The men shared a long-suffering look like they were being asked to sit in on a quilting circle before they both agreed to Marcy’s plan. Catching Sarah’s eye, the other woman winked. Everything was going according to plan.
***
After dinner, they walked to the club just around the corner that Marcy swore was one of the best in the city. It was considerably lower-key than the last place Sarah was dragged. She had to give her credit for that. And for picking a place close by. She wasn’t sure she would have survived being confined to Falon’s car alone with him for any period of time.
“Let’s dance,” Marcy shouted over the house music as soon as they were in the door.
Sarah looked to Falon before shaking her head. “I think we’ll sit this one out.”
She shooed Marcy and Frank away while Falon searched for an open place to sit. Apparently finding one, he led her by a firm grip on her elbow to a pair of tall stools tucked close to a small round table. Signaling one of the scantily clad waitresses—perhaps not that low-key after all—he ordered them both a drink before turning to study her.
“Not much for dancing?” he asked after letting the silence stretch.
She shrugged. “I guess not.”
“Then why come?”
“I thought it would be fun. Marcy thinks I should get out more. Experience life.”
“You haven’t been? Experiencing life?”
She was silent for a moment. She wanted him to understand her, but she was afraid of opening up too much to him. He had the potential to shatter her.
“I suppose I haven’t.”
He just looked at her, silently demanding she continue.
“After the accident. And losing my family, I sort of started playing it safe. I stopped taking risks I wouldn’t have balked at before their plane went down. I stopped going out. Focused on my schoolwork and afterward the agency. Everything sort of filled the places reserved for those spontaneous moments in life.”
He was silent for a moment and a part of her felt he understood. What did he lose to make him so reserved?
“There was no one in your life to share that with?”
“What like a boyfriend? No, not really.” Unsure again how much she should share she hesitated.
“Not really?”
“There was … someone, but he barely knew I existed let alone wanted to hear about what a sob-story my life had turned into.”
“When was this? In college?” She could only nod. Shit, had she given too much away?
“It was a long time ago. I haven’t dated since the crash. Can we leave it at that?”
It was the truth. What happened that night couldn’t be construed as a date in anyone’s book. Sarah had been feeling the loneliness of the loss of her family and had gone looking for Jim, her RA. He had told her that if she ever needed to talk he was always available.
She hadn’t known Falon was the only one in the room when she quietly slipped inside. Apparently he had just gotten in from a party down the hall and had a little too much to drink. She thought he was asleep until he called her name from across the gloom of the room. It was the first time she had ever heard it on his lips and her young heart skipped a beat at the idea of the man she thought herself in love with calling out to her in the night.
Decision made, she crossed the room to his bed, his name a whisper on her lips. When she sat on the edge of the bed, he sighed and reached for her. What happened next was the most exciting, erotic experience of her young life. It wasn’t until the next day when she woke before dawn and slipped back to her room she began to second-guess her choice. The following weeks sealed her regrets.
“Dance with me,” Falon whispered close to her ear. When he pulled back, she saw the concern turning beneath the icy topaz of his eyes. How long had she been lost in the past?
Swallowing, she slid off her seat.
The music changed, slowing the pace as he led her by the hand to the dance floor. The feel of the hard planes of his body pressed to hers planted her feet firmly back in the present. It didn’t matter what happened all those years ago. What mattered were the strong band of Falon’s arms around her and the press of the heat of his arousal against her belly.
Moving with a slow sensuality that had both of them taking shallow breaths, neither said a word. They let their bodies do the talking, teasing their senses with the promise of sweaty skin and hot kisses.
His hand traced the delicate line of her spine, causing a shiver of desire to race through her body and settle low in her belly. Tangling his fingers in her hair, he pulled her head back and looked deep into her eyes. Before his mouth took hers in a searing kiss, Sarah could have sworn it was fire, not ice, dancing in the golden light of his eyes. When he finally let her up for air, she couldn’t remember why it mattered.
“We’re leaving.” He pushed out between harsh breaths, nipping the lobe of her ear before pulling her from the dance floor.
***
He didn’t say a word as he sped them with white-knuckled control back to her brownstone. Sarah was glad he didn’t give her time to think about her actions when he slammed the car into park and practically pulled her from the car.
“What exactly—”
“Not a word, Sarah.” He interrupted her question, holding his hand out impatiently. “Keys?”
Producing them from the bottom of her purse, she watched as he unlocked the door. She was lost, swept up in the wave of his impatience and eager to know exactly what it meant.
“You’ve pushed me, Sarah,” he growled, turning to her in the dark entryway. “I think that it’s time you learned that I don’t like being tested.”
Sarah tried to swallow around her heart that suddenly took up residence in her throat. When he took a menacing step toward her the thought that she should be frightened registered in the back of her mind before a wave of lust washed it away. Who would have thought the caveman posturing would be such a turn on? She silently thanked him when he took a firm hold of her arms. They were the only things keeping her standing as her knees turned to useless piles of Jell-O.
“I want you to be fully aware.” He paused to kiss an exposed shoulder. “What’s about to happen, and trust me it will happen, is just as it appears to be.” He kissed the sensitive skin of the other shoulder. “Two people, giving in to the pull of their bodies. Nothing more.”
His mouth was on her throat now, nibbling its way to her jaw line. Doing delicious things to her heart rate. If he would just … move a little to the … yes, right there. She let a moan slip past her lips as he discovered the sensitive spot just below her ear.
He pulled back to blow warm air across the freshly kissed skin causing warmth to fill her empty spaces. “If you wanted this to happen all you had to do was speak up. I don’t like games, Sarah. I don’t like games and I don’t like people poking around at my reasons. This is going to happen but on my conditions. Can you handle that?”
Right now, she couldn’t handle if he stopped. Sarah gave him a jerky nod and he released her arms to frame her face. “Glad we understand each other.”
When his mouth met hers, she forgot all about her struggle against his formidable control. She could only focus on the hollow ache that longed for him to fill it and the way he expertly laid siege to her mouth.
If he wanted tonight to be just about the sex that was fine, she was more than happy to play along. He could think that it was just his body he was sharing with her, but deep down she believed that when someone gave themselves to another they left a piece of them there. It was a connection Falon had refused to acknowledge for years, hiding behind the ice that encapsulated his life.