“Where are you going?” Kelsey asked.
I called “Bathroom!” over my shoulder, and kept walking.
When I reached the door, I glanced over my shoulder, glad to find Kelsey preoccupied with her spaghetti, and I slipped inside the room.
“Is she gone?” Garrick asked.
“Ssshhh!” He was leaning against the sink, and I reached around him to turn on the faucet to cover our whispers. “No. I’m sorry. She’s actually eating our spaghetti.”
His lips puckered, and I leaned forward, smothering my laugh against his chest.
“Is she leaving soon?”
I peered up at him, but stayed close against him.
“No. She thinks I’m depressed about Cade, and she’s determined to force me to go out.”
He pulled me to him, and pressed his face into the space where my neck curved into my shoulder. He let out a growl that was oddly reminiscent of Hamlet.
I wrapped my arms around him, just as disappointed. “I know. This sucks.”
As if I’d given him the idea, his lips covered my pulse point, sucking softly. I laughed, and pushed him back.
“Garrick, she’s right outside.”
As if on cue, Kelsey knocked at the door.
“Enough stalling, chica! I’ve picked out your outfit!” The doorknob started turning, and I rushed to intercept her.
I kept my foot in the way so that only a crack of space formed.
I said, “I’m not stalling, just getting ready. Hand me the clothes, and I’ll get changed.”
She looked suspicious at my feigned excitement. I was never excited when she dragged me out like this. I kept smiling, like maybe the stress had gotten to me, and I’d just finally cracked.
She passed me the clothes, and before she had a chance to reply, I pushed the door closed, and locked it as quietly as I could.
When I turned around, Garrick was slumped onto the toilet. I switched on the radio, turning it up as loud as I could stand, and turned off the faucet.
“I’m sorry, Garrick.”
Sitting, his head was level with my chest, and he rested his hands on my hips, pulling me forward.
“It’s okay, love. This was bound to happen sooner or later.”
“I wish you could come with me.”
“Me too, love. But it’s okay. We’ll have dinner another time. You should get changed. The sooner you get out of here. The less likely we are to get caught.”
I nodded. My hands shook slightly as I pulled the clothes to my chest.
He said, “I’ll close my eyes.” And I dropped a quick, thankful kiss on his cheek
Smiling, he closed his eyes, and then leaned his elbows on his knees and his face into his hands. As quickly as I could, I whipped off my shirt, and shrugged off my shorts. I pulled a black tank top over my head, and then picked up the skirt.
My stomach dropped.
It was that God-awful, horrendously short miniskirt. I must have made a noise because Garrick raised his head. He kept his eyes closed as he asked, “Everything okay?”
I said, “Yes.’
Even though I was thinking hell no.
I slipped on the skirt, and it was just as short as I remembered. I sighed. There was no way I could wear this.
I touched a hand to Garrick’s shoulder, meaning to tell him that I was going to go outside to find something else, but his eyes opened and fixed on my legs, which suddenly felt weak, like pools of fabric instead of muscle and flesh and bone.
One of his hands curled around to tickle at the back of my knee, and I had to steady myself with a hand on his shoulder to keep from collapsing.
“You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” He choked. “Isn’t this the skirt you told me you’d never wear?”
“And I won’t be wearing it tonight. I’m going back to my room to find something else.”
I turned, and his other hand touched my thigh. “Wait.”
His hands trailed up to the indecently short hem, and around to the back of my thighs, inches below the curve of my butt.
“You. Are. Unbelievably. Sexy.” His voice was so low it rumbled, and I could feel the vibrations soaking into my skin. He leaned down and punctuated each word with a chaste kiss up the side of my thigh. I could have been clay in his hands, the way he was controlling me. If he had tried, I might have given up my virginity to him there in the bathroom without much of a fight.
But Kelsey’s fist pounded on the door, snapping me out of my lust.
“Damn, Bliss. Would you hurry it up already?”
With her words, came back my fear. Sure, he thought I was sexy now. But virgins were pretty much the least sexy things ever. Would he change his mind when he found out?
“I have to go. I’m sorry. There’s probably spaghetti still left over if you want some after we leave. I’ll… I’ll call you, okay?”
He nodded, his eyes still dark, unwavering.
I tumbled out into the hallway, a mess of hormones and emotions. I was so distracted that I didn’t even remember I’d intended to change until I was already buckled into Kelsey’s car and we were on our way to the club.
Chapter Twenty
Ecstasy, the club, was dark and hazy when we entered. The beat of the music pounded through the walls and the floor, seeping into my skin, setting me on edge. This wasn’t my scene at all, but Kelsey loved it. I figured all I had to do was hang out at the bar, maybe chat with a guy or two so she’d get off my back. Then she’d probably go home with some guy and leave me her car. That’s how these things usually went.
What I hadn’t anticipated was the way my change in attire would change the normal plan. We were barely in the doors for a minute before a guy had asked me to dance. I declined, which earned me a glare from Kelsey.
“What?” I shouted over the music. “You said I had to come, not that I had to dance!”
We stood at the bar, and I worked to flag down a bartender, while she berated me.
“You are the most infuriating person I have ever met! You look smoking hot tonight, and all you’re going to do is sit over here and pout like always!”
“Then maybe you should have let me stay home and pout!”
A guy tapped on my shoulder, and I didn’t even wait for him to ask before I said, “NO!”
Kelsey fixed her hands on her hips, and for a Barbie look-a-like, she was still pretty intimidating. “I realize you are upset, and you’ve got a lot going on. I’m trying to be understanding, but what is your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem, Kelsey. I just don’t like that you think you can drag me places without any concern for what I actually want!”
“Fine! Nevermind! I give up! Sit here and pout! I’m going to dance!”
She spun around and pushed through the crowd, spilling several drinks and knocking people out of her way.
Scary Barbie.
I inched onto a stool, conscious of the fact that my short skirt made it so that my bare legs were glued to the plastic. I wouldn’t be surprised if my ass was hanging out, but at the moment I was too pissed off to care. I ordered a Jack and Coke, and sat there seething while I waited. I knew she meant well, but the solution to all the world’s problems was not partying. I’d always known we were very different people, but I’d never realized just how much she didn’t understand me.
“Can I buy you a drink?” A voice asked over my shoulder.
I held up my full drink, and ignored him.
The guy took a seat beside me anyway. He leaned in to ask me something else, and I snapped, “I’m not interested!”
Then a familiar voice answered. “I’m glad to hear that.”
I nearly fell off my stool when I picked up the accent.
“Garrick!”
Garrick was the guy sitting next to me, a cap pulled down low over his eyes, covering his gorgeous blond hair.
He hadn’t sounded like Garrick when he’d first spoken. “You sounded—“
When he answered this time his accent was gone, and he sounded American. No particular dialect, just… normal. “I am an actor, Bliss. I know how to cover my accent.”
Still in shock, I asked, “What are you doing here? What if someone sees you?”
“I’m incognito, sort of. And if anyone does, I’ll just say we ran into each other by chance. I’m a professor. I didn’t take a vow to have zero social life.”
“But why?”
“Because I couldn’t stomach the thought of you dancing with anyone else in that skirt.” His hand grazed my thigh, and all the heat from earlier came rushing back.
“Garrick, stop! Someone is going to see! What if Kelsey comes back?”
“Based on the show you guys put on earlier, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”
I cringed. Maybe I had been a little bitchy.
“Come on.” He stood up, and offered me a hand. I looked around, scared to take it. It was so dark. If there was someone here we knew, we would have no way of knowing unless we came face to face. This was too big of a chance.
“Stop thinking so much,” he told me and wrapped an arm around my waist sliding me off the seat. The bare skin of my thighs squeaked embarrassingly against the seat, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. He threaded our fingers together and pulled me into the crowd.
I kept my head down, concentrating on putting my feet where his had just been. He led me down a few steps onto a lower level, where it was somehow even darker, and the bodies were pressed tighter together. I couldn’t see anyone but the people right next to me. He weaved and pulled until we were in the furthest corner, then pulled me between him and the wall. His back was to the rest of the room, and his tall form covered me completely.
His breath tickled against my ear as he whispered, “Better?”
I nodded. It was better. I mean, we were still in a club and I would rather have been at home alone, but already this was the best club experience I’d ever had.
Even knowing how he felt about me, I was too nervous to dance with him face to face. So I turned until my back was pressed against his front. His hands went immediately to my hips, pulling me against him. The sensation chased all the air out of my lungs.
I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to stare at the wall and I tried to let the music swoop through me. Slowly, his h*ps tilted forward, and I followed, pushing back against him. He exhaled against my ear, and it sent shivers down my spine. He slid a hand from my hip to my stomach. With his fingers splayed, his thumb rested about an inch below my bra and his pinky trailed the waistband of my skirt. He used that hand to pull me into him at the same time that he rolled his hips.
Stars danced behind my closed eyes and my heartbeat matched the steady thrum of the music. His body against mine seemed to magnify the already heated room, and I felt sweat begin to dampen my neck. His h*ps kept rolling to the music, slowly and sensually, but every once and a while on a strong beat, his h*ps would push harder against mine. His lips touched the skin of my neck, and I was falling, falling, falling into the feeling.
It wasn’t enough. Would I ever have enough of him? I reached my hands up and behind me, tangling in his hair, and he hummed his approval. The hand on my stomach came up, running lightly from my raised arm down my side. He grazed the side of my breast, and the touch sent tremors through me, which were amplified when his fingers passed the indecent skirt and gripped my thigh.