Another flash of heat shot straight to my core but was gone in an instant. It was enough to fuel me out to the dance floor and put on a show. He watched every second, even turning down women that approached him. Every once in a while, I’d dance close and snag his hand to lead him back to the bar for another drink. After four or five, or maybe seven, everything lightened until I thought I’d float away.
The music, laughing, drinking, and dancing all reminded me of what I’d been missing. Bodie had called a couple million times, but I kept hitting ignore, feeling more and more free with each rejection. Euphoria mixed with the alcohol, and once I finally got Austin out on the dance floor, I used him like my own personal pole. Skimming my hands up my body and through my hair, I rolled my hips and turned, working my way closer.
I was about to curl my back into his front when a large shackle landed on my wrist. I jerked my head over my shoulder to figure out what Austin was doing to find him studying my arm with narrowed eyes.
“What is that?” he asked.
“What is what?”
His brows pinched more over stormy eyes. “Those bruises. On your arm.”
My breath stuttered like I’d been punched to the chest. Wriggling my wrist free, I slowly lowered my arm, fighting for a calm I didn’t feel. “I don’t know. I get bruises all the time.”
He didn’t believe me. I saw it in the way his shoulders pulled back, and his nostrils flared. “Did Bodie do that?” he asked dangerously soft but loud enough for me to hear.
In the hard body preparing for battle in front of me, I saw a spark of concern—of pity.
I didn’t fucking think so.
I could never admit to Austin what happened. I couldn’t stand him looking at me like anything other than a powerful woman. I refused. So, I forced a laugh, tossing my head back. “Puh-lease. Bodie could fucking try.”
He scanned my face for the lie, but I did my best to hide it. Slowly, his body relaxed, but the skepticism still lingered, waiting to be brought up again.
Wanting to shut it down for good, I set out to distract him—pushing harder than usual. Closing the gap, I rested my hands on his chest, sliding them up and around his neck and into his hair. I raised up on my tiptoes and brushed my nose against his chin, gasping when his hands gripped my waist, almost spanning all the way around.
When I glanced up, almost all the skepticism was gone. Only a little more to go.
“You know, Austin, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. We’re both drunk and ridiculously hot. We could finally sleep together and pretend it never happened in the morning. We could blame it all on the vodka.”
The last bit of doubt faded, being singed away by another flare of desire. For a second, I almost expected him to take me up on it, but then the usual deadpanned stare took its place. “I highly doubt your boyfriend would be okay with that.”
“Lucky you, I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“What?”
“I broke up with him.”
He shook his head like he was trying to jar something loose to make sense of it all. “When?”
“This morning. Or wait, yesterday morning, since it’s after midnight.”
“Why? What happened? Does your dad know?”
“Calm down, private eye,” I said, laughing. “We broke up because I don’t do serious, so it was only a matter of time. And the only other important thing you need to know is I don’t have a boyfriend, so it’s our lucky day.” He still gripped my hips, but also looked more confused than anything. “So, how ‘bout it, Austin. Wanna fuck?” I smirked, using the first line I ever said to him in college.
He studied my face as if actually considering it, and the plan to distract him turned into something more. My heart sped up, the possibility of Austin taking me up on a one-night stand sent almost too much adrenaline for my body to take.
With achingly slow movements, one hand released my hip to skim up my body like a feather, past my jaw to push a stray hair behind my ear.
He leaned in, and I held my breath.
“I would, but I will only sleep with my wife.”
His eyes locked on mine, and time stood still.
Until his eyes twitched and humor sparked in the green depths, igniting a laugh I couldn’t hold back. I snorted, and he quickly followed suit.
Before I knew it, we were both laughing with tears down our cheeks. “Is that the line you use on all the girls?”
Austin slept around as much as I did, just with the occasional relationship tossed in. He wanted a wife, but I figured he didn’t want one yet.