“I was wondering if you’d like to dance.”
Erik turned to me, a challenge glinting in his green eyes. “I’d love—”
Then I was the one dragging him away. “He can’t. Maybe the next one.”
Before I made it too far, she grabbed his hand and stepped up close to press her lips to his ear, but spoke loud enough for me to hear. “I miss feeling you inside me.”
I looked away from the intimate moment and went to let go of Erik’s hand, but he held tight.
“I’m sorry, Chloe. Maybe another time.”
He stepped out of her grip, allowing me to lead him to the dance floor. Once we were lost among the swaying couples, he took control, moving me where he wanted me. He lifted my hands to circle his neck before gripping my hips, pulling me close. My heart raced, making me feel lightheaded as we moved in the crowd.
“I thought you didn’t want to dance?” he asked, his chest puffed up in victory.
“Shut up.” I looked up through my lashes at his laughing eyes and couldn’t help but smile. “I saved you. She would have eaten you up and had plans of babies before the first song was over.”
He grimaced. “You’re not wrong.”
People moved all around us, clinging to each other like lovers, and I tried to focus on the soft blend of the saxophone and piano. The music was soft and begged for couples to curl close to each other. For a moment, I gave in to the comfort and let the heat of Erik’s hands on my waist burn through me. The fire snaked around my hips and dug in deep to my stomach before dropping between my thighs. I stumbled, losing the rhythm when I took a moment to rub my legs together to ease the ache growing there.
“Okay?” Erik asked, a smile in his voice.
“Perfectly fine.”
The song ended and he stepped back, his green eyes darkening. “We should go.” His voice sounded just as rough as mine had. Was he feeling the tension between us like I was?
He held the door open and led me to the car. There were seats across from me, but when he followed me in, he chose the one right beside me. Soft jazz filled the small space like we hadn’t left the gala at all. We were now just in our own bubble without the hum of the crowd around us.
Chloe’s words kept rolling through my head. They bothered me, but they mostly had me curious. Each mile that passed, the curiosity about sex built and built until it slipped from my lips.
“What does it feel like?”
He shifted from looking out the window to locking his eyes on mine. “What?”
“Sex.”
One eyebrow slowly rose. “What?’
I barely held back my irritated sigh. “She said she misses feeling you inside her. I can’t help but wonder what it feels like to get naked with someone.” His pupils dilated almost swallowing the deep green. “What does it feel like to be bare against someone and let them inside you?”
Erik swallowed, his hand forming a fist and relaxing against the cream leather, but he didn’t look away from me. “You’ve let me inside your body.”
Just hearing him say it had me squirming in my seat. “That was different. I was dressed.”
“It can be fast and with clothes on.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know that, but what’s it like when it’s not? Please,” I added softly. The longer he went without answering, the more I needed to know. It thrummed through me and had me holding my breath.
His chest rose and fell on a deep breath. “It’s warm,” he finally said before clearing his throat. It did nothing to ease the deep gravel as he answered. “Wet. It can be hard and fast or slow and sensual, making you feel every inch inside you. Every part of you is touching, your skin hot and sweating. Then you get to the finish and it’s like electricity shooting down your spine, all your nerves centering on the center of your body as you come. It’s like a high—a pleasure you can almost black out from.”
The rough tone stroked my skin, the friction warming every inch of me. “I want to know,” I breathed, almost pleading. “I want to feel that high.”
His jaw clenched, but I couldn’t miss the long bulge in his slacks. “I’m not going to fuck you.”
I didn’t expect him too, but I was intoxicated by his words. It was like I stood on the precipice of a bungee jump and I could already imagine how it would feel to have the wind rushing past me and the drop of my stomach, but I wasn’t quite there. I needed to feel it.
My body urged me to push him. Not because I thought there would be more, but because I was terrified I’d never feel this safe again. One thing I learned throughout my life, was to take what you could get because nothing was guaranteed tomorrow.