“Hi.” I wave my hand in front of Serena to get her attention. “Looks like you’re busy tonight.”
Serena whips around, checking out the people crowded down at the other end of the bar, before asking, “What can I get you tonight?”
I groan and turn toward Charlotte and Heidi. “I don’t think I’ve had a drink since before I found out I was pregnant.”
Heidi laughs. “I’m finally old enough to drink.”
Serena leans over the bar. “Beyond the basics, we don’t exactly have a rockin’ selection back here. But I came up with a drink just for the ladies tonight. We’re calling it the Downstate Royale.”
Charlotte raises an eyebrow. “What’s in it?”
“Prosecco, raspberry liqueur, and lime juice.”
“Sold,” Charlotte says. “We’ll take three of those.”
After Serena leaves to make our drinks, Charlotte laughs. “An MC with Prosecco. I like it.”
While we’re waiting for Serena, Murphy swaggers up behind Heidi and wraps one arm around her chest and the other around her waist. He says something against her ear that I can’t make out over all the noise. Whatever it is, Heidi keeps nodding and seems to take it seriously.
When he’s finished, he looks up and gives Charlotte and I a strained smile. “You ladies okay?”
“We’re fine.” I want to ask where Z is, but I have the impression this party is more business than pleasure and I’m a big girl who can entertain herself.
Serena sets our drinks on the bar with a clink-thud and almost drops the last glass when she sees Murphy.
I reach over and snag the glass out of her hand before it spills. “Thanks.”
“Um, congratulations.” Ignoring the murder eyes Murphy’s making, Serena gestures toward Heidi. “On your engagement.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, I, uh, have to help LaLa out. If you guys need anything, just holler.”
“Murphy,” Charlotte says sweetly. “Can you please go away so we can have some girl talk?”
Heidi reaches up and pats the arm still banded around her. She takes the champagne flute Charlotte hands her and holds it up. “I’m fine. Go.”
“Don’t drink more than one of those,” he says before kissing her on the forehead and heading across the room.
Heidi squints into her drink. “You don’t think she poisoned it, do you?”
“Well, if she did, she did it to all of ours because I just randomly handed you one she set on the bar,” Charlotte says.
I raise my glass so we can all give ‘em a clink. “Here’s to living dangerously, ladies.”
Thirty-Six
Lilly
Finally, Z emerges from a side door that seems to lead into an office. Two other Lost Kings I don’t recognize are right behind him. He scans the room and when his gaze lands on me, he motions me over.
“Didn’t mean to abandon you.” He glances over his shoulder. “Wasn’t expecting another sit-down tonight.”
I don’t ask for details and he doesn’t share anything more. “I’m fine.” I hold up my glass between us. “The girls and I found the bar.”
It’s too loud to hear each other unless we yell, so he leads me into a quieter section of the party.
He settles into a huge, overstuffed chair, big enough for me to squeeze in next to him. With one hand, he pushes my hair back.
“You all right?” he asks against my ear.
I hold up my glass, which is almost finished, and he takes it away, setting it on the table next to us.
“Hey, that was my first cocktail in like, forever.”
“I need you lucid, Siren.”
His hand creeps up my thigh. The room’s pretty dark and no one’s paying attention to us at the moment, so I slide down and drape one leg over his.
“I’m thinking we should go to our room for the night.” He raises his eyebrows and squeezes my thigh. “Soon.”
“Are you tired?”
“We’re all the way down the hall and to the left, so we should have some privacy,” he continues without acknowledging my question.
“Privacy for what?” I ask, giving him a suspicious eyebrow raise of my own.
“I have plans for you.”
The arm that had been draped over my shoulders drops down. He slides his hand up under the back of my shirt and slowly traces his fingers over my skin, sending shivers of delight racing over me.
“What sort of plans?” I whisper.
He sits forward and the hand that had been resting on my leg, slides up higher, clamps down tighter.
“All night I’ve been thinking about you. How I want to strip you down, spread you out, and feast on every inch of you.”
A tremor of desire shoots down my spine. “And?”
“Tonight, I don’t have to worry about little ears hearing us.”
“There’s like a million people here tonight.”
“Yeah, but I don’t give a fuck about any of them overhearing me pleasuring you.”
He leans closer and nips my earlobe. “First, I want to get you in the shower.”
“Are you calling me dirty?”
He ignores the tease and continues. “Gonna lick beads of water from your nipples.”
Oh, God. His voice. The low, raspy tone paints a vivid picture. I can practically feel his tongue on me.
“Come here.” He fits his hands into the curve of my waist and hauls me into his lap. There’s nothing to do except loop my arms around his neck and straddle his lap. “Thank you for being here with me.”
“I don’t feel like I’ve helped you much.”
He stares at me with an intensity that makes me squirm. “You have.”
I can’t put my finger on it but, even though he’s dirty and flirty as usual, there seems to be a heaviness weighing Z down. “Are you tired?” I ask.
He answers by bumping his hips up, grinding what feels like a healthy erection into my center. “Never too tired to take care of my woman.”
“Don’t start that my woman stuff.”
He slides down in the chair more and slips his hands under my ass. “What else should I call you? Hmm?”
My stripper/exhibitionist days are way behind me, but I can’t help rubbing myself against Z. The music changes and I roll my hips to the beat, making him groan. “Keep it up, woman. I got no problem baring your ass and fucking you right here.”
I glance around and yeah, there’s certainly plenty of that going on. Knowing my friends and my friends’ husbands are lurking somewhere finally kicks my common sense into gear.
That doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy teasing Z a little. My dancing days may be far behind me, but some of those moves you never forget. I roll my hips and lift myself so I’m hovering over his lap.
“This feels a lot like giving a lap dance,” I tease, swaying from side to side. “I almost remember—”
He cuts me off by pressing his finger against my lips. “Don’t. Christ, I would’ve fucking murdered anyone who looked at you, let alone got a private dance.”
“You would’ve been terrible for my savings account.”
He reaches out and captures a long section of my hair and twirls it around his finger, drawing me closer. “You know, I worked the door for Crystal Ball back then. Occasionally, the guys and I would go over to Club Salvatore to check out the competition or whatever.”
“Because you were busy plotting out how to run our club out of business.”
He grins but doesn’t deny it. The city of Empire only has one strip club now—Crystal Ball. And it’s been that way for years. Thankfully, I was already done with school and working at my first internship when the club I worked at closed down.
Another soft, gentle tug on my hair brings me closer. “Sometimes I wonder if I ever saw you, but that’s impossible.”
; “Why?”
“Because I would’ve picked you up, tossed you over my shoulder, and taken you home with me.”
I pout and trace my finger over his full lips. “The bouncers frowned on that.”
“Wouldn’t have mattered.” He stops and sucks my finger into his mouth. My breathing picks up. I can think of a few other places I’d like his mouth. He pulls my hand away, holding it tight. “It’s crazy thinking we lived in the same area and never ran into each other.”
“Until our friends hooked up?”
“Yeah.” The intensity in his deep blue eyes is almost too much for me, but I can’t look away. “I wanted you so fucking bad that night.”
Even though it’s not the best place for such a deep conversation, I’m desperate to hear more. “I felt the same way.” I laugh. “Obviously.”
He doesn’t laugh with me. “I liked talking to you too, though. You were interesting and didn’t take any shit from me.”
“And now?”
His hands slide down and grab my ass, pulling me back down to his lap. “You’re still fascinating and feisty.”
I grind into him harder and he groans. “You feel fascinating.”
“My dick’s extremely fascinated with your pussy.”
“You plannin’ to fuck right here?” Wrath rumbles from above us. “Not like you have a room or anything.”
Neither embarrassed or angry, Z laughs. I fall against his chest and he wraps an arm around me. Staring up at Wrath, he’s definitely annoyed. Well, more annoyed than usual.
Z points at him. “What’s wrong, Biker McCrankypants?”
Wrath slaps his hand away. “How much have you had to drink tonight?”
“Not much.”
Ah, maybe that’s the reason for Z’s confession.
“Unless you need me, I’m headed to my room. I want to call Trin before she goes to sleep.”
Z sits up, jostling me but keeping me firmly in his lap and looks around. “Things seem pretty chill.”
“I’m not that far off the main room. If it gets rowdy, I’ll hear it.”
“Thanks, brother.” Z glances around again. “See you in the morning.”
“He’s really not happy about being here, is he?” I ask after Wrath leaves.