So, turned out, they weren’t a scary bunch. They laughed at her jokes, kept her engaged, told stories constantly, and not once did they accuse her of lying about who she really was. The last of which wasn’t exactly a surprise, but it was a relief to Iris nonetheless.

Because the ceremony tomorrow was on the small island, with no amenities, they were pretty much having the reception tonight.

“This is all out of order,” Eli had cried when he’d found out.

Tia had said, “Mari doesn’t give a shit about that.” At the exact same time that Mari had said, “I don’t give a shit about that.”

The two women had laughed in delight and Iris had found herself charmed. She’d worried, originally, that everyone had known one another for as long as the boys had, but turned out, Tia and Mari were still getting to be friends. So Iris didn’t feel too out of place tagging along with them.

She’d sat between the two women at dinner and had been blown away by the stories of their relationships. Eli and Tia, who’d sort of known one another in high school, were reunited on an operating table of all places. Tia had performed emergency surgery on him one night about a year ago. Their love had grown from there.

But Mari and Jay might have had that story beat in Iris’s view, particularly because they were all just a few miles from where it all started.

“Trapped in a hurricane together?” Iris had exclaimed. “You have to be joking.”

“Nope, not joking. Real hurricane, five years ago. We were trapped for days, over on that little island. We’d never met before. And by the end we were in love.”

“So you’ve been together for a long time then?”

Mari shook her head. “No. Not at all. We got separated before we left the island, and we never found each other. Not until we ran into each other at a party a few months ago.”

“What?” Iris’s eyes were as big as saucers. She didn’t see Marcus watching her from across the table. “You were separated for five years?”

“Yup. And the craziest part was, I thought I was over all of it. Over him. And then I run into him and BAM. It was like nothing had changed. It was always Jay for me. Since the day I met him.”

“Wow.” When Iris looked up this time, she caught Marcus’s eye, but she couldn’t begin to interpret the look on his face.

She was distracted, though, when Tia and Mari groaned at yet another delicious course that had just been brought out to them. The food was so good, Iris and Mari bumped food babies together afterwards.

“Don’t joke about that,” Jay had said, pointing to Mari’s belly. “Don’t tempt me.”

Afterwards, they’d moved on to drinks and dancing and much to everyone’s delight, even Jay got a little tipsy. Iris slipped out to go to the bathroom and on her way back, she lingered at the edge of the dimly lit bar, right by the dance floor. And she just watched them. Particularly, she watched Jay and Eli. The way they were with their girls. So loving, so awed, so into them. She wondered what she and Marcus looked like from afar. If their feelings were clear to anyone watching or if they were hiding it as well as they were trying to.

She sighed, pushing the thoughts from her head and rejoining the group.

As soon as she was back to their little knot of people, Mari, a little tipsy herself, tugged Iris by the elbow. “You’ll never guess what I just did.”

“What’s that?” Iris asked.

“I booked us that.” Mari pointed across the dim bar toward a closed door.

Iris squinted through the dim lighting, past the bodies on the dance floor. “You booked us a… private room?” Iris grimaced when she thought of some of the things a private room in a bar like this had seen. She’d rather the walls didn’t talk in a place like that.

Mari laughed, drunken and bright.

“I booked us a private karaoke room,” she clarified, as if that made it better. “And everybody has to do it.” Mari pointed around at the group. “I’m the bride and I say so.”

Iris let herself get tumbled along with the tide of the group and she was having fun, but she was also extremely relieved when she found herself seated next to Marcus in the karaoke room.

This whole night had been a lot to take in and he’d been a buoy in a storm for her. Every time she’d looked up, there he’d been, searching for her eyes, checking on her, keeping an eye on her. It had made her feel safe at any minute. And now, pressed thigh to thigh on the creaky leather couch, she felt more than safe, she felt downright cared for. Marcus pressed a cold bottle of water into her hand and winked.

She leaned forward. “I haven’t had very much to drink,” she whispered in his ear. “I stopped at dinner.”

“I know,” he nodded. “Just thought you’d be thirsty.”

Maybe it was silly, but somewhere, she couldn’t help but wonder if the bottle of water was a love letter of sorts. The way the rug in the kitchen had been. The watch on her wrist. Giving her the shower first. She wondered if Marcus was trying to tell her something without actually telling her.

Regardless, she gulped it down, spraying some by accident when Eli started in on his very off-key rendition of “Standing Outside the Fire.” He was boisterous and completely owned every moment of it. They were all laughing by the end.

“Celebrity crush officially dead,” Iris laughed into Marcus’s ear and he turned to her and grinned. A real grin, a true grin of utter and complete relief.

“Thank god,” he replied, running his arm along the back of the couch in a move that felt familiar and thrilling to both of them. “I’ve been worried about having to beat the shit out of my best friend.”

She was still smiling to herself when Mari rose up from the couch, scanned the group, and pointed at Iris. “Your turn.”

“Me?” Iris asked in disbelief. “I thought it was just, you know, family.”

“Stage,” Mari said, brooking no argument whatsoever.

She knew it was ridiculous, considering she wrote music for a living, but Iris never, ever performed in front of people, besides Owen. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d sung for a room of people, maybe 7th grade?

She took a deep breath as she rose. She hadn’t even picked out a song. And sure enough, Mari was already pressing play on one she’d chosen for Iris. “Since You Been Gone.”

Yeah. Not happening. Majorly not happening. Iris snatched the remote control out of Mari’s hand and stopped the song. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted a keyboard in the corner of the room.

She could see that there was no graceful way to not sing, which would have been Iris’s first choice, so instead, she picked the lesser of two evils. Rather than butcher some pop song, publicly no less, she chose to perform an original. At least they wouldn’t know for sure if she messed it up.

Iris grabbed the mic and walked it over to the keyboard, saying a silent prayer of thanks when the dang thing flipped on. “I’m not going to sing karaoke,” she started and the whole group booed, making Iris grin and roll her eyes. “But I will sing a song that I just recently wrote. I think it’s particularly apt for our newlyweds.”

She tested a few notes on the keyboard as the group quieted down. She didn’t look up. She didn’t have to. She could feel Marcus’s gaze burning into her. His dark eyes were like a touch on her skin, too hot and too tight. Part of her wanted to squirm away from that gaze, and the other part of her just wanted to lie back and let those eyes have their way with her.

She adjusted the mic, took a deep breath and played the opening chords. “This song is called ‘You Again’.”

Iris raised her voice and sang.

Aaaaaaaaaand Marcus was a goner. He was such a fucking goner. He’d never heard her sing before and it was a good thing. Because if he had he would not have made it out of that beach house without begging for… everything.

Her voice was perfect. Strong and husky, but she had range, true range. The song fluttered and floated, both filled with flirty temptation and deep, earthy desire. Her voice blew her brother’s right out of the water and Marcus wondered why the hell she wasn’t the famous one. He would pay hundreds of dollars to see a voice like this in concert.

And there she was, the dim, crappy lighting of the karaoke room turning her blue and then green and then red as the lights alternated. The keyboard was quiet and obviously very old, but it didn’t matter. She shined. She effervesced. She absolutely glowed up there.

It took a minute for some of the lyrics to make it all the way to his brain. She was already on the first chorus.

I say to myself

kid, let it go

cuz that man is top shelf

and he’s so damn grown.

Move on, move on, girl.

Move on, move on, girl.

Get a crush on somebody else, girl

Quit livin’ your life in hell, girl

Just when I think I’m over it,             

I turn that corner and it’s

You again.

It’s you again?

Oh, baby, it’s you again.

And what can I do

but just lose it for you, again.

The lyrics were alternately fluttering and fiercely punctuated with the piano keys. Without even the backup instruments or polishing of any kind, Marcus knew, in his bones, that this was going to be a number one hit someday. Just like he knew, in his bones, that this song was absolutely about him.

Eli nudged Jay from where they sat next to each other and gestured across the room to Marcus.

“Oh shit,” Jay muttered and grinned at Eli. Their boy was toast. M.U.R.D.E.R she wrote. One look at his face and they knew, whatever had been stopping him from making her his, that was in the past now. Marcus’s face was dark and somber, and almost predatory.

Just when I think I got it under control

There’s that sun

on your eyelashes.

There’s your arm up

against mine.

She was getting breathier and harsher at the same time and Marcus couldn’t breathe. He thought he’d never breathe again, most likely.             

 

What can I say it’s

You again.

It’s you again?

Oh, baby, it’s you again.

And what can I do

but just lose it for you, again.

 

She sang the last, addictive notes and the entire group went straight to their feet. Mari and Jay kissed the breath out of one another, because it was, indeed, the perfect song for them. They were two people who’d found one another over and over.

And from the looks of it, so were Marcus and Iris.

She finally opened her eyes again and looked out at the group cheering for her. Her gaze was sucked directly into the corner where Marcus stood, his arms crossed over his chest and an expression on his face that made her insides turn to soup.

Oh god. The look was so raw and so was the truth. There was no fighting it. None at all. Iris got the sudden, distinct impression that she was plummeting down a dark hole that she’d never be able to find her way out of.

She was in love with him. Not even a kiss yet and she’d already given it all up for this man. The part of her that had been hurt so badly by Jet made one last, frantic grab for her heart, but it missed. And the dang thing just floated right out of her chest. She’d tried so hard to fight it. She hadn’t let herself be close to him in any of the ways that her body screamed for her to. And in the end it hadn’t mattered. She loved him anyways.

It had taken singing a song she’d written for him to figure it out. But there it was. This wasn’t a crush. This was full on. This was real deal. This was love.

She wanted to look away from him, but she couldn’t. All she could do was absently flip the keyboard off and sort of float right over to him where he stood just a touch away from the rest of the group.

Each second felt like a lifetime, each step a mile. And when she was within reaching distance, his hands landed on her shoulders, tugged her straight to him. Their chests smashed together as he flattened his hands on her back.

That action alone confirmed it. He must know that the song was about him. She inwardly winced. What did he think? Was it possible that he knew the rest too? Was she as obvious about her love for him as Mari and Tia were with their love for their men? Part of her hoped that she was. Hiding it was exhausting and unrewarding and she realized that she was done with it. She loved him. The damage was done. All that was left was to show him. As many times as he’d let her.

His hands were tight on her shoulders still as he stared down into her face. “Are you sober?” he asked.

She pulled back, a little surprised. “I told you I stopped drinking at dinner.”

“Are. You. Sober. Stone cold sober.” Each word was punctuated with a feral, vibrating urgency, like everything inside of him balanced on the edge of what she was about to say.

In that case, she considered her words carefully.

“Almost?”

Something like frustration flicked over his face, although Iris was certain that it wasn’t frustration for her. “Fine. We’ll dance first. Until you’re completely sober.”

He turned and took her by the hand, tugging her toward the door of the karaoke room and toward the dance floor.

“First?” Iris asked. “What comes second?”

He stopped still and turned to face her again. For only the second time, he took her by the chin, held her in place. “Second, I’m going to take you back to the hotel room and do something that I’ve been trying to talk myself out of for weeks.”

Iris was aware that her heart had stopped, but she could barely bring herself to care. If this was how she was going to die, death by sexy promises, she’d take it. Marcus didn’t wait for her reaction, he simply turned back and tugged her out of the room.

“Oh, shit!” Eli and Jay said in unison as they turned to face one another in stunned glee.

“What?” Tia asked, squinting at them through the dim lighting.

“It’s going down,” Eli grinned and tangled his hands up with Tia’s.

“What is?” Mari asked, having missed the whole exchange.

“Marcus is taking Irie out onto the dance floor,” Jay explained. “And he’s literally never struck out after he’s danced with a woman. It means he’s definitely made up his mind about what to do.”

“You mean I finally get to see Marcus’s dance floor repertoire?” Mari smacked her hands together. Before she and Jay had gotten married, he’d taken every opportunity to shield her from his friend’s dancing skills.

Tia squinted into her memory. “I definitely remember him being a good dancer when we were in high school. But I haven’t seen him dance as an adult.”

“Well,” Eli said, tugging his girl along after him. “Let’s get some front row seats then. Dad, Kat, you guys might not want to see this.”

In fact, Ryan and Kat had better things to do, and bid the group goodnight, strolling out of the club, both of them relieved they’d been spared another hour of karaoke.

Iris could not believe this was her life. She was on the run from a faction of the mob, in the Bahamas with a bunch of new friends, and she was currently being seduced on the dance floor by the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on.

She’d looked around a minute ago and seen that Jay and Mari and Eli and Tia were on the dance floor as well. And all of them were pretty good dancers. Jay was fluid and self assured. Eli was confident and very cute. But Marcus? Marcus was absolutely lethal.

The man danced like he’d been born to do it. His hips and shoulders, his chin and hands, his feet…Jesus. All of him moved with such sexy, attractive grace. But it was more than grace. He moved with a knowledge, a deep understanding of how two bodies were supposed to touch one another. Not only was his gorgeous physique on full display, he danced in such a way that Iris knew that it was only on display for her.

Sure, other women could look, and they were, but it didn’t matter at all to Marcus. His eyes were on Iris and Iris alone, dead focused.

She thanked God that she was a good dancer as well. She had rhythm and all the requisite lady parts to be aesthetically pleasing on the dance floor. She’d never worried about it or given it much thought. It was just something that was. Dancing with Marcus though? He elevated her to a whole other level. He was patient but inexorable, there was no arguing with the way he moved his body against hers. There was no arguing with that look in his eyes. If his fingertips brushed her knee, she swung it open for him. If his palm pressed into her stomach, she leaned her weight back into his body. He guided her. Simple as that. They moved as one unit.

At all times he had at least one body part pressed into her. His hands on her hips showed her exactly what to do next. He backed her ass into his front, before dipping around to bring himself eye level with her chest. He rose up to full height, one hand firmly laced into her hair and tugged her forward. There was no fighting it. There wasn’t a world where she ever would have wanted to.

“Good god!” Mari crowed as she and Tia watched from the bar. Their men had gone to the bathroom so the two women took the moment to watch Marcus dance.

“Yeah,” Tia muttered. “Yeah wow.”

“That’s… that’s—I’ve never seen anything like that!” Mari tugged a hand through her hair and attempted to close her mouth, but found she couldn’t.

Both women couldn’t be happier with the man they were with. But for one, brief second, they were both extremely relieved that they’d never run into Marcus on a dance floor before they were with their men. Because, that? That right there on the dance floor? That was something that you took home with you. No questions.

And neither of them would have wanted to explain that to their men.

So they took some great joy in just watching Marcus put the absolute moves on Irie on the dance floor. He moved with an animal surety, a deep confidence. Every step was laced with one thing and one thing only. Sex. This was a man who knew what he was doing. And from the looks of things, he was about to do that thing to Irie.

Mari laughed as a hand closed over her eyes. She’d know that hand anywhere. “Have some decency woman, this is our wedding reception, for god sakes,” Jay’s voice said in her ear. “I can’t have you lusting after my best friend.”

“I wasn’t lusting. I was observing!” she insisted.

Eli laughed and tugged Tia into his chest, thereby cutting off her view of Marcus dancing. “Marcus has stolen enough girls out from under me and Jay by pulling shit just like that,” he gestured over his shoulder with a jutting thumb. “We have a right to be a little touchy.”

“I thought you guys had some sort of double dipping rule?” Tia asked. And even knowing her as well as he did, it was still a shock to Eli to hear such words come out of prim and proper Dr. Camellia’s mouth.

Jay laughed. “We do. But we also have a whoever gets there first rule.”

“And if there is a dance floor handy, Marcus gets there first,” Eli scowled.

Tia and Mari grinned at one another. Neither of them had any reason to question their men’s moves. They’d worked on the two women present, after all. But it was still sort of fun to hear about them striking out. And both women had sort of a soft spot for Marcus. He’d been alone for so long, and so palpably lonely. They rooted for him.

On the dance floor, the song turned from poppy and upbeat to grimy and filled with bass. Perfect. They’d been dancing for damn near a half an hour and Marcus was hoping against hope that Iris was close to sober. He could tell that she was close to other things, that was for sure. Her cheeks were flushed as her ice blue eyes tracked his every movement. Her lips were parted and there was no way to misinterpret that expression on her face. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her.

Good. That was how he wanted it. He wanted her literally panting for him. His plan was to keep a tight leash on himself tonight. He needed to maintain total control, lest he give her the intense stuff and freak her out. But just in case he slipped up, it would be better if she was turned on beyond belief.

The song ground out through the club and the dance floor was responding. Bodies everywhere were pressing and sliding. Mouths were open and taking from each other. Marcus gripped Iris’s hips and jammed her ass against his front, letting her feel what her closeness was doing to him. She turned her face up toward his and he could taste her on the air. She was so close that the tips of their noses touched. But he didn’t kiss her. Not yet. He refused for their first kiss to be in some sweaty club.

She opened her mouth to say something. But then pink stained her cheeks and she clapped her mouth shut.

“Say it, Iris. Whatever you were going to.”

She pulled her lip between her teeth, looking at him over her shoulder as he firmly pressed a hand into her back, bending her forward to keep dancing on her. He swung her back up as she gasped.

“Don’t keep it from me,” he growled into her ear as his hand flattened against her stomach, making her ride the beat. And him. “Don’t keep anything from me. Give it up.”

Iris gasped and blushed even further at the double entendre of his words. Her desire for him flung aside any insecurities she might regularly be feeling. He was making it clear, in a hundred different ways, how badly he wanted her.

She craned her head and grabbed his eyes with hers. “I’m sober now.”

He let the words sink in for all of one second before he twirled her toward the door of the club and charged across the dance floor, leading her with one hand on the small of her back towards the exit.

“We didn’t say goodbye!” Iris couldn’t help but think of how rude they were being to his friends.

“I don’t give a shit,” he growled as they burst out onto the street. He tugged her in the direction of the hotel. “You can say bye when you see them in the morning.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Iris insisted as she stumbled along behind him, attempting to keep pace with his long legs.

He stopped still and she ran right into him. Marcus grabbed her by the backs of her thighs and lifted her right up like she didn’t weigh more than 20 pounds. He pressed her back into the storefront behind her. “You want to go back to that club, say goodbye to them and explain that we have to leave because we’re about to go up to our hotel room and lose our minds on one another?”             

Well. When he put it like that. Iris shook her head. “Let’s go.”

He dropped her back to the ground, grabbed her hand and set off at a light jog. Adrenaline and lust had her easily keeping pace with him. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She loved this man and she was about to make love with him. Thank the heavens.

Marcus shoved his way through the lobby of the hotel and onto the elevator before Iris had time to process where they even were.

“No,” Marcus said, quite rudely, to an older couple who were about to enter the elevator along with them. They stepped right back off, shooting Marcus dirty looks.

“Marcus!” Iris yelped as the doors closed and he immediately started backing her up into a corner. “That was so rude.”

“I don’t give a shit,” he said again. “The only thing I care about is you.” His eyes dropped to her lips and he planted his hands on either side of her, caging her in. She was surrounded by him. She could see nothing else, feel nothing else, smell nothing else. “I can’t resist you anymore. Not after hearing you sing. I already spent way too much time thinking about your mouth. And now I have to add your voice into the equation.”

“You think about my mouth?” she asked in a whisper.

He laughed humorlessly. “I dream about your mouth.”