Of course, that upper hand wavered as Iain slowed his step to a full stop and let his stunned gaze transition swiftly into a cold glare. There was contempt in his eyes as he stood at the edge of VIP, just staring at me. And for the next few seconds, our eyes locked in a heated standoff.
But then, with an oddly calm drink from his glass, he took half a step back.
And then with a slight tilt of the head, he dropped his eyes down the front of my body.
A shock of sensation erupted between my thighs as he looked right at them, letting his gaze travel leisurely across the hem of my short skirt before bringing it up my dress, till his heavy stare was fixed unapologetically on my thoroughly pushed-up breasts. I felt my breathing go jagged as he let his dark eyes linger there—for so long that he took another drink from his glass. Casual and relaxed. As if he were enjoying a painting. Or a sunset.
My swollen lips hung parted by the time Iain brought his steely gaze back to me, with a look that fully acknowledged the fact that he’d just eye-fucked the hell out of my tits.
Happy now?
His lifted eyebrow asked me the wordless question, letting it sink in with me for a single hot second before he turned cruelly around, disappearing back into his ultra-VIP crowd and leaving me to just stand there—as royally pissed off as I was completely turned on because holy hell, that just happened.
He’d just checked me out.
Iain Thorn. My childhood crush who used to ruffle my hair and call me “kiddo.” Who wouldn’t even talk about PG-13 topics if I was in the room. That same guy just stripped me naked with his eyes and devoured my tits like they were his favorite meal.
And then in true Iain form, he disappeared right after, reminding me yet again that he could do whatever he wanted, however he wanted, and that I was helpless to stop him.
Except this time, I really wasn’t.
“Another round for you ladies?”
Mia burst out laughing when I promptly nodded yes.
Seated at the bar, it was about to be our third round of shots in less than an hour, which was risky for me on any night let alone a night when I had yet to eat dinner.
But oh well, I didn’t care.
Tequila was doing me a world of good right now.It was easing my wrath over being ignored, and calming the heat I still felt from his eyes all over my body. It was keeping me sane amid all the crazy.
And best of all, it was pissing off Iain.
“Bottoms up!” Mia shouted as we knocked back our third shots, barely grimacing this time because we were thoroughly loose, and starting to feel all happy and buzzy.
Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I slammed the empty shot glass down. And after licking the bit of salt off my mouth, I raked my bottom lip between my teeth, because I could feel that familiar tingle darting up the back of my neck.
My little sign that once again, Iain was watching.
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My eyes were bleary as I peered back in his direction, and though I was fuzzy from the latest shot, my heart stopped just the same.
Because he was standing with two friends in the back corner of VIP, his body angled toward them.
But his eyes fixed on me.
They didn’t look away when I caught him. They only burned into me with a look of warning that made my skin tingle, because apparently, I did like the way Iain looked when he was mad at me—when I was the sole focus of his attention, despite the clear fact that he didn’t want me to be.
It was intimidating yet hot as all hell, and it had me thanking God that I was already drunk, because sober me would definitely not know how to handle this right now.
He finally looked. And now he won’t stop watching you.
It was starting to look like Mia’s theory was right, which was an insane thought to process.
So I didn’t try.
“I think she wants you to join her,” the bartender chuckled, nodding behind me at Mia when he came around to clear my empty glass.