Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Eli
Shit.
“Hi, Melissa,” I say, hoping she doesn’t see the eye roll I’m repressing.
We’re in a nice secluded part of the club here.
Why did she have to see us? Why did she feel the overwhelming need to barge in and interrupt?
Just as I was working up the courage to ask Em if she wanted to go out to dinner with me sometime, just the two of us.
I'd spent the entire time at the bar psyching myself up to do it, to say the words, and now I've got to deal with this pushy pain in the ass instead.
“Didn’t expect to see you here tonight,” she drawls, bending forward and placing her palms on the table in front of us.
Her arms squeeze together just enough to make a Grand Canyon of cleavage as stark and noticeable as she can get it without literally rubbing it in my face.
I deliberately keep my eyes trained on hers, ignoring her display completely.
I can see this throws her off her game, and pisses her off a little.
An idea occurs to me. No. I shouldn’t. Or...maybe I could?
Fuck it.
I sling my arm around Em’s shoulders and squeeze slightly.
And then, because I can’t resist, I gently run my fingers along her shoulder.
I can feel her holding back a tremble, and it’s all I can do not to howl like an alpha wolf over the song playing from the DJ decks about being in love back in 2002.
“Do you mind? I’m kind of on a date here,” I say clearly.
Her eyes widen, and then narrow. “A date?”
I squeeze Em’s shoulder again. She has gone still, but I’m hoping she’ll just go along with this and won’t rat me out.
Melissa has been the very definition of persistent, and it’s been getting more and more irritating.
The answer is no, and it would be even if my ideal woman wasn’t sitting right next to me. “Yeah. So, if you don’t mind…”
Melissa straightens slightly. “I was gonna ask you to dance with me,” she says, trying to sound inviting, or like a better offer, but she just comes off as desperate and bratty.
“No thanks,” I say coolly, "I'm happy with my girl." She looks pissed, but doesn’t make a move; she just stands there, looking annoyed.
Time to go for broke.
I turn to Emily and lean to whisper sensually in her ear. “Help me out here, and I’ll tell Leo to give you a pay rise and an extra day of paid vacation. I’m frickin’ begging you.”
She gives a sexy chuckle that goes straight to my groin and runs her hand up my thigh. It’s my turn to smother a shiver. I wish to holy hell this was for real.
“Wow, Eli. Not normally on the first date,” she says flirtatiously, clear enough that Melissa will be able to hear, “but if you play your cards as well as that for the rest of the night...I may have to break my rule.”
I’m torn between admiring applause for her easy deception and begging her to tell me more about exactly which rule I allegedly suggested she break.
Especially when she rests her forehead on mine and runs the tip of her nose along the side of my face.
If I was standing up right now, my knees would be weak.
And then she grazes my neck softly with her teeth.
I’m lucky that the music is pretty loud right now because a growl of pure want escapes my lips. I swear I feel her tongue on my skin. Sure enough about it that my hand tightens its grip on her…
Just as quickly, she pulls back, right back so the only physical contact we have now is my hand on her shoulder, and I want to curse enough to make my momma mad and pull her back to me. I want her. I want her so badly I can’t even think straight anymore.
“Ooh - all clear,” she says brightly, “she’s gone.”
Who’s gone?
OH.
I look up, and sure enough there’s empty air where Melissa stood before.
I take a deep, steadying breath, and notice my hands are shaking slightly. I remove my hand from Em’s shoulder with regret and crack my knuckles, hoping it will somehow help them to still.
“Thank you,” I say sincerely.
She smiles, and I am gratified to see she’s flushing all over. This is a god damn excellent dress on her. I pull my eyes away, not wanting to be a creeper, but the image lingers in my head.
“No worries,” she says, taking a sip of her drink. Even watching her swallow is turning me on. Are her hands shaking slightly, too?
Pull it together, man.
She looks towards the dance floor, which is packed, and squints. “Can’t see Leo,” she remarks. She stands and leans on the railings, looking down and scouring the crowd, colors from the fairy lights on the railings dancing along her dress. That. That is how I’d paint her if I could.
She doesn’t realize how hungrily I’m looking at her figure from behind, and I mentally slap myself before walking over and standing next to her. I don’t want to push my luck.
I’m fairly sure she feels something, though. I’m hook, line, and sinker for her, but that doesn’t mean she feels the same for me yet.
I can wait, though. I’m a patient man. If there’s even the chance that she could be interested now, and that it could grow into the same way I feel, I can have infinite patience.
“There he is,” I say, pointing to Leo doing a sexy and fun fake tango with his Sadie substitute of the night. I can’t believe I nearly let that little fact slip earlier. Emily is so easy to be with that I forget to keep my mouth shut.
She giggles at my cousin’s antics. God, I hope she doesn’t have the hots for him.
She doesn’t look envious or disappointed, so I don’t think she does.
Their scene is more like best friends, or big brother/kid sister.
They laugh together a lot, wisecracking at work with the ease of old friends, but the air doesn’t crackle between them.
It’s not like ours. I swear I’m not imagining the chemistry between us.
And then I notice it.
She’s tapping her toes. Ke$ha is singing Blow, and Em is tapping her toes to the beat.
Her fingers move along the railings, and her hips are gently swaying.
For someone who said earlier she can’t dance, she’s sure halfway there right now.
Her actions are subconscious, involuntary, and I wonder why she didn’t want to dance when it’s so clear she likes it. .. Until it hits me.
I’d bet my last dollar Gav has a hand in this reluctance, and for the billionth time since I became aware of his existence, I want to punch his head clean off his body for mentally abusing her until she can’t enjoy anything without fear and anxiety spoiling it.
I’d love to dance with her. Feel her body sway rhythmically next to mine, and how perfectly I know we’d fit together. Jesus. I can picture it so clearly that it taunts me.
And I decide to take the risk.
Taking a page out of Leo’s book, I reach next to me and take her hand, giving her a twirl that catches her slightly off guard.
Her eyes are huge and a little terrified when the spin finishes, but I spot a hint of exhilaration in her silver depths, so I keep going, dancing to the music to try to encourage her to join in.
I’m no Leo, but I can dance pretty well.
I don’t touch her; I just do my thing and smile at her like it’s no big deal.
She doesn’t want to dance in front of other people?
No problem. We’ll dance here, in our own little corner of the club, where no-one will notice or care.
Her hunched shoulders drop as she starts to slowly relax towards me, and by the time the second chorus belts out, I can see she’s made a conscious decision to join in.
Maybe it’s simple pity, to keep me from being embarrassed by dancing by myself.
I don’t care. I feel like a million dollars when she starts shaking her moneymaker and getting really into it.
I feel like the king of everything because she’s no longer too afraid to dance with me.
She’s good, too. Particularly when she completely lets go and leaves the self-consciousness behind.
As the song becomes bouncier and more upbeat, she jumps around energetically, and I cannot help grinning because I’ve never seen such a cheerful dancer in all my born days.
How very Emily. And as the beat settles again, her body undulates mere inches from me until, in spite of my mental determination not to get a boner, my cock is so hard and heavy I could chip concrete.
I can feel a drop of sweat inching down my spine, and my heart is racing, both from dancing and straight up happiness.
This is the best night I’ve had in many a long year.
At one point in the song, she spins so energetically and fearlessly that she crashes into me, and then my hands are at the base of her back to catch her before she falls, my pinkie fingers mere centimeters from the curve of her ass, and she’s giggling softly, pleasantly giddy from the twirling, and I’m a little dizzy, too, because she’s so close, and we’re looking at each other and smiling, and her lips suddenly look so temptingly, tantalizingly close to mine.
I catch her hand and place it on the back of my neck, wanting to groan at her soft touch.
Our mouths are mere inches apart. All I need to do is just lean forward and touch her mouth with mine, and maybe I could, maybe it’s what should happen.
Maybe everything has been leading to this all along.
Her eyes are huge, and they’re in control of me right now, pulling me into their depths. ..
She does a double take over my shoulder, and her eyes light up. “Sadie!” she exclaims.
I look over, and, yep, sure enough, with perfect timing, I see Sadie and Peter loitering five feet away. To her credit, it looked like Sadie was trying to make a hasty exit, and her eyes are full of apology when they meet mine.