One to Love (One to Hold 4)

His sexy grin grew a little bigger across his face, and large hands moved to my waist, pulling me closer. We were moving against each other now. It felt good, and I slid my hands up to his shoulders. He smelled good, like that after-shave everybody wears. Lemony. The song changed, and we kept dancing, our bodies rubbing together in a delicious way.

“I’m Grif. Or Griffin, whichever you prefer.”

I leaned forward so that my lips touched the skin of his ear. “You live around here?”

When I moved back for his answer, I saw his eyes sweep my body. “Nah, I’m just passing through. But maybe I’ll be back.”

The idea of traveling, just leaving everything behind and going, felt so seductive right now. “What do you do?”

“I’m in sales.” His hands moved up my ribs, and when they slid back down, his thumbs drifted across my stomach, sending a tingle through my core to my toes.

It was hot, and I was starting to feel sweaty, but I didn’t want to stop dancing. I took a big gulp of my drink instead. The song changed again, and a guy came up beside us.

Grif’s head snapped toward him. “Get lost.”

I didn’t like his tone, and somewhere thorough the haze of my tequila-soaked brain, it nudged a little trigger of caution. I chose to ignore it. Check out, brain! I was dancing with a hot guy with nice hands and a nice smile, and I wanted to taste those lips.

Mariska appeared out of nowhere to dance beside us. She leaned into my ear. “You okay here?” Wobbling back up, she looked straight into my eyes.

“Yeah!” My voice was maybe a bit too high. “I’m having fun. Thanks for taking me out tonight!”

She gave me a squeeze and started dancing with both hands over her head. I turned back to smile at Grif and caught his eyes moving over her body as well. I didn’t like the way he was checking her out, but at the same time, Mariska was a beautiful girl. Guys would be brain dead if they didn’t notice. I didn’t want to be with any brain dead guys. That made me laugh, and a third Tequila Sunrise magically appeared in my hand. I took a big gulp, and one of my favorite dance mixes came on. I jumped up and down squealing, only spilling my drink a little, when I noticed Pete was back.

He was so good-looking. He caught my friend’s hand, and I saw the way she blinked up at him. I wasn’t sure what number mojito she was on, but it looked like Pete might make it to third base tonight. Eight more beats, and he was leading her off to the side.

“It’s hot.” Grif’s loud voice jerked me back to where I was. He was lifting the front of his black tank and fanning it out in front of him, giving me a little peak at a nice six-pack. “Want to go down to the water and cool off?”

“Umm...” I scanned the club for Mariska. We had a standing deal never to leave any club without alerting each other. “I need to let my friend know where I am.”

He smiled with those perfect teeth. “We won’t be gone long. I doubt she’ll even miss us.”

He was probably right. I nodded, and took the large hand he offered me, following him out the back door and to the patio area. A wide staircase led straight down into the sand, and he caught my hand, leading me toward the water.

We started walking south, away from the club and toward the dim lights of Bayville. I let out a little noise with my exhale. “Whew! That is the most fun I think I’ve ever had in this town.”

I laughed, but Grif was strangely quiet. We kept walking a little ways, listening to the sound of the surf rolling in gently tonight, the dull thud of bass thumping softer behind us. I paused and reached down to remove my black stilettoes. When I did, I noticed a smaller, thin man was following us at a distance. Something about the way he looked made my stomach clench, but I tried to cover.

“So you’re a salesman? What do you sell?” They were the only words I got out before he grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me against the sand.

I tried to scream, but his mouth covered it. His hands were moving fast, ripping my skirt up and my panties down. Panic hit me hard, and all I could think to do was pull my knee up as fast as I could right into his groin.

He was late to block me, but I didn’t land a disabling strike. Still, it rolled him off long enough for me to pull my body to the side and crawl as fast as I could away from him.

“Let me GO!” I screamed, my voice ragged and hoarse.

He was right behind me, catching the back of my thigh and stopping my escape. I screamed again as loud and as long as I could, but we were too far from the club for anyone to hear me. Even if we were closer, I doubted anyone would notice over the loud thump of the dance music.

“Shut up, you little bitch.” He grabbed my mouth as he climbed up my body from behind. “Stop fighting and you just might enjoy yourself.”

His mouth was right at my ear, and I tried slamming my head back as hard as I could, going for his nose. He dodged the blow, and I only fell backwards onto his shoulder.

Shoving me forward, his thigh wedged between my legs, and my face jammed in the sand. I screamed again, trying not to inhale the grains that would choke me.

“STOP!” I screamed, but my voice cracked, and I sounded more like a child than a woman.

His fingers were inside me, and I screamed, pulling my knees under me and pushing my ass straight up, hoping to knock him off-balance. It didn’t work. He only held my waist against his erection. I could feel it straining to be inside me.

“Yeah, that’s right.” His voice was a low growl.