“W-what are you talking about?”
“Looking back,” Dan proceeds, his tone just as aggressive. “I see what you did that night on the dance floor. You were trying to flirt with me so you could have me under your thumb. You wanted to make sure I’d go to stupid lengths for you, huh?”
“Me?” I ask in total disbelief, before huffing. “You were just as guilty. In fact…” I loop one leg around his calf, pulling him forward with just the slightest pressure. “You’re the one who sat me on a desk and has his groin pressed between my thighs.”
Dan’s laugh is dark as he lowers his eyes. “I’m not pressed against you. You’re just fantasizing now.” In one smooth movement, he moves forward and presses against me for real, the hard, hot length of him hitting me in all the places I’ve fantasized about having him for so long. I can’t stop the moan of pure pleasure that comes out of me.
“Now, Elise… I’m pressed against you.” He rubs his lips against my cheek and the shell of my ear, his breath warm, whispering, “How does it feel?”
There are no words for how good it feels, howright. It is everything I’ve been craving and didn’t even know I wanted, but at the same time, not nearly enough. The feeling of him moving against me, only the thin slip of my panties protecting me, awakens a hunger in me like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.
Dan moves his lips from my ear down my jawline until he reaches my neck, and this sensation causes me to break out in full-body goosebumps. I moan again, shamelessly, and feel his cock jerk in his pants at the noise. He wants me just as badly, and this is all the proof that I’ve ever needed. The rough pads of his fingers make me shiver everywhere they touch, and the sundress is little protection. Dan slides his hands up my bare legs, then the back of his knuckles over my arms, all while he kisses and nips at my jaw and throat, sucking the tender spot where he can feel my pulse under his lips.
It’s liquid ecstasy, pure and simple, and I’m drowning.
My body is burning hot, my eyes shut as I swim in pure bliss. I want his hands and mouth everywhere all at once. For now, though, I can think of only one thing to ask for.
“Kiss me,” I breathe.
“Where, Elise?” he murmurs against my skin.
“My mouth.”
He begins an agonizingly slow ascent from my neck to my lips, and when he’s finally,finallyabout to kiss me in earnest, something happens.
We hear the horrible sound of the doorknob tuning, and the door being pushed open.
I have no idea who it is, but I jump down immediately, trying to straighten my clothes and hair all at the same time.I’m still quivering with need, but it’s quickly being replaced by humiliation. The humiliation only grows tenfold when I get the courage to look up and see who caught us in the act.
It’s Jake O’Brian, Dan’s dad, and a handful of men I don’t recognize. I want to sink into the floor and never be seen again. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my entire life, and I can feel my face practically glowing red.
Dan is flustered too, but not nearly as bad. “Dad,” he grits out between his teeth. “Please get out of here.”
Jake, who had been looking between the two of them with an expression that looked like amusement, suddenly comes back online. “Oh! Sorry, guys. You were here first. We’ll go elsewhere.” He motions his guests out with a waving motion. “Gentlemen, let’s find another place to chat, shall we?”
The door clicks shut, leaving us alone for the second time, but now whatever spell of lust had fallen over us is long gone, and the only thing left in its place is awkwardness. And the ugly reality that I was about to kiss my brother’s best friend at his own engagement party. What a fucking mess I am.
“Fuck, Elise, I’m so sorry,” Dan starts, rubbing the back of his head uncomfortably. “I think… I think we should stay apart for a while to cool things off, you know?”
“Yeah, I um… think that’s a good idea.”
He reaches out like he wants to touch me again, but lets the hand fall limp at his side instead. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
With a lump forming in my throat, and my face still burning with shame, I walk backward until I feel the doorknob beneath my hand. “I’ve got to go,” I blurt out, desperate to be gone from the scene. Fortunately, Dan doesn’t call after me, letting me go in peace.
I’m rushing down the stairs, already ordering an Uber, face fixed on my phone, when I run into my brother.
He is beyond drunk at this point, his usually frowny face relaxed and joyous. “Elise! My baby sister, whom I love very much. Have you seen Dan? He’s my best friend, my best man, and I want to make a toast in his honor.”
I pinch my nose between my thumb and forefinger, feeling a headache building rapidly behind my eyes. “I have no idea, Andries.”
He frowns, leaning down to my height. “Are you alright? You look upset.”
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Why don’t you, um… go find Roxanne. Maybe she knows where he is.”
He agrees, leaving me alone once more, and I’m finally able to make my escape, taking a mess of emotions with me.
Once home, I strip out of my clothes as quickly as I can and run to the shower, cranking on the hot water, and letting it cover me. Washing away the feeling of Dan’s lips and fingers along with all my makeup.