Beauty in the Ashes

s. His eyes zeroed in on my tongue. “Oh, I want you to take complete and utter advantage.”

“Grandma, grandma, grandma,” he went back to muttering.

I turned quickly in his arms so that we were face to face. I grasped the silky strands of his hair in my fingers, and bit my lip in what I hoped was a seductive manner. I probably looked like I was hungry and my lip was there for the taking. “Would you shut up?”

And then, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. His body was stiff beneath mine, but then relaxed. I was in control of this kiss, and it felt nice to be in charge and take what I wanted. The kiss was hot and demanding, a tornado of desire. His tongue lightly flicked against mine, his fingers digging into my waist. A soft purr sounded in the back of my throat. This kiss was nothing like the one I’d shared with Caelan, where he’d been trying to make a point. This kiss was thick with want. But it was probably a bad sign that my brain, even while drunk, had thought of Caelan while I was kissing another man. I was a serious head case. Pissed at myself for thinking of Caelan, I threw myself even more into the kiss, taking it to scorching levels. I think someone told us to get a room. Didn’t they know that was my plan? Duh.

When our lips broke apart, Memphis looked down at me with a small smile. “Well, that was something.”

“Yeah, it was,” I muttered, angry that when he looked at me I’d been hoping to see blond hair and blue eyes. “I need another drink.”

Several drinks later, I thought it would be a good idea to give Memphis a lap dance. Alcohol was a wicked witch and it did dangerous things to my thought process. I was going to end up regretting this later…if I remembered it, that is. Right now, I thought it was the greatest thing ever.

I pushed Memphis down on a chair, praying that I didn’t fall over my wobbly legs and that I could pull this off by looking sexy and alluring.

The crowd cheered me on, enjoying the show. Cyrus watched from the sidelines with a funny little smirk on his lips.

Swaying my hips to the latest Jason Derulo song, something about talking dirty, I lowered my hips so my ass grazed Memphis’ crotch. Air hissed out between his teeth. His hands reached up to cup my hips, but I slapped his arm.

“You can look, but you can’t touch,” I warned with a coy smile.

“Yes ma’am,” he grinned, letting his hands fall to his sides. His eyes were now glassy with intoxication.

I dipped low, and then back up. I ran my fingers through my hair, lifting it up and then letting it fall as I turned my head slightly to watch his reaction out of the corner of my eyes. His mouth was slightly open and he swallowed thickly as his eyes grazed my body. At least he was no longer muttering about his grandma. This might be easier than I thought.

I turned around so I faced him, doing a little shimmy before grasping the back of the chair he was sitting in. The position all but shoved my boobs in his face. Poor Memphis was a saint for obeying my command of no touching, because I was right there in front of him, his for the taking.

I trailed my finger down his shirtfront, basking in the hard ridges of his pecs and abdominals. Mmm, I wanted to rip that shirt off so damn bad. I deserved to be inducted into sainthood for resisting the urge to straddle him right here.

“I thought you said no touching,” he murmured, trying and failing, to keep his eyes away from the swell of my breasts.

“I said you couldn’t touch. I was not included in that statement,” I murmured, itching to kiss him again.

“Ah, I see.”

I turned around so that my back was to him once more.

I moved my hips in a tantalizing rhythm, lowering so that with each sway of my hips my ass brushed against the growing bulge in his pants. I smiled in satisfaction.

And that was when Caelan came storming in and disrupted everything.

???

Caelan

The painting in front of me was only half complete. The brush hovered an inch away from the surface, shaking with my anger. The music thumping out of Cyrus apartment had the whole fucking building vibrating.

I was working on a commission piece for some old lady and her five dogs. If I didn’t get this right, I didn’t get paid, and I needed the money. Cyrus was about to get a tooth knocked out for this. I hadn’t sobered up for the night to listen to this shit.

Dropping the brush in the cup of water, I stormed out and down the hall. I banged my fist against the door, hard enough that some of the detailing on the door cut the side of my hand.

No one answered.

Bastard.

He couldn’t fucking hear me knocking over the music.

Kicking the door roughly in my state of fury, I was shocked when it opened. Well, that was convenient. The idiot had left it unlocked. I guess that made sense, since he was throwing a party, but it did allow anyone, me included, to wander inside.