Music pulses from every surface, bouncing the entire club as I lean against a wall in the VIP area.

The ice cubes in my gin and tonic jump with the rhythm, sloshing as I tip it to my mouth and empty the entire thing.

Privé is on another level tonight, and I think the entire club feels it. I know I feel it, with my fourth drink swimming happily in my veins. I lost Drake somewhere in the fray, after we’d all gotten in. Typically, we’d sail past the door, even at our young age … bouncers everywhere knew who we were. But Nora had cocked it up, making us vouch for her in a very lame fashion. Yet another strike against her.

Ed was in sight, all over a blonde on the dance floor as his beer narrowly missed landing all over her skirt. Katherine and Eloise sat farther back, in the lounge area done in deep purples and aqua lighting. From the drowsy, amused looks on their faces I could tell they were rolling on ecstasy, a sleazier looking bloke who had to be the dealer sitting next to them. Speri had already gone home with her latest conquest, finding him only an hour into our night. Who knew if we’d see her again in the next week.

The exclusive club was one big rectangle, but it was cordoned off. In the center was a giant dance floor, with aqua and blue lights swimming overhead, giving it an underwater illusion. On the far wall was a gigantic metal bar stocked with all of the top shelf liquor on the market, and other bottles that only people in our stratosphere had ever heard of or drank. The lounge area where the girls sat was next to the bar; low velvet couches and sunken armchairs created a sexy, relaxed vibe. And then all over the club were hidden corners and drapes that fell from the ceiling, creating hideaways where one could get into trouble.

“Hi, handsome.” A tall, thin brunette assesses me, toying with the straw in her drink between her lips. She’s gorgeous, of course, but far too obvious for my tastes.

What most people don’t know about me, because I never talk about women, is that I want the chase. I crave it. Girls who throw themselves at me, because that’s basically what this type A model is doing, don’t get my rocks off.

No, I want the girl who will give me the cold shoulder nine times out of ten. And then the tenth time get on her knees and peek those pretty eyes up at me as I use her mouth in whichever ways I please. That’s what gets me hard as a steel pipe.

“Having a good night?” I nod at her, my expression as unchanging as my position is. I may not be interested, but I can see a certain figure from the corner of my eye watching our interaction.

Plus, I’ve had four drinks and am more pliable to situations than I normally am.

“It would be better if you would dance with me.” She bats those long, and probably fake, eyelashes at me.

Yeah, not going to happen. The other thing I don’t do is dance, regardless of what I told Nora before.

“Sorry, love, not tonight. I’m keeping it low key.” I give the slightest nod of my head, indicating sympathy when in reality I have none.

“Oh, come on, you know you want to.” The brunette twists her body, giving me more of a view.

And here is where the asshole comes out. “I tried to be nice, but I’m not interested, at all. You look just like every other wannabe model in this place, and I know that when it comes to fucking you, you’re a dime a dozen.”

Her jaw drops, and she backs away. “Prick!”

She spits the word before she turns on a heel and marches away. I lean back, the wall acting as my camouflage once again. If I have another drink I’ll be stumbling home, but if I don’t, the buzz will wear off far too quickly before the night ends.

Casting a glance farther down the wall, I watch Nora sway ever so slightly to the hypnotic techno beat. She’s off by herself, almost in the very most corner of the room, away from the crowd and observing each interaction in front of her. From the way she moves, from the half empty drink in her hand, I can tell she’s drunk.

As the lights illuminate her body, searching like beams in the night sky, I can’t help but fully turn my head. That dress, the deepest color green, has me greedy. It molds to her form as if it’s a second skin, showing me all of the petite curves that my hands itch to touch. Just knowing I can’t unwrap that package has me hardening in my trousers.

Her hair tumbles around her shoulders like fiery lava; I may get burned if I wrap my fist in it, but bugger do I want to try. And she’s done something different to her eyes and cheeks tonight. The natural look she usually sports does a lot to my growing cock, but tonight Nora is different. She’s amplified, more sexed up with the dark eyelashes and sparkling skin.

Before I devise my next move, my feet are already walking over to where she holds up the wall.

Nora sees me coming, her eyes tracking me with hesitation. But I see the desire behind that stare, the interest and intrigue. When I make it to her, I lean my back on the wall and keep my eyes straight. Will she speak first?

The dominant in me needs her to, to cede power to me.

Electricity pings between us, and I can feel the heat coming off of her elbow, so close to my own. The refusal of touch, of speech, has my balls drawing up tight. She’s playing hard to get, the hardest I may have ever seen. I don’t think I’ve ever been more turned on.

“You’re so damn weird.” Nora snorts.

So surprised, her words wash over me like the fifth drink I never had. “That was not what I was expecting.”

She turns her body toward me, and she’s so close that the material of her dress almost brushes my fingers.

“I’m really not, that’s the thing. I’m not the person everyone is expecting. You barely know me, but what I know about you is so weird. You like to act like nothing affects you, that you’re above it all. But come on, Asher, you wouldn’t be here if you really didn’t care what everyone thought. You wouldn’t be following in whatever footsteps it is you so clearly want to traverse. You have friends, but I don’t think they’re really your friends. And besides that, I know nothing. Yet, you’ve gone out of your way to terrorize me, intimidate me. And that’s what I find weird.”

“Terrorize is a strong word.” I finally turn my face to hers, and strike her with the best lopsided grin I can give.

It works, as Nora physically steps back, her mouth flitting open and her eyes falling to my own lips. I’ve surprised her, almost to the point where she can’t function because almost a full minute passes before she coughs and meets my eyes.

“You promised you’d save me a dance, duchess.” I don’t even dance, but right now I’m trollied and horny.

And the girl in front of me is playing all of the right moves. Not that she’s playing; she really does think I’m a bloody bastard, I can tell.

“No, thank you.” Her nod is curt as she averts those hazel eyes away from me.

But I’m too close now, and rejection was the one thing that made me move closer. “I’m not told no. Ever.”

Now her eyes flit up, connecting with mine like flint striking stone. “Well, we all have to learn something new eventually.”

Her voice is like ice, and I want so badly to take her by the arms and show her just how much I can teach her. But we’re not ready for that, and my plan doesn’t allow for callous actions. Nora, the princess that she is, needs to be wooed. I need to fool her into thinking that I’ve romanced her, make her feel comfortable, adored.

I chuckle like she’s actually teaching me something. “I guess we do.” Sticking out my hand, I bow. “May I request the honor of a dance with your royal highness?”

It’s poison in my mouth, using those words in association with a commoner like her.

I see the flicker of a smile cross her peach lips, and I know I’ve pressed a soft spot. “Oh, come on, you can’t hold up the wall all night. It’s your first time at a club, you have to immerse yourself.”

Nora folds her arms across her chest, ever the sassy one. “And who says it’s my first time at a club?”

I hold back a snort. “You’ve looked uncomfortable ever since we got here. Which is okay, but let me show you some of the finer things in life.”

Adding an eyebrow raise, I reach out gently but surely. My fingers spark when they make connection with her elbow, and like a newborn fawn, I lead her out to the dance floor cautiously. Nora resists at first, trying to pull her arm back into her own personal space, but my grip is firm. Her silky, porcelain-colored flesh feels too good under my hand, and the need to control her grows stronger with the drinks in my system.

Reaching the outskirts of the dance floor, I blend us into the crowd, moving her in front of me and forward. We’re so close that the back of her head is almost tucked under my chin, her ass swaying desirably near the crotch of my trousers.

“I don’t … know …. how!” Nora screams over the music, her body going rigid as I move us into the fray.

My hands clasp her hips, pulling her all the way back toward me, molding her back to my front. She tenses even more, trying to pull away. In here, with all of the bodies surrounding us, I can’t use charm to bend her to my will. So I show her.

Finding the beat of the music, I start to sway our bodies in a tantric motion. Hips back and forth, moving mine and her own, my big hands mechanically matching her rhythm to my own. Ducking my head, I place my lips right next to her ear, breathing on the lobe until I feel the shiver run down her spine. That seems to take some of the worry and drain it from her form, as she becomes more pliable, moves a little on her own.

I remove a hand from her hip, ghosting it up her arm and to her hair, where I wrap a fistful around my fingers. It’s just as silky and thick as I imagined it would be. The song changes and with it does our dance, from faster and more frantic, to slow and sensual. I feel it when Nora picks up the undertones, swaying along with me, almost tilting her head back. I sense it when the music sweeps her up, when her body gets lost and submits to the ways I’m moving it.

I duck my head further into her neck, breathing in her scent of honey and shea butter. She smells like innocence and the country, and it makes my cock grow ever harder. Nora can probably feel it, but she’s so zoned out on the alcohol and the vibe that I don’t think she notices.

My mouth meets her skin, not kissing or tasting but just floating there, toying with the idea of it. I feel her head tilt toward me, almost overshadowing my own face thats practically buried in her neck. I shift, my chin completely aligned with hers, her lips mere inches from my own. I can taste her breath, cranberry and vodka. She stills against me, as if dancing and staring at my mouth are mutually exclusive things that can only be done one at a time. We hover that way for what seems like days, years.

The music changes again, and it’s as if the spell is broken.

Nora wrenches away from me, a disgusted, confused look on her face. She bolts, in the direction of where I don’t know. I don’t follow her.

I’ve rattled her, and that’s good enough for me. Unfortunately, though, my throbbing balls are left lonely and disappointed in the middle of the dance floor.