Page 28 of Tempt

Now I could see why. This group was serious and the dancing was fast. There were flips and aerials every which way. This was going to be a workout. This wasrealdancing, and I was pretty excited.

We twisted and twirled as we warmed up, finding our rhythm in each other once again. In so many ways it was like we’d been partners for years, and in others so obvious that this was only our second dance. I stepped in when I should have stepped out. He twirled when I jumped. But all in all we moved together, sensing the pattern of moves, limits, and desires.

We’d learned a lot in our time in bed. I knew some of his tells now, and could sense when he was about to change things up. Theo tended to communicate with his eyebrows. Bouncing them to ask if I wanted to do something crazy, while a slow smile and smoldering look indicated he wanted to pull me in close and take the next set of steps together.

After two songs we were both huffing pretty hard, so I pointed at the bar.

“Water. Got it. Take a seat,” he commanded.

While he charged off to get us hydration, I collapsed into the nearest empty booth. My legs burned, but my spirit was high. Theo was smiling.Reallysmiling. Dancing was working its healing magic, just like I hoped.

“I never thought oflayingin a booth before, but I suppose that works, too,” he chuckled as he set a large glass of water and a shot of bourbon down on the table. “That one’s yours. I took mine at the bar so I would have enough hands to carry.”

I chugged the water, then shot the whiskey in two gulps. I wanted to be one of those badass ladies who could do it in one, but I never could, no matter how hard I tried. “Thanks. Ready for round two?”

After a solid hour of dancing we were sweaty, exhausted, and more than ready to move from fun foreplay to some actual sex. Except instead of a coat check, Theo pulled me into a supply closet after passing some cash to a somewhat surprised looking bus boy.

It was the sweaty, needy, rough and fast sex that can be strangely satisfying when performed by someone who cares about your orgasm as much as you care about his. Which was good, because mine was strangely elusive that night.

“Oh no. You’re not getting out of here until you moan my name, Allison.” He leaned me up so my back pressed into his chest. I braced my hands against the metal storage shelves filled with bottles of liquor. He was still inside me. Hard, but it wouldn’t last much longer. He circled and pressed into my clit with his fingers, and pulled at my earlobe with his teeth. I liked it when he did that. I’d never liked a guy touching my ears before—I always thought it was weird and instead of turning me on it gave me the heebie jeebies.

But when Theo did it, it was a whole new experience. It lit me up. My eyes closed and I melted into his hands as if I were no longer in control of anything.

“That’s right,” he purred. “Forget about everything but my hand and my cock.”

And I did. In that moment all that existed was the pleasure Theo promised me. So I came, almost as if I needed him to tell me it was okay to focus on myself instead of him. His hand pressed into my clit, holding me fast around his cock, until I was done.

Then I relaxed into the cool metal as Theo withdrew and took care of the condom. “Thank you,” I sighed with my eyes closed.

“I’ll never leave you unsatisfied, darlin’. Not if I can help it.”

That made me smile. Something in the tenderness of his voice, mixed with the promise of reciprocation, gave me a strangely satisfied feeling. “You know I feel the same way, right?”

He nuzzled the back of my neck. “I think that is what makes this work so well.” He planted a soft kiss on my skin. “We want the same things.”

I tried not to tense, but he felt the way I shifted away from him anyway. I could tell because he let his hands fall away and the room became unbearably silent. “Yes, exactly,” I lied. I wanted to want the same things. Couldn’t that be enough?

But I knew it couldn’t. Not when he said things like how he’d never leave me unsatisfied or the way his eyes lingered and twinkled on me and no one else. Did I want in his pants? Yes. Absolutely. Together we were orgasmic geniuses. I couldn’t imagine anyone else could be as good as we were in bed. I loved that he could erase an entire day’s worth of stress in a matter of minutes, just as much as I loved the power I felt at making him relax. But I wanted more, too.

And that was where we were different.

That ability we had to read each other’s moods and understand the need that went with them… there was more to this than simple sexual attraction. No matter how many times I reminded myself this was a bad idea, and no matter how times I tried to convince myself that anything more than sex was dangerous to my heart, I wanted inside this man.

Maybe I was addicted to the high I got from knowing what he needed. Tonight was a perfect example. I’d tried sex, but knew almost immediately he required something more. Theo needed to have funandrelax. A change of environment was the perfect catalyst for that, and now he was smiling. Theo was relaxed and thinking about anythingbutwork.

That ability… it was exciting. So was the satisfaction I got from his smile. I did that.Imade Theo forget about his worries. I liked this less stressed, casual Theo very much, and I wondered how often he let himself be like this.

Theo had just finished smoothing my skirt and zipping his pants when the storage room door flew open and a man I didn’t recognize stood with a cocky grin on his face. At about six feet, he had devastating blue eyes and brown hair, stubble, and a very, very nice suit. I’d find him sexy if Theo weren’t there. But he was, and there was no comparison.

“You know I would have given you my office, right?” The man shook his head, chuckling.

“You know I would have asked for your office if I’d wanted it, right?” Theo shot back as he snaked his arm around my waist. It felt protective the way he wrapped himself around me. Almost as if he were claiming me, but that couldn’t be right. I resisted the urge to melt against him and instead rested one hand on his chest.

The man looked around the small room and shrugged. “I suppose there is a certain appeal to this.”

“Stop being an arse, Higgins…” Theo growled, his accent suddenly becoming, much, much thicker. It matched Higgins’, actually.

The combination of the electricity in the air and the two men made me nervous. It was like I’d accidentally stumbled into a party I wasn’t invited to, and didn’t know how to politely excuse myself from without making a scene. I tried to pull away but Theo held me tighter. When I looked up, I saw the vein in his neck pulsing and his eyes blankly locked onto Higgins. My blood ran cold. Not because I was scared—Theo was too protective to scare me—but because of the lack of emotion.

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