirt, sliding over my bare skin…
All of it let me know that I was wanted, desired, needed.
“And some guys out there are wondering what it would be like to sleep with a man just one time.”
“Is that right?”
“Or, more precisely…sleep with Sam Kage’s man.”
I closed my eyes and arched up into him, my skin burning up, aching to be touched.
“You are gorgeous, and everybody wants you.”
His hands were all over me, and I heard myself whimper.
“But you’re mine…only mine.”
I felt the heat in his words, the possessive growl that annihilated me.
“It was the first thing I ever thought when I saw you lying in the street.”
My eyes snapped open, and I looked up into his face, which I could just barely see in the darkness.
“I remember you were there on the ground with that stupid dog, and I thought…he’s mine.
He belongs to me. It was the weirdest thing, and it didn’t make any sense, but that’s why I followed you around, and that’s why I could never let you walk away…
I knew right then, right there, in the middle of the street, that you belonged to me…
and that you were supposed to be with me. ”
“You did?” My voice was barely there. The lump in my throat made it hard to even make a sound.
“I did. I knew. I’d never felt anything like it before. I’d never had that reaction to anyone. That’s why I had to see you and talk to you. When something happens like that, when you get struck by lightning, you have to figure out what’s happening. You must find out.”
“And what did you find out?”
“That you’re the one.”
I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tight.
He pressed against me, his leg wedged between my thighs, face buried in my shoulder, arms holding tight. I was completely enfolded, and instead of it being smothering because he was so much bigger than me, it was amazing. I loved being held like I was everything.
“Come on,” he said after several long minutes. “Let’s go back in so we can say good night and go home.”
I scoffed. “None of those people are gonna let me go home.”
“That’s bullshit. Pat took his girl and left, same with Chaz… I get to take my boy home and go to bed too. Fair is fair.”
I smiled at him. “Who was the girl you were dancing with?”
“I have no idea.”
“You can’t dance at all,” I assured him.
“Yeah, no shit. That’s why I don’t do it.”
I nodded, moving to walk by him.
“Though I can, in fact, line dance.”
“Really?”
“You don’t have to sound all shocked.”
I was laughing as he grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. “Where were you before you got here? Why were you late?”
I winced.
“Oh shit,” he groaned, narrowing his eyes as he looked down at me. “What’d you do, J?”
“It’s what you did.”
“What did I do?” he growled at me.
The furrowed brows, his deep dark eyes, the way the muscles in his jaw worked…all so usual, all to be counted on, depended on—his annoyance with me, the love that permeated it all.
“What the hell are you smiling about?”
I shook my head, my lips pressed tightly together.
“Tell me,” he demanded, his hand slipping around the back of my neck.
“I just—I had a weird day, and seeing you…I feel better.”
His head lifted, he was unsure how to respond. “Oh.”
I sighed deeply. “How ’bout we go home and you cook? I’ll make it worth your while.”
He eased me close to him and nodded.
Back in the ballroom, several women came to grab my hands and lead me back to the dance floor, but Sam’s grip on my shoulder was solid and unrelenting. I was not leaving his side for the rest of the short time we would be there.
“Whose shirt is this?” he said as we walked back to the barstool where my things still were.
“It’s Ersi’s.”
“It’s sticking to you.”
I chuckled. “That’s because it’s hers, not mine, so it’s a bit small for me.”
He grunted.
I pulled my trench coat on over it. “Better?”
“You could put your own clothes back on.”
“Shall I take off the shirt and—”
“No,” he snapped at me, buttoning up my coat, making sure I was covered. “This is fine. I don’t want you half-naked in front of everyone.”
We stood there, staring at one another.
“Are we going, or are you just gonna stand there and scowl at me?”
In answer, he took hold of my hand and walked me over to his captain, who complimented my dancing as his wife rose and hugged and kissed me.
I wished her a happy birthday, as I had forgotten to earlier.
She thanked me for coming and for the lovely bouquet of wildflowers and roses that had been delivered to her home that morning from me and Sam.
It was stunning, she told me, the most extravagant she had ever received.
And I knew it was. I had used Dane’s florist, after all.
“I just loved them, Jory,” she said, then she reached for Sam’s shoulder so he would lean down and she could kiss his cheek. “Thank you so much, Sam.”
“We’re so pleased,” I told her.
She nodded, then turned back to Sam. “I’m so happy you finally brought Jory with you so I could meet him. He’s simply enchanting, and I just adore him.”
“Me too,” he replied gruffly, his fingers sliding through my hair.
Once we were outside, walking through the parking lot, I turned to him.
“What?” he asked after a moment.
“Finally?” I asked, needing clarification.