I was glad I followed my instincts when I packed earlier. Whatever possessed me to grab the scandalously short electric blue flapper dress, that angel was looking out for me. Covered in layers of sparkling fringe, I looked like a deranged disco ball, and it was perfect.
I’d thrown a few random things in my bag like that. Clothes from my closet I’d bought and never had a chance to wear, but today had made me determined.
That being said, I was still nervous about facing the cameras. I hoped after today, there would be too much to cover for Esme Williams and they would have to pick their options between the rogue daughter and the club seductress.
But coming down the stairs and seeing Ben’s face made me forget all of it.
As soon as I came into view, his jaw went slack, eyes went wide, and his gaze traveled from my head to my toes and back again. Strappy silver shoes completed the look, and a tiny bag for my phone, money, and ID, small enough I could slip it into the side of my bra if I wanted to.
“I honestly didn’t think anything could top that gold dress I met you in, but I was wrong.”
“You liked the gold dress?”
He swept an arm behind me and pulled me against his body. “Did I like the gold dress? I think that’s an understatement. Your scent hit me first, and the dress hit me second. And while your scent was the first thing I missed when you walked away—both times—it wasn’t the only thing. I think I’m going to miss this one more.”
I laughed, enjoying the way I could sink into his scent and let it wrap around me. “It’s not going anywhere.”
He kissed my cheek. “It is when I tear it off you later.”
“You’re so sure that’s going to happen?”
“I’ll make sure to earn it.”
“Are they still outside?”
It wasn’t late, but I was still hopeful.
“A few of them are, yeah. I say fuck them, and own how fucking hot you look in this dress.”
I pressed my lips together. “I’m trying very hard not to care what they think.”
“I know.” There was no doubt in his eyes. “But no matter what, it’s not going to be just you. It’s you and me together. And I fully intend to lose them.”
“Then let’s do this.”
Ben himself was dressed in dark jeans and a button-down rolled to the elbows, showing off his gorgeous tattoos. Silhouetted trees around one wrist and rain swirling the other. All Ben’s tattoos were of nature, and there were words hidden inside them, if you knew where to look.
My heart sped up at the thought of dancing with him again. The first time had been… I wasn’t sure I was allowed to call it a transcendent experience, but it had certainly felt that way.
Wes had answered on the first ring and didn’t seem to mind when I told him the plan. He was waiting outside now, with Henry. I needed to ask him what his days off were, and what his normal schedule was. I wasn’t Eva, and he had his own pack. But tonight, he’d seemed happy to come back and escort us.
I laced our fingers together before we opened the door, and in the falling darkness, it was a galaxy for flashing stars. Wes cleared a path for us to the car—not our normal one. This was a longer one, the kind that divided driver and passenger and made people look as you drove past. I ignored the shouted questions and the flashes, but I didn’t look away. I held onto Ben, looked up at him, and smiled.
The door closed behind us, and he grinned. “Well done.”
“I’m just looking forward to when they get bored.”
“For your sake, I hope it’s true, but I happen to know you’re not boring. So I don’t know if it will happen.” The kiss he laid on me was far from appropriate, and it took Wes clearing his throat for me to realize it because I was so swept up in everything that was Bennett Gray.
“Sorry, Wes.”
He laughed. “Nothing I haven’t seen before, Miss Williams.”
“Still.” I leaned my head on Ben’s shoulder. “Where are we going?”
“Surprise.”
I made a face. “That’s no fun.”
“On the contrary, I think you’re going to have to learn to love surprises.”
“And you all will have to learn there are only so many surprises I can take.”
“Noted, little Omega.”
Henry drove us downtown, and in the newly budding darkness, Slate city was beautiful. We crossed the bridge over the river, and I watched more and more lights flick on, reflected in the water like a murky second world.
Ten minutes later we pulled up to a block filled with people. The line went into the distance around the corner, and there was music, lights, and dancing all the way down.
Next to us, building-sized crimson curtains billowed in the wind, an impressive vision.
Scratch that, it looked like the line was more than one block, and I knew why. “The Pavilion?”
“Yeah,” Ben squeezed my hand. “Inspired by the night we met. Is that okay?”
“I mean yeah.” The Pavilion was a relatively new club, and had made a splash for being avant garde and over the top. Case in point, with the building being draped in shimmering fabric like a circus tent. “But I’ve never gone. I heard about the line.”
People turned the line itself into a party because the chances of getting into the club were so slim. That, and in general I wasn’t a club person for all the same reasons.
“You didn’t think you could get in?”
“Oh, I know I could have. But clubbing? Alone? A recipe for disaster.”
A low growl emanated from his chest—a sound I now associated with their frustration whenever I was mistreated. It probably shouldn’t make me as happy as it did. “Well, you’re not alone now.”
Wes opened the door and got out, holding it for the two of us. “How are we getting in?” I asked.
Ben shrugged. “I know the owner. He has a killer sleeve I did for him. If we run into him, I’ll have to show you.” He was still holding my hand, and I squeezed his.
It was the little things that mattered—like not using my name as an excuse to pass go and collect two-hundred dollars.
The front of the line eyed us as we approached the bouncer. An Alpha who easily matched Ben for height and strength. He looked us up and down with a skeptical eye.
“Bennett Gray.” Ben said before the man could ask why the hell we were trying to skip three city blocks’ worth of line.
The bouncer blinked. “Of course, Mr. Gray. Welcome to the Pavilion.”
Ben nodded to Wes behind us. “This is my Omega’s bodyguard.”
“Not a problem.”
My whole body flushed with pleasure at the way he said my Omega. Utter possessiveness and no room for doubt.
A predictable groan came from the line as we stepped through. I gave them a sympathetic look and heard a gasp. “Oh my god, that’s Esme Williams.”
Ben’s hand landed on my lower back and he ushered me inside. The small entryway was relatively quiet compared with the dull roar of the crowd outside and the pulsing bass notes I felt from within.
Ben turned. “Wes, I hope you know I’m not insulting your manhood when I ask you to hold Esme’s bag?”
Wes smirked. “Not at all.”
I handed him my small purse and followed Ben into another circus.
It was immediately clear the Wellbridge Studio party had tried to imitate this vibe and failed. What they’d tried to create with a temporary space, the Pavilion was able to build and keep.
A giant circus tent flowed from the ceiling and down the walls. Rich crimson trimmed in gold. The air was murky with fog, making things hazy and mysterious. Aerialists spun to the music, which managed to be ethereal and electronic at the same time. Colored lights flowed across the crowd, and random acts performed on pedestals among the dancers. A burst of fire from a man’s mouth and a woman juggling what looked like balls of iridescent glass. A contortionist, ribbon dancer, and gymnast working with both hoops and balls rounded out the acts I could see.
Ben wrapped his arms around me from behind, enveloping me in sugary vanilla. My mouth watered, connecting the atmosphere to the night I met him.
“Tonight you’re not Esme Williams and I’m not Bennett Gray. You’re an Omega and I’m an Alpha, and I want to dance with you, however that presents itself. If you end up climbing me again and I have my hands on your gorgeous ass, then that’s what happens. I don’t want you to think about anything else.”
I bit my lip. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
We didn’t bother with drinks. Who needed a drink when just smelling him felt like getting high?
He spun me into him, pulling my back against his chest and easing us into the crowd.
Unlike the first time we danced, Ben’s hands roamed across my body, possessive and powerful. He tilted my neck to the side and kissed me—that was all it took to make me let go.
Him and me.
No one else mattered, and no one here cared. My arms were around his neck, and I sank into the song of his scent just like the first time.
The lights and the smoke, the way we moved together, it was like going back in time to when he first saw me at the party and met me at the dance floor.
I came for you.
Under the music, I felt the strength of his purr. Ben’s scent curled around me in a bubble. The creamy top notes of his vanilla and the sharp pureness of it, and beneath it, the sweetness that made my mouth water.
His hands weren’t the only ones wandering as I touched him, felt his body under his clothes and marveled that this was somehow mine. I wanted to climb him again. Hell, I almost wanted to leave now and go home just so I could have him all to myself.
We lost ourselves in the music, reduced to nothing but rhythm and instinct. He was right. We weren’t anybody but dancers. I didn’t care that I was perfuming like crazy in front of strangers or that photographers were probably already here. All I couldn’t think about was Ben touching me and the way his hips slid into mine.
His fingers bunched in the fringe on my dress as he locked my body to his. The darkness in his eyes told me he was just as gone as I was. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since we got here.
We were both sweating, and my feet ached. The time with him slipped away so easily. When I caught the time on a nearby phone, it had been nearly three hours dancing. Ben had my body on fire. Every place he touched me felt like I was fully back in heat, and I was so wet between my thighs there was no way he didn’t scent it.
“You’re pushing against my control, Esme,” he whispered.
“What if I’m doing it on purpose?” I rolled my body into his, intentionally grinding our hips so I could feel his cock. It had been hard all night, and now was no exception.
Ben tugged me through the crowd of dancers toward the back of the club, only stopping when we reached the dark hallway that led to the bathrooms. I was up against the wall in seconds, his mouth on mine.
“Your scent will drive me to madness.”
“Maybe we need a little madness,” I managed.
A growl rumbled through his chest before he kissed me again, one hand in my hair, the other sliding down to cup my ass.
God, I wanted him to fuck me against this wall. It was a terrible idea, and we both knew it, but I was feral enough that I didn’t care.
One strap of my dress slipped off my shoulder and Ben’s mouth followed it. “The second you ran into me that night, you were all I could think about. You’re still all I think about. Every fucking second my lips aren’t on your skin I feel like I can’t breathe.”
“Ben—”
The kiss stole words and breath and everything else. I needed him closer, and that was impossible because the only way for him to be closer was for him to be inside me. The moan in my throat told him everything he needed to know.
A flash brighter than the sun broke us apart, blinking. A man with a camera stood there, smiling like he’d just won the fucking lottery, and he had. That photo would make him money.
I heaved in breath, leaning against the wall. No part of me was processing what just happened. I was still drunk on the scent of Alpha, and I still wanted to pull him to me until we were merged.
But Ben? The fury on his face was like thunder, and it was fucking beautiful. He turned on the photographer, seeming to grow another foot. “Did you just take a picture of my Omega without her consent?”
The man was a Beta, and even in the colored lights, I saw him pale. But he stood his ground. “There are no laws against taking pictures, Benjamin.”
Ben took a step forward. “The owner of this club is a friend of mine. I’m going to make sure you never set foot in this building again. And I have a message for you and all your friends.” Another step. The man was almost backing into the dancers. “Esme Williams is off limits. To you. To anyone. That’s the last photo you get of her. And if it’s not?”
All Ben did was smile, and it was not a kind smile.
“You can’t stop me.”
“I protect what’s mine,” Ben growled.
The photographer lifted his camera and snapped another photo of the two of us together. I jumped and grabbed Ben’s arm at the same time he lunged for the photographer.
Everything he said…
I didn’t care about the photos anymore. All I wanted was for him not to get arrested for assault. Spending the night in jail was not on the agenda.
“Ben!” I yelled over the music.
He turned to me, and his eyes roved over me, pupils wide, searching for where I was hurt. Full protective Alpha mode, and I loved every fucking second. “He’s not worth it.”
My Alpha hauled me against his body so my feet were off the ground and kissed me. There were more pictures. I heard them clicking in the background, but I didn’t care. All I needed was him.
“Take me home,” I whispered in his ear. “Take me home and then take me.”
He put me down and grabbed my hand. I only stopped for a second to look at the photographer. “His name is Bennett, asshole.”
Wes met us halfway across the dance floor, and his face was equally angry. “I didn’t see any cameras.”
“It’s not your fault, Wes. Your job is to keep me safe, not to keep me out of sight.”
“Still—”
I held out a hand. “I promise, I’m okay. But I need you to sit up front.”
One look at Ben, and he nodded.
The car was pulling up as we stepped out into the cool night air, and Ben’s hand was gripping mine. He was on the verge of rut. I could tell. Us diving into our instincts and sensing a danger to me? He was close.
Wes opened the door, and I got in first. Ben was inches behind me, and as soon as the door slammed, he was on me. Pulling me to him and kissing me. Pinning me to the seat and inhaling.
“I’m all right,” I breathed. “I promise. You were amazing. Thank you for doing that.”
The sound he made was somewhere between a growl and a purr. This car was big enough for him to sink to his knees in front of me, pushing my legs apart and shoving my dress up my thighs.
“Ben.” My voice was breathy. “When we get home.”
“You’ll come long before we get there.”
The words were followed by his tongue stroking up the lace of my thong, tasting the arousal already there from our dancing. Already, I was seeing stars because it was him and it was me and I’d already been halfway to coming when he kissed me in the club.
He didn’t even bother taking the thong off, just pulled it aside so he could consume me. Long, deep strokes of his tongue, thrusting into me before circling my clit, and sucking like his life depended on it before starting all over again.
My legs were over his shoulders, my heels digging into his back, and he didn’t care. He only pushed deeper, fucking me with his tongue until I couldn’t breathe. Pleasure spiked through me, making me gasp.
Fuck, I was trying to keep myself quiet enough the guys up front couldn’t hear me, but if he kept licking me like that? All bets were off.
Sliding his hands under me, he pulled me to the edge of the seat and devoured me like I was his last meal, and my vision went white. The orgasm hit me hard and fast. I shook and twisted, squeezing him with my thighs. He didn’t miss a beat.
I just barely managed to keep myself from making enough sound for the entirety of Slate City to hear, and Ben kept moving, tongue driving into me. Tasting, licking, and claiming all at once. I lost my grip on reality because he had my hips in his hands and wouldn’t let me go.
The only reason I knew we were home was because the car stopped, and for a second I wasn’t sure Ben was going to realize. But he pulled away, yanking my dress down and pushing out of the car. There was determination in his body. I barely managed to grab my bag from Wes as Ben was pulling me toward the door. “I’ll call you, Wes. Thank you.”
I heard laughter before the front door shut behind us, all the photographers blissfully gone.
Luke stepped out of the kitchen with something in a bowl. “I didn’t expect you back so—”
Ben turned and scooped me up, heading for the stairs and ignoring Luke completely.
“Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine,” I waved over his shoulder. “Tell you later.”
Ben’s room was on the second floor, and he didn’t stop until we were inside, and I was alone with my Alpha.
