I gasp when the guy behind me puts his hands on my bare butt. Instead of a quick squeeze, his large hands linger and begin to knead my sensitive flesh. And it feels so good. Even so, I turn around to push him off. And then I see his face.
My mouth drops open. My heart soars. And then it plummets.
For a moment his mask had deceived me. He is not Aeron. So like him, but not him.
I feel bereft, as if I had him again and now I’ve lost him.
He gives me a knowing smile that is a mere quirk of his sexy lips. When he gently tilts my chin towards him, his eyes searching mine, I find myself yearning for his kiss.
Not Aeron but so like him. He even smells like him. That clean and delicious scent.
And then he lowers his lips until they are brushing mine. He says something to me, his mouth touching mine as he murmurs the words.
“What?” I ask, dazed.
“I know you,” he says.
“No,” I murmur.
If I had met him I would have remembered. I am sure of it.
“Tell me your name.”
“Lola.”
“Lola,” he whispers, as if tasting my name on his tongue. He sounds pleased, as if this is exactly what he wanted my name to be.
The gentle brush of his lips set my nerve endings aflame. He nibbles my lower lip and I murmur incoherently. I haven’t felt this in years. Only one man had ever made me feel this way.
The hand that had been still on my butt begins moving again, stroking my sensitive skin possessively. His gaze is still fixed on mine. His eyes are so like Aeron’s but slightly darker. They mesmerize me. I don’t want him to stop.
Part of me is shocked by all this. But wasn’t it to me that grabbed his hands and placed them on my hips? That backed up against him and swayed in a seductive manner?
The virgin inside me is horrified that I am letting this stranger touch me so brazenly. I have always been sensible and physically shy, which is why Aeron had said we should take things slowly even though I had insisted I wanted him.
Now, feeling this guy’s hands stroking my bare skin, a part of me feels a tiny thrill at how daring I am being.
“Who are you?” I whisper.
“Dane.”
“Dane who?”
“Just Dane.”
I had half thought he would say Balthazar. One of Aeron’s pack. But I find I don’t care who he is. I just want to feel this alive, like I have not in years.
Isn’t this what girls my age are supposed to do? Two of my best friends recently found the loves of their lives. They did it by letting go of their inhibitions. And here I am, still bound to mine.
For one night only I want to be free of my inhibitions. Free of memories that hold me stuck in time like a fly trapped in amber, forever doomed.
All these years I had felt inferior to the kind of confident, gorgeous girls who’d wanted to steal Aeron away. Maybe if I had been more like them, I would still be with him.
I should have got rid of my cursed virginity ages ago. But only with Aeron had I ever felt that uncontrollable tingle of desire that I was supposed to feel when I was ready to make love to a man.
And now that tingle is surging through me as my mystery man’s hands slide down the sides of my bare thighs, his fingertips skimming the inside of my legs. My breath gets heavier, and a tiny little moan comes out of my throat.
He pulls me back against his solid chest, and I let him hold me. I can feel his breath against the back of my neck. I close my eyes, enjoying the feelings he is bringing alive in me.
His hands continue to trail over my skin until he is cupping me between my legs with his big palm. I gasp at the sensation, and am horrified to realize that I am damp down there.
No man has ever touched me like this and I am shocked to find that I am excited. It had made me feel sexy to wear the thinnest pair of pretty panties I owned, and now I am mortified because I am sure that they are drenched.
I wriggle myself away from his hand a little because I don’t want him to feel my wetness, but that only leads to my butt grinding into him. To my dismay, I realize I am pushing up against the hardness of his arousal.
He gives a little growling sound as the cheeks of my ass press against his erection. He pushes aside my panties so that his fingers can stroke over my bare intimate flesh.
I gasp out loud, and involuntarily push my butt back into him again, accidentally grinding into his arousal. This seems to invite him to be even bolder. His finger presses into my slick folds, making a small cry escape my lips.
My neck arches, and I catch a glimpse of those sapphire eyes again behind his sexy, dark demi-mask as his head lowers towards me. His warm lips press onto my exposed throat.
I suddenly become aware of the people pressed close all around us. I close my eyes as if this will prevent anyone from seeing me. I am glad that the music is loud and everyone seems so into it. No one is looking at us, I tell myself.
He kisses my neck and slides one of his hands up my belly and underneath the loose edge of my crop top. I have no bra on. Not wearing it had made me feel sexy.
Now Dane growls in approval at finding my breasts bare and unrestrained. He nibbles my neck as his hand cups one abundant globe. His thumb slides over its stiff little peak. I give a whimper at the rush of delightful sensation.
“Do you want me to suck them, baby?”
“No,” I whisper. “Please not here.”
I cannot bear the idea that he might turn me around and pull my top up and start sucking on them right here. The image of it in my mind sends a flush of hot desire pulsing through me. I can imagine how good it would feel, but my ingrained demureness cannot bear the thought.
“Later then,” he promises.
He rolls my sensitive peak between his thumb and finger and gives it a firm tug. When I moan, he chuckles. His hand slides over to my other breast and begins to play with that nipple.
Between my thighs his hand is busy. His fingers rub an ever-narrowing circle around my tight entrance. It feels so good. But then his fingers begin to press inside me, and I realize that any second now he is going to realise I have never been with a man.
He seems to feel me stiffen up, and he pulls his fingers away. “You don’t want me to do that, baby?” he murmurs in my ear.
“Please,“ I whisper, not wanting him to stop touching me.
He chuckles, and his fingers tweak the peak of my breast, making me gasp in delighted shock. Between my legs, two of his fingers work their magic, rubbing my most sensitive nub brazenly.
I am panting and squirming now, and my butt is rubbing against his hardness. My hips thrust as his hand works me into a frenzy. A sensation I have never felt before builds and builds.
“Come for me baby,” he says, his voice rough with desire.
Pleasure explodes at my core, washing over me, quick and hard. His mouth closes over mine, capturing my cry of shocked rapture. My knees give way, and I sag back against him. His big hands catch my small waist, and his lips explore mine, his tongue brushing briefly against mine.
His mouth slides to my neck, and he holds me for a moment, letting me lean against his muscular chest to catch my breath.
“It’s not me you wanted is it, baby?” he says.
“Hmm?” I murmur, still lost in the moment.
“You want someone else. You want to see him again.”
“What?” My eyes fly open.
“Meet me here tomorrow night at the same time. Pack a bag. I’ll take you there.”
“Where?”
“To Aeron, of course,” he whispers in my ear.
His hand squeezes my ass cheek one last time, and then suddenly he is gone.
