Page 17 of Room 1212

I thought for sure I would have to force him onto the dance floor, but I was pleasantly surprised when he took my drink from my hand and set it down on the bar. “Come on, let’s see those moves.”

Neither of us were very good dancers, but it didn’t seem to matter. We were just two people in a crowd, and no one was judging us. With the darkness and the loud music, the shot of alcohol running through my veins, I could feel my inhibitions drifting away. As much as I told my heart to proceed with caution, my body was all-in.

Dancing was a lot like sex when it came right down to it, except without taking off our clothes. We got closer and closer, until finally, I closed the distance and gathered Jordan into my arms. He moved in without hesitation, and I relished the way he felt pressed against me, both soft and hard in all the right places. He hooked his arms around my neck, and the featherlight whisper of his breath across my throat was the ultimate tease. We moved with the pulse of the music, throbbing and relentless, grinding our hips together. I could feel his erection rubbing alongside mine, creating the most delicious friction.

Jordan tangled his fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck, guiding my head to the side so he could run his tongue up the column of my throat. He nipped at my earlobe, and thank the gods for the loud music, as it masked the sounds I was making.

Jordan heard, though.

With his lips against my ear, he whispered, “We need to get out of here before I do something that might bring attention to us.” He reached his free hand into my pocket, teasing the tips of his fingers over the length of my cock. “My agent would be so mad at me if I made a scene.” He didn’t stop, though. In fact, he seemed more than ready to go further.

“Shit,” I grunted, dropping my forehead to his shoulder. Surely no one would care if I fondled his ass. Reaching under the sweatshirt around his waist, I grabbed a handful of each cheek and kneaded the soft globes. His pants felt damp, and to know I was the reason for it was enough to nearly have me lose it. The denim was too thick to do much, but with the sweatshirt blocking the crowd’s view, I forced my fingers into the crease of his ass, pressing right where I knew his entrance to be.

Jordan gasped, humping my leg. “Drew, please,” he begged. His grip on my hair tightened, sending a tingling sensation over my scalp.

It was at moments like this that I forgot what we were about to do. It was too easy with Jordan, the way he laughed and smiled at me, how pliable he felt in my arms, the way he responded to my touch.Gods, what am I doing?But when the doubt became too loud in my head, I knew it was time to shut it down.

Sex. Right. We’re going to have sex, and preferably not right here on the dance floor. Don’t get attached. None of this is real.

I gripped his jaw tightly in one hand and kissed him hard. His moans were like fuel, vibrating through me to stoke my fire. When I pulled back, we were both panting. “Come on. I’m taking you home with me.”

“Okay,” he said, nodding eagerly.

9

Jordan

Drewhadn’thadmuchto drink, but he insisted on getting a cab to his place. He was the epitome of responsible, but I had to admit, knowing this about him made me feel safe. He may have rolled his eyes at my portrayal of the big, strong alphas coming to rescue the weak, scared omegas, but I knew with certainty that he was the rescuing type.

As soon as we left the club, though, something changed. On the dance floor, he could barely keep his hands off me, but in the cab, he pressed himself to the far side of the bench seat, not saying a word. He seemed lost in thought.

“This is it, this is me,” he said as the cab pulled up in front of an old four-story brick apartment building.

I pulled out my wallet to pay the driver, but before I could even pass a card through the slot in the plastic barrier, Drew had pushed some cash through. “I got it,” he told me. To the driver he said, “Keep the change.”

“You didn’t have to pay,” I griped, but he gave me a look like,seriously?It only served to solidify my opinion of him being traditional.

He used his key on the building’s front door, then held it open for me to step through into the brightly lit lobby. It was cute, with a mirrored wall, mosaic-tiled floor, and an overstuffed sofa. The elevator, however, left something to be desired. It clanked and groaned its way up to the fourth floor. I wondered if I should be praying, but Drew didn’t seem concerned. He kept peeking at me from the corner of his eye, but he was obviously a little nervous, so I shuffled closer to him until our shoulders touched. I swore I got a spark off him, and he startled as though he felt it too.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, he practically jumped out and headed at a fast pace down the hall to the right. “Uh, it’s… over here,” he said over his shoulder.

I followed behind him at a distance. This was an entirely different side of Drew than what he’d shown me so far. I’d seen him blurt out the wrong thing, spit out food when caught off guard, and even read sexy passages from my books to a room full of people. My favorite side of him by far was the smooth, confident alpha on the dance floor. This version of Drew, though, was running scared, and I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to do.

He fiddled with the lock, then got the door open and stepped to the side. I waited in the hall for a minute. “Y-you can come in, you know,” he said, gesturing with his hand.

“But do you want me to come in?” I asked, stepping closer and stopping in front of him, just inches away. I tipped my chin up to look him in the eye. “Drew, I feel like I’m trying to steal your virtue. You know we don’t have to do anything at all, right?”

“I know,” he said, nodding. For a second, I thought he wasn’t going to say anything else, but then he huffed a little breath and looked me straight in the eye. “I want this, I do. I’m just not the type to have sex without a relationship. It’s just… strange for me.”

“It’s okay, I get that.” I understood where he was coming from. I mean, I literally wrote sweeping love stories for a living, so this was a bit foreign for me too, but I just didn’t have room in my life—or my heart—for anything more. As much as my body begged for me to stay, I forced myself to take a step back. “You know what, I’m just gonna go. I’ll see you later.”

I turned away, but Drew reached out and grabbed my arm, stopping me. “Wait!” He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth, worrying the tender flesh. “Look, Jordan, I really like you, and I find you incredibly attractive. We have great chemistry. And you’ve been more than clear that you don’t want anything serious, and… I’ve decided… I think I’m okay with something temporary. I’ll never forgive myself if I just let you walk away without at least a taste of what it could be like.”

Without letting go of my arm, Drew stepped into his apartment, and I allowed myself to be drawn inside. The apartment smelled like him, like herbs, and I wondered if he liked to cook. It was an older apartment, with hardwood floors that creaked and radiators that probably clanked when they turned on, but he kept it clean and tidy.

Drew closed and locked the door behind me. “So… how do you want to do this?”

What I wanted was for him to pick me up, throw me over his shoulder, and carry me to his bedroom where he would tear off my clothes and ravage me for hours like something out of my novels, but from my past experiences, I knew that wasn’t how real sex happened.

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