Beautiful Seduction

I wasn’t twenty-one any longer. Hell, I’d passed twenty-eight. Groaning, I knew they’d remain relentless until I gave in. They’d been that way since high school, pushing me to do unspeakable things, including the incident when my brother had needed to bail me out of jail. I stared at the two beefy men, contemplating the worst that could happen.

Okay, so I’d enjoyed being a bad girl every so often.

“Do it. Do it. Do. It,” Sara huffed in my ear.

“Fine. But if this is an epic fail like I think it is, you’re buying the drinks tonight. If we get inside, you’re buying drinks tonight.” If we even got in. I noticed a couple of celebrities also standing in line. If they weren’t getting past the hulking creatures, I wasn’t certain how I’d be able to.

“You have a deal, girlfriend.” She made a whooping sound as I started to walk away, prompting me to give her a death glare.

I licked my lips, tasting the lip gloss Sara had lent me. Strawberry. As I walked closer, I thought about the taste of Valentin. I felt a sharp stab in my chest like a hundred knives jamming into my heart from the thought of him. There was no reason the ache remained. He hadn’t attempted to contact me. He’d left no phone number just like I hadn’t given him mine. Yet I’d found myself staring at my phone more than once.

The man could obtain anything he wanted without question. That much was certain. My hopes had been dashed when sunset fell, splashing dazzling hues of ripe tangerines and luscious peaches across the sky. I’d felt a sense of sadness, ugly sensations slicing through me. It was ridiculous. We’d shared a night together. That’s all it had been. Admitting I wanted more was as mind boggling as sharing the night with him had been.

Maybe I’d been fooling myself that I could find a sense of normalcy while taking a couple of days off. As always, I’d drifted toward the bad boy, men who were incapable of showing real emotion, their inability to remain human disallowing any real happiness.

Of course, Valentin was entirely different than my ex, but that didn’t make the pain any less, the heartache any different.

I threw my head back, tangling my fingers in the long strands as suggested, planting the sexiest smile on my face possible as I approached the hulking men. While they didn’t appear to have weapons, I had a feeling they could kill a man or five with their bare hands.

The larger of the two noticed me first, his expression highlighting how unimpressed he was with my approach. “What do you want?”

I shifted my gaze to the less formidable asshole, noticing he had his nose buried in his cellphone, scrolling through his messages as if he believed he was an important man. Meanwhile, at least fifty people were growing antsier by the minute. I envisioned the crowd tossing the two of them aside, storming into the club and taking over.

At least the ridiculous image gave me a smile.

“So, you’re going to play the Billy Badass routine?” I asked as I slapped my hand on my hip. I sucked at being an actress, but I might as well pretend I knew what I was doing while I was here. It would be a long time before I had another chance to enjoy a night out on the town.

He grinned at my response, giving me a hard onceover. “A little spitfire, eh?”

“You don’t really want to find out, now do you?” I inched closer, the heavy dose of aftershave he’d used repulsive. “Or maybe you do.” At least I sounded like a lioness in heat.

His laugh was just as suggestive as my words.

“I suggest you allow me and my friends inside.” I gave him a sexy smile, shifting my hips back and forth.

The brute shifted his face toward Sara and Trinity. “Oh, yeah, or what are you gonna do about it? Might be fun to see you try.”

I felt Sara nudging my back and almost snapped at her. Then I became the bad girl I’d been the night before, inching closer and lifting my head so I could stare in his eyes. He was a solid six inches taller, but I’d been told I had a mean glint in my eyes. “As I said. You don’t really want to find out. Do you?”

It was easy to tell I continued to amuse him. He pulled his head back toward the door. “That’ll be twenty bucks. Apiece.”

Jesus.

“I got it,” Trinity said, shifting around me, squeezing my arm.

“No,” I stated with as much authority as I could muster, shifting in front of my friend. “My new friend isn’t going to charge us a dime. Now, are you?” I allowed my gaze to fall to the massive bulge in his crotch. I’d been the girl to never make waves, making it a point never to stand out. Even as a child, my father had been someone ‘up and coming,’ a man to be reckoned with. My brothers had all excelled at academics or sports, while I’d floundered until tenth grade, uncertain what I wanted to be in my life. That’s when the bad girl had taken over and I’d become a handful for my parents.

Until that point, I’d kept my nose hidden behind the pages of a book or a Kindle, pretending I was the gorgeous heroine who ignited the powerful hero, saved just in the nick of time before disaster struck.

Last night had been a breach in everything I’d ever pretended to be.

Maybe I was no longer heroine material.

Who was I kidding? I’d never been.

As my bravado seemed to wane, I searched for the stranger again, eyeing him smack in the middle of the crowd hoping to get inside. And he was still staring at me. My heart was driven into my throat for a second time.

“The little lady doesn’t know what she’s in for by crossing the threshold of this establishment.” There was more than a hint of sarcasm in his booming voice, but I sensed approval in the glint in his dark eyes.