Mike leaned against the counter and caught the attention of the female bartender. I knew he’d go for that one, despite the fact that he had a woman right beside him who was willing and ready. I couldn’t hear what Mike ordered over the rush of the music, but it didn’t matter. I’d shoot down anything at this point. A moment later, there were two cold bottles of beer being set in front of us, and I didn’t miss how the bartender slid a piece of paper toward Mike.
All I could do was shake my head. I wanted to tell the girl with Mike for the night that if she was hoping for something more than sex, she’d be really fucking disappointed. But, the way she stared at him, the fact that she hadn’t missed the exchange between him and the bartender, told me she knew… and she was fine with it.
I faced the club with my beer in hand and took a drink as I scanned the crowd. I people watched, because it was better entertainment than just about anything else at the moment.
I watched as a couple dry-humped each other a few feet away. Then there were two women making out a few feet away, and two guys grinding on each other.
It was all about sex in a place like this.
I’m too old for this bullshit.
“Man, I think I’m gonna go,” I found myself saying to Mike. I was hungry, so I’d hit up a place on the way back to my hotel, one of those twenty-four-hour diners where there wouldn’t be a hundred nameless strangers gyrating in front of me.
“Yeah, all right.”
“You have your key?” I asked and glanced at him.
He was all but making out with his woman for the evening but managed to give me a thumbs up.
I knew coming out for the weekend and agreeing to stay in the city for the night had been a bad idea, but after a grueling workweek at the construction site, getting away from the mundane shit I dealt with on the regular, didn’t sound awful.
I finished off my beer and was about to push through the crowd to get the fuck out of here, when I saw her. She was oblivious to the guys staring at her like they wanted between her thighs. Rage boiled inside me at the thought of any of these pricks going after her, hell, even thinking they could have her. I was shocked by the intensity in which I felt that.
I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but I was transfixed by the sight of her, couldn’t help but stare at her. And then I was moving forward as if my feet had a mind of their own, as if rationalization and common sense flew out the fucking window.
I never did this, didn’t dance, let alone think so possessively about random women.
And the closer I got, the more I felt the blood rush through my veins almost violently. My need was so pronounced inside me that I felt like a wild animal paced back and forth in the very center of my body, demanding to get out. I wanted some little shithead to try and make a move on her, dare to think they could have her, because then I could get some of this feral aggression out, could take it out on some poor, unsuspecting asshole.
And when I was close enough that I could reach out and touch her, I did just that, curling my fingers around her tiny wrist.
I didn’t know what this feeling inside of me was, didn’t understand why it was so strong, so consuming, but I let that fucker lead the way.
I let the very male, primal part of me take control.
Chapter Four
Izzy
I was in the center of the dance floor now, bodies all around me, the sex in the air so potent I felt myself swaying to the music, felt my eyes closing as I got swept away.
God, I felt it… felt everything.
And then someone took hold of my wrist, their fingers big and warm. They stopped my movements, halted me from going anywhere. Electricity moved through my body from that touch. My heart raced, and I turned around, already knowing who held me, even though I hadn’t seen him yet.
Mr. Dark and Sexy.
I craned my head back to look into his face, his dark, penetrating eyes sucking me in instantly. My mouth dried; my throat tightened. I couldn’t breathe, and with the crush of bodies, the rush of emotions and feelings running amok inside me, all I could do was stand there. I didn’t know his name, didn’t know who he was or what he wanted, but what I knew for certain was that I wanted to see what happened next.
* * *
Tommy
She looked up at me with wide eyes, her perfect pink, bow-like lips parted in surprise, or maybe it was arousal. I didn’t know if she’d push me away, turn, and leave, but I would have followed her.