After a few tense exchanges, Gage watched her remove her coat, slowly, laboriously, like she was intentionally teasing him. Well, it was working because his mouth was watering like a dog salivating over a tasty piece of meat.
Her skin was glowing, elegant in its natural fragrance. It emanated from her plunging cleavage, which was more pronounced than it was the night they had met. He wondered if she was wearing a push-up bra, and the thought that she had chosen it for him made him all hot and heavy.
They ordered steak and ate together, chatty and calm. The sexual tension was ever-present, though, especially when Gage watched Rylee laugh when she pulled the meat off her fork aggressively or when she floored him with her chocolatey hazel eyes.
He wanted to tell her that he would swim in her chocolate rivers for all of eternity but held back, possessing enough awareness to know that it would be too far to dive so soon.
They lingered with a bottle of wine once their meal was done. Rylee was swirling her glass from the stem and looking at him with a mischievous grin.
“So what would you like to do now, gorgeous?” Gage asked, raising the wine to his mouth.
Rylee’s eyes shifted away from him, bashful and beautiful.
“Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “I would like to go dancing again. But I don’t want to go to Midnight Mates Club if you don’t mind.”
Gage took a sip of the merlot and then placed the glass down, shaking his head.
“Not at all,” he said softly. “Too familiar?”
“You could say that,” Rylee said.
She was looking away again, but this time it wasn’t because she was soaring from his compliment. There was a bit of shame there, a feeling that Gage could easily intuit.
“I want to have a feeling about where this is going,” Rylee began, still looking away from him. “Before I bring you around to my friends. They’re my family, so that’s kind of a big deal for me.”
Gage nodded despite the stinging sensation rising in his chest. He could sense early on that Rylee was a private person, and who he saw sitting in front of him wasn’t the usual person her friends and family saw. Who he had met that fateful night one week ago may not have been her, either, but someone she kept hidden in the depths of the dark, flickering embers waiting to be ignited.
He was irritated by himself, the disappointed sensation confusing him slightly, but he tried to stay present and focus on that charming woman sitting before him.
“I can understand that,” he responded. “There’s a place not far from here that plays a good eclectic mix. We can go there.”
Rylee’s eyes locked to his own. It gave him a feeling of reassurance, something he rarely felt and even more rarely trusted.
“That sounds magical,” she said, smirking adorably.
Gage insisted on paying for dinner and then took Rylee with him in his car. She reached out and took his hand while he drove, which startled him a little, but he sank into it easily. Her skin was so soft and warm.
They arrived at Illuminate, a chic joint that Gage and the boys had ventured to many times before they established Midnight Mates Club. It wasn’t a typical club, but one that welcomed only the best-dressed and best-behaved clientele. He wanted Rylee to have a fun experience and something a bit more upper class than perhaps she was used to.
They walked in together, hand-in-hand. Gage was barely able to interpret the blue neon glow surrounding them or the medley of dance vibrations and instrument strums. All he could feel was her hand in his, a sensation moving through his heart and mind.
They ordered a few drinks and found a booth in a shadowy corner. Now and then, lights flashed over them, outlining Rylee’s gorgeous face like the backdrop of heaven had lit up. She sat close to him, which allowed him to put his arm around the back of them both. She inched her thighs, which looked shiny and delightful, close to him.
Rylee smiled at him as they settled, then leaned in close, her breath tickling his ear.
“How do you know this place?” she asked.
Gage could barely put two words together. She had turned her body to face him, and her cleavage was hanging out in front of his face, and he leaned in to listen. Her lips lingered near his ear, tingling every molecule in his body.
He smiled, then watched as she turned her head, almost in slow motion, for him to respond into her ear. It left the delicious nape of her neck exposed to him.
Gage had to gulp and put his bear in place before leaning in to respond.
“The boys and I used to come around here,” he responded, voice low and sultry. “It was one that we modeled Midnight Mates after, plus a few more, of course.”
Gage could talk forever if he meant letting his lips linger over her like that. She tilted her head away from him, the waft from her shampoo and perfumed body engulfing his nostrils and nearly sending him into a frenzy.
The woman was driving him crazy. He was feeling bold, so he placed his hand on her thigh and pulled her closer to him. He elicited a rumbly growl at the same time, which made Rylee whip her head toward him.