I might have been able to hold my reserve about staying away from this man, until he takes me in his arms and basically blows my mind with just a dance. I am willing to sign my soul over at this point. I can feel him pressing against my stomach… every rock solid inch. Each time he rotates his hips with the beat of the song, a little more wetness seeps from my body. I am primed and ready to go, all because of this man.
When the song ends, he pulls back again and looks into my eyes. “Tell me.”
“Melissa,” I squeak. Yes… I squeak. The games are over now; this is too raw.
“Alright, Melissa,” he croons; my name curling around his tongue sends tingles across every inch of skin. “Let’s start over, hmm?”
I stare at this gorgeous man and nod my head like an idiot.
“Name’s Greg Cage. Most of my friends call me Greg, some call me Cage, but you can call me whatever you want.”
Really? Is he for real right now?
“Does that line ever work for you? And why would I call you Cage? Sounds like something you stuff a rabid animal in.” His eyes widen slightly before his rich laughter rings out around me. I’m sure I look like a crazy woman with the smile that takes over my face. Even I can tell it’s a bit too happy. Good Lord, he really is good looking.
“Damn babe, you’re either a lesbian or you just like chomping my balls.” He shakes his head, still letting out a few soft manly laughs. “Beauty, you can call me whatever you want as long as you’re screaming it.”
Before I can even process his actions, he bends down and gives me a quick but deep kiss. When he pulls back and rests his forehead against mine, I know I might as well have just signed on the dotted line. The look he gives me is so full of promise that if I had been wearing underwear, they would have blown up, completely exploded, right from my skin.
“Come home with me.” I blurt.
He seems to ponder that for a minute before a feral smile graces his lips. He knows he won this round. I might be giving in to the sparks flying around us, but this was just going to be sex. Nothing more.
“Tell you what, let me finish up around here, and then we can go back to my place.”
“I’m not riding with you. I want my car there, just in case,” I mumble the end of that, but he doesn’t miss it. His eyes flash and his smile slips slightly.
Way to go Melissa, might as well take out an ad that lists all the issues you have.
“That’s fine, but I can assure you that you won’t want to leave for a long fucking while.”
“Just sex?” I ask. No reason to beat around the bush now.
“For now.” He takes my hand in his and leads me off the dance floor and back to the bar where we left our drinks. “Here’s to living,” he says and holds his beer up to click with my wine glass.
Seems like an odd thing to toast to when you just agreed to go off with a complete stranger and play hide the sausage. The more I think about it though, the more it honestly makes sense. I made a promise, to my sister that I would never stop living. Of course, she didn’t know about this promise, but the day I made that promise to her, whispering the words to the cold earth, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.
Well sister dear, if this isn’t living, then I don’t know what is.
“To living,” I echo back with a smile before taking a sip.
It has been an hour since I essentially agreed to a night of unlimited possibilities. I see Greg floating around the room, stopping to spend time with the bride as well as the rest of the men in their immediate group. He seems to be aware of my every movement. I move to speak with another person, and his eyes are always burning into my skin. When my eyes meet his, it is pure fire. I could feel his gaze caressing every inch of my skin and it was slowly, agonizingly driving me out of my mind.
I want him.
“I know that look.” Dee says, coming to rest at the table that Emmy and I have been sitting at for the last few minutes.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“My ass you don’t,” she laughs. “That look you keep sending G is hot enough to make me start panting.”
“Oh, really? You wouldn’t happen to know anything about heated looks across the room, would you?” Emmy cuts in. Her tone actually shocks me. In all the times I have been around her, she has been nothing but sweet and quiet.
“What the hell, Em?” What the hell indeed.
“Look, Dee, you know I love you, but please take my advice, Beck wants you, and you keep playing games. What are you going to do one day when you change YOUR mind and want what he has been offering for almost two years and he isn’t offering it anymore?”
“It’s not that easy, Em.” Dee rests her head against my shoulder and lets out a ragged breath, “It’s just not that easy.”
I look up and meet Emmy’s eyes across the table, noting that her usually sweet and serine expression is hard and cold.
“It is that easy. You want him, he wants you, but you are too busy trying to push him away to give him the chance he deserves. I would love to be in your shoes. Have the man I want, want me back.” She slams her glass down on the table, rattling all the place settings in the process. Giving her chair a shove back, she leaves the table so quickly I’m not even sure which direction she ran off in.
“Would you like to clue me in on what just happened here?” I ask Dee with a slightly manic laugh.
“That, my dear Melissa, was me being put in my place.” She takes a long sip of her wine, slouching down in her seat and just dazing off into the crowd.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Izzy has filled me in some but not enough to pretend I know what is running through her head.
“Do you ever get so tired of putting on a mask, day in and day out? I’m so sick of putting on my mask.” Her words are slur slightly but I think I understand what she means. God, I hate drunk people.
“Don’t hide who you are, Dee. One thing I have learned is you never hide who you are. If you want something, you fight for it. When you think you have fought hard enough, fight a little more. Don’t ever let anyone or any situation make who you are.”
She looks over at me with wide eyes. Whatever I said must have hit the mark, but I honestly have no idea what she wants. I haven’t been around them enough to tell the ins and outs, but I know there is something seriously fucked up going on between her and Beck.
“Yeah,” she says with a slight wobble. “I just don’t know… ” she trails off when we hear a commotion across the way from where we are sitting.
Over near the edge of the property, we see what looks to be Axel carrying his bride off into the darkness. The only thing you can see is his back and a laughing Izzy over his shoulder jogging off around the house. I look over at Dee and all the sadness has left her eyes. We stare at each other for a few minutes, trying to decide if we just saw the groom kidnapping his own wife, before bursting into laughter.
We have been sitting there laughing for a few minutes when I feel him. My back prickles and my skin warms. Without looking, I know that Greg Cage is standing behind me. I feel one finger brush lightly down the side of my neck before his lips ghost against the shell of my ear, “You ready?”
I gulp, wondering for a second where the hell my strength to stay strong around this man has gone. I have to keep my walls up around someone as dangerous as him.
“Sir! Yes, Sir.” I joke, giving Dee a wink before turning in my seat. When my eyes meet his, I see my joke might have missed the mark. His face is hard. His blue eyes look almost violet, and his hands clench tightly into fists. What the hell?
I stand, not wanting to be at the disadvantage…well, more of the disadvantage. At least with my shoes, we are almost equal. His breathing is coming in quick pants, his nostrils flaring. I walk as close as I can, toe-to-toe, my chest grazing his slightly, and give him a good hard look of my own.
“What is your problem?” I whisper. I can feel the heat off his lips so close to mine.
He is still giving me a good accessing look, but seems to make his mind up silently on the best way to proceed. “Say goodbye to Dee.”
“Goodbye to Dee,” I call over my shoulder. Her giggles reach my ears, causing me to let a few out before I school my face again. “Your turn,” I whisper.
“Gone, Dee. Don’t fucking drive.” And with that, he grabs my hand and rushes me off through the crowd, the tent, yard, and around the house. We stop in front of the drive, standing there for a few seconds. He lets go of my hand and paces a few steps in front of me before turning around and looking at me. His breathing hasn’t improved much, and a small part of me wonders if he might have asthma or some shit.
“Do you need an inhaler?” I ask.
“What the fuck?” He mumbles.
“You sound like you’re about to have an asthma attack or something. So I repeat; do you need an inhaler?”
He raises one thick brow and lets out a rough laugh. “Do I need a fucking inhaler? No, I do not need an inhaler. What I need is for you to please behave yourself in public. You can’t say shit like that and not have me wanting to rip your sexy as sin dress from your body. The next time you call me Sir, it better be when you are begging for me to let you come.” He reaches out and pulls my body forward, crushing his lips down against mine.
Jesus Christ. And I thought he had set my body on fire before. Hard, wet, and full of carnal heat, his tongue battles with my own for dominance. His hands fist my hair, and turn my head, and his body envelops mine.
He owns me with a single kiss.
For a single second, I have the nagging thought that I might just be in over my head with this man.