Dark Hearts (Light in the Dark 3)

“Feel the music,” my voice hums against her ear. “Let your body move to the rhythm.”

She breathes out a shaky breath and begins to move.

My lips twitch with the threat of a smile.

This is a whole different kind of dancing than what we did last weekend at Xander and Thea’s wedding, and I love it. I can tell she’s nervous, but this is me, and she trusts me.

I move my hips against her, and I don’t miss her shaky inhale of breath.

I lower my lips to her ear and sing the lyrics softly. She shivers and her fingers flex around my neck.

The lights flash chaotically around us, creating the illusion that we’re more alone than we actually are.

I skim my thumbs slightly under her shirt, grazing her bare skin, and her dark eyes flash to mine.

I’m playing with fire but I’m not worried about getting burned.

Her eyes reflect desire back to me, and I know she sees the same in mine.

Kiss her. Kiss her. Kiss her.

Every beat of my heart chants the words.

Kiss her. Kiss her. Kiss her.

I fucking want to. So bad. But I’m scared to go there.

Nova’s different.

A kiss would lead to sex, I know it would, and then what would happen? She’s my friend. She’s not a girl I can walk away from after the deed is done with no hard feelings.

Her hips sway to the music, grinding against me, and I bite my lip to stifle my groan. When she looks up at me with surprise in her eyes I know she hasn’t missed the hardness straining against my jeans.

Fucking hell.

If this was any other girl I wouldn’t hesitate to go in for the kill.

But this is Nova.

My heart pounds like thunder in my ear and sweat breaks out across my skin as I fight the urge to kiss her and drag her out of this club so I can fuck her and show her what she does to me. How fucking crazy she makes me.

But I can’t do that.

I won’t do that.

I tear away and leave her in the center of the dance floor.

I push through the people and I’m gone.

Nova

My body feels cold at the sudden loss of Jace, even though I know there’s no way I can actually be cold. Not with this many bodies packed so tightly together.

I watch his tall body push through the crowd as he gets further and further away from me.

He was turned on. I know what I saw and felt, and I can’t believe he’d just leave. Probably to grab some random chick and fuck her in the bathroom—I’ve heard stories from Cade and Xander about things Jace has done, so it’s not a stretch of my imagination.

I blow out an exasperated breath.