Page 48 of Shattered Secrets
While in line for the bathroom, I lean against the wall in the hallway, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, trying to ease the pain from the particularly high heels I wore today.
“Can I help you?” a voice behind me whispers in my ear. A low and familiar voice.
I turn so fast that my head spins, and I find Ethan, his eyes dark in the low light.
“What are you doing here?”
“I moved here.”
My mouth falls open in surprise. “Moved here?”
“Only for the foreseeable future. Because of the lawsuit and the upcoming hearing. It will be more convenient for me to conduct myself from here.”
“But what are you doing here?” I insist, pointing toward the floor. “In the club?”
“I followed you.”
I inhale quickly. Not exactly the response I was expecting. “You’re following me?”
“Yes. I won’t give up. I know I hurt you, Ayala. I know I was a shit. I can’t blame you for not agreeing to stay in New York and give me a chance, but I’ll do everything I can to change your mind.”
I shouldn’t like it that much, but I do. I like his determination.
“The dress you’re wearing… I would be happy if you would wear it for me and then take it off for me too.”
He examines the generous cleavage of the short black dress I chose for the evening. His husky voice sends shivers of anticipation through me. Then he moves away.
Leaving the bathroom, I look for him, but he’s nowhere to be seen. Could it be that he has already gone?
I return to the girls and find them by the dance floor with drinks in hand. Claire serves me tequila in a green glass.
“Cheers!” We raise our glasses, and the tequila slides down my throat and warms me.
“There was a man here looking for you,” Jenny bends down to me and shouts in my ear so I can hear.
“Yes, he found me,” I answer, and she looks at me with interest. Now is not the time to explain who he is. I don’t want to scare them with my past.
We return to the floor, and I feel Ethan’s eyes on me. It’s like a tingling that starts in my stomach and goes down.
I turn around, and he’s there. Watching me. He closes the distance between us in a few quick steps, and before I know it, he’s standing right next to me, body to body, his arms resting on my back, and he’s dancing with me. I feel his erection pressed against my stomach. His black button-down shirt is open a little at the top, and my gaze wanders to this exposed spot of skin. The lights, the music, the darkness, everything increases the erotic sensation of this moment.
I see how his gaze descends to my stiff nipples, which stand out through the fabric. There’s an animalistic hunger in that look as the shadows flicker across his face, and it’s so sexy.
He brings his face close to mine, so close I can smell him. My breathing quickens as my entire body wakes up to him. Always ready for him. I can’t stop my physical reaction. I never could. I remember how he feels over me, beneath me, inside me.
His body moves to the rhythm of the music. I surrender to the feeling as he pushes me further and further to the edge of the cliff.
Our lips are almost touching. God, how I want him now.
“I love you,” he whispers to my ear, his lips brushing against my cheek now, and then his hands leave me. He pulls away and out of my line of sight, leaving me standing there, stunned. My whole body fills in unfulfilled anticipation.
Claire comes over and grasps my arm. “What. The. Hell. Was. That?”
“It was the sexiest dance I’ve ever seen,” Jenny adds. “God, I could come just from watching the two of you. Do you know each other?”
I nod.
“What is he doing here?” Claire asks me.
