spine straight and hold my head up high.
A blonde woman dressed in a powder blue suit hurries towards us. Her face is wreathed with a friendly smile that encompasses both of us. ‘Hello,’ she greets.
‘Briana, meet Snow, my girlfriend. Snow, this is Briana, the housemother of this club.’
‘Hi,’ I say, taking her cool hand and feeling suddenly shy. I feel as if I am floating on cloud nine. I can’t believe that Shane introduced me as his girlfriend. It feels strange and fantastically wonderful.
She turns to Shane. ‘She’s simply gorgeous.’
Shane moves closer and slides his arm around my waist. He looks down at me, his eyes gleaming with triumphant ownership. ‘Yes, she is rather ravishing, isn’t she?’ he murmurs.
‘Would you like to stay and have a drink?’ Brianna asks.
‘I’m actually here to pick something up from the office.’ He turns to look at me. ‘Would you like to stay for one drink?’
‘OK.’
‘Come on,’ Brianna says and leads us to a booth in the corner. We sit down and a waitress comes with a bottle of champagne and fills our glasses. When she is gone we clink glasses.
‘To us,’ Shane says.
‘Is there an us?’ I ask softly.
‘Yes, there is an us,’ he says, and his voice is terse, almost brutal.
‘To us,’ I whisper.
He raises his glass to his lips and watches me over the rim with a dark, brooding look. A muscle twitches in his cheek. The atmosphere between us grows tense again and I feel myself start to tremble. I have never seen Shane angry. I don’t know why he is, but I know he is seething under the surface. It all started when Lenny called.
‘Come here,’ he says with an edge to his voice.
I put the glass down on the table and, licking my lips nervously, shift closer to him leaving six inches between us. He ruthlessly jerks me sideways towards him so I tumble off the seat with a surprised gasp and land in an ungainly fashion in his lap. My hands searching for balance are both gripping his body. He puts his hands on my hip and thigh and pulls me closer to him so my body is molded to his and my thigh is pressed against his erection.
‘I want you like hell,’ he whispers into my neck. ‘I want to fuck you, right here, right now.’
‘No, please, Shane,’ I protest, even though I am already embarrassingly wet at the thought. It is amazing how he can arouse me with a look, a touch, a suggestion. ‘Can’t we wait till we get to your place?’
‘I’m sick of waiting. I’ll have you now and you’ll fucking enjoy every minute of it,’ he says, his face hard.
I shake my head, staring at him with a jumble of excitement and horror. My body seems to be flaming with heat and my heart is beating so fast I feel it like a flutter in my chest. ‘We are in a public place,’ I whisper.
‘Snow?’ His eyes are as hungry as a wolf in the night.
‘Yes,’ I say.
‘That wasn’t a request.’
‘This is madness. There are cameras, aren’t there?’ I cry.
‘They get turned off when I get into a booth.’ His face is dark with desire. A horrible thought enters my head. Does he bring all his women here and have sex with them here? Is that why there are no cameras here?
‘No,’ he says violently. ‘I don’t fucking don’t do this with all the others.’
He kisses me then, so brutally I taste the salt of blood on my tongue. Shocked by the intensity of his mouth, I automatically try to push him away.
‘Don’t fight me, Snow,’ he grates harshly. ‘I need this.’
I look into his eyes and I see that he is telling the truth. For whatever reason he needs to take me here in this public place where anyone could come by and see me taken like some cheap slut. The fight goes out of me. I lie in his arms while his fingers snake into my dress and push aside my panties. There is nothing I can do.