Page 1 of Last Dance

CHAPTER1

Tally

The club is rocking and Petal grins, a wolfish smile that makes my own lips quirk up on the edges.

“Let’s do this!” She screams wildly and throws herself into the crowd, the shifting, whirling lights bouncing off of her frenetic figure over and over again. Dark and light.

I throw my head back and gyrate my hips to the pounding bass, my arms tossed over my head and snaking to the rhythm. My body loses itself in the wildness and my heart beats like a mad thing. I laugh when I see Petal with a strange man dancing up to her, her own full hips shaking and stuttering. She doesn’t even miss a beat. Just leans back into him and her body matches his big body.

I flush when I see her but I know that that’s not me. Another man comes up on my backside and I move away. Not because I’ve even seen him and I’m not interested.

No…I just don’t know what the hell I’m doing.

I’ve never gone to a club. Never really danced with a man other than as a little girl on my daddy’s toes.

My home is the library. I love the quiet, the hushed stillness and the peaceful ambience of it. Love the order and cleanliness of it.

This place is not my normal life. Not what I’m made for.

But it’s my birthday and she wanted to come out tonight. And as her ride or die, it’s my job to see she has a good time. Even if it’s my birthday.

Glancing over at the exuberant glee on her rapt face, I’d say mission accomplished.

I can’t hear her laughter in the loud club but I can see her face and I know she’s having a good time.

A big, broad hand touches my back and I stiffen. The thin material of the dress that Petal gave me to wear hides nothing. Not one damn sweaty finger of his hand and I cringe away.

“Hey, don’t be like that, baby!” He hollers in my ear, the slur of his words letting me know that he’s feeling no pain right now. “Let’s show these assholes how areal mandances with a woman!”

I pull back and desperately try to get away from him but he wraps his meaty fingers around my waist and won’t let go no matter what I do.

My heart lunges in my chest as I realize I can’t get away from this asshole. Sick dread swamps me as I feel him turn me and twirl me around, his swollen manhood grinding into my ass and my pussy with equal abandon.

Gritting my teeth, I try again and again to reach out for some form of stability in the shifting press of sweaty bodies all around me but it does no good.

Petal’s worried sky blue eyes meet mine and I see her try and jerk herself away from her overzealous partner to help me. But I wish she didn’t have to.

I’m an adult. A woman who should know how to take care of herself.

But my usual world is the quiet, reserved hush of the library and it hasn’t taught me how to deal with this kind of situation.

“Let her go!”The soft growl is immediately easy to hear even over the thumping of the club music. The man holding me hostage jerks away from me and his eyes are wide and full of fear. Sweat trickles down his face and I’m not sure if it’s from the exertion of dancing or from the stark terror on his face. Either seems possible.

I can’t see what’s behind me but I feel something big and warm pressed against my back where I’ve pulled away from the other man.

“Leave. You’re done here tonight.”

The snarl that floats over my shoulder almost makes me smile. It takes everything in me not to waggle my fingers at the guy and laugh.

He books it away from me and then we’re all alone. In a sea of gyrating bodies that take up every available bit of space around us. And I’m too afraid to look behind me.

“Are you gonna turn around, beautiful? So I can get a good look at what’s mine.”

I whirl around with a snarl. “I am not yours. I don’t belong to any man.” But then my jaw drops when I see him for the first time. I can’t breathe. Can’t speak. My brain is frozen, staring at the man in front of me.

He’s fucking gorgeous. Dark, curly hair that swirls around his head and ears looks so soft and touchable that my fingers itch with the urge to run through it. See if it’s as soft and silky as it looks.

I have to look up and up at this man. He’s so big. At least six foot four and built solid as a rock. He’s wearing a dark blue suit with a silky shirt that skims slabs of abs that beg to be touched. Beg to be stripped bare and worshipped for the prize they are.

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