For now, anyway.
I leaned back against the antique counter that once sold tickets for a carousel in Vienna and watched her hips sway in the short black dress she was wearing. It made her legs look a mile long. “When I was in college I spent my summers in the Hamptons and my friends and I used to hit the clubs, but I haven’t done that in a while.”
Her hands went above her head and her entire body started to move slowly.
I pushed off the counter and made my way over toward her. I didn’t know the song that was playing, but it didn’t matter. When I got close enough, I offered my hand. “May I have this dance?”
She smiled at me and her smile reached her eyes when she extended her hand. “I didn’t mean you had to dance with me.”
I pulled her close to me, right up against my body. “I don’t have to do anything. I want to.”
She bit her lip.
My hands anchored her hips and we danced slowly in a circle, our feet moving half an inch at a time. She’d told me one time that she hadn’t gone to her prom. I could give her the prom. If someday she wanted something grander I’d bring her to the Met Ball. Fuck, I would give her everything she’d missed. I wanted her to experience it all.
We moved well together, those two pieces of a puzzle that fit just right.
After a while, I took it up a notch, changing moves from slow dancing to more dirty dancing. My thigh slid between hers and we continued to move together. Everything around us disappeared and it was just the two of us in our wonderland.
Her hands slid from my shoulders up to cup the back of my neck. She rubbed the spot where once she’d been able to run her fingers through my hair. My hair was gone, but her touch was hot. I felt branded. Like she knew I needed to know we belonged only to each other.
Heat flared where my groin rubbed against her lower belly. I had to kiss her. I slid my hands up her back to tangle in her hair, and then I tipped her head back so I could slide my lips down her neck.
She made a noise that had my hands skirting the hem of her dress, but I stopped myself. I didn’t want everything we did to end up in sex. I wanted to show her we could be together and not end up naked. It just seemed like the mature thing to do when one was trying to have a real, grown-up relationship.
But fuck, it was hard to stop my fingers from twitching. She, too, was fighting the driving desire. I could tell. Her eyes were squeezed closed. Her lips were parted. And her nipples were like small diamonds protruding from the fabric of her dress.
My lips found her ear. “When we make it to New York, I’ll take you to the Rose Bar. It’s a great place to go dancing.”
She kept moving. “I think I’ve heard of it.”
“Jeremy owns it. It’s a Jet Set property.”
The lace of her dress flapped with our movement and somehow I managed to keep my hands at bay. “I had no idea he was that famous,” she joked.
I laughed. “Not famous, just a friend.”
“I liked all of your friends who came to be with you for Killian’s funeral. The way you talk about them I know they mean a lot to you.”
They did.
But then so did she.
“And they liked you.” I slid one of my hands up to the center of her back between her shoulders and then dipped her low. I had to stop before I wasn’t going to be able to. I kept her there for a few moments and then pulled her back into my arms. “I hate to end this, but we should probably get going.”
She was still gazing at me, biting her lip.
My body was starting to react to hers and I felt my own lips part. I quickly let go of her and shook my desire off. “Come on, we don’t have much time to eat before we have to meet the guys. Where do you want to go?”
Elle looked flushed. “How about the Hornet’s Nest?”
I gave her a little tap on her ass. “Sounds great. Now let’s get moving.”
Many choices in my life have been hard to make . . . none harder than passing on sex. Great sex. Sex with Elle . . .
ELLE
“So it’s decided then?” Miles asked quietly.
Logan was glaring at everyone. He was all coiled power as he stood over the table in the break room at Molly’s. With his tie removed, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and the first couple of buttons of his white shirt undone, his muscles seemed to flex with his every movement. “No, it’s not,” he barked.
Declan cocked his head and looked toward Miles.
In response, Miles slid a piece of paper across the table and Declan picked it up and read it out loud. “Compound agent found on outside packaging is a perfect match to compound agent found in vehicle registered to Logan McPherson.”
“I know what the fucking report states,” Logan muttered, flopping down in a chair beside me and grabbing my hand. He laced our fingers together and I rubbed his skin, hoping it might calm him down. Agent Blanchet had given him a copy of the report with the information she had on him before she released him. He could be in a lot of trouble. This was my fault and there was nothing I could do to help him. I felt guilty. I felt helpless. I hated it. I had to do something.
“Then you know we don’t have much of a choice because I don’t care what that bitch told you, this is some persuasive evidence that you committed a felony, and you know as well as I do, she’ll use it if she has to.”
I shivered at the thought of what Logan had done for me. How he’d risked his entire future for the choice I’d made. And even though I’d do it again as long as it meant keeping Clementine safe and out of harm’s way, it didn’t temper my guilt.
Logan’s eyes burned into me and I knew he could see my despair. With a squeeze of my hand, he gave me a small smile. I gave him one in return to reassure him I was fine. Even so, he still flung Miles a filthy look.
Just then, my phone rang. I let go of Logan’s hand and quickly reached for my purse to silence it. I’d received three blocked calls at dinner. Including the one from yesterday, that made four in two days. Logan insisted on answering them himself, but whoever was on the other end hung up at the sound of his voice every time.
“Give it to me,” Logan said through gritted teeth.
I shook my head. “Let’s just ignore it.”
Miles and Declan were having their own conversation and weren’t aware of what was going on. “Maybe Elle can help,” Declan said, drawing my attention back to the table.
Miles cocked his head as if he understood what the glances and glares were about and then slid a pad of paper my way. “Can you show me what the keypad looks like?”
I knew it was my decision whether or not I tried to get into Michael’s panic room, but I still found myself glancing back to Logan. When I saw his face was twisted up in anguish, my heart banged in my chest. I hated what this was doing to him, but I knew it had to be done. We had to find out the truth. Both Logan’s and Clementine’s futures depended on it. With that in mind, I averted my gaze to the empty paper in front of me and proceeded to draw the rectangular box as I remembered it.
When I was done, my heartbeat had not yet slowed. If just the very idea of what I had agreed to do was making me nervous, how was I going to react when I was actually doing it? With a deep breath, I slid the paper back over to Miles. “The outside was stainless steel, the inside was black with blue number pads. Above the numbers were a red, a yellow, and a green light.”
He looked at my drawing. “It appears to be a standard digital two-relay keypad with a magnetic lock.”
“Which means?” Logan asked with a harshness in his tone that made me wince.
Miles ignored Logan’s hostility. “It means once you enter the assigned code, the number sequence will deactivate the magnetic lock, and the door will open. If the keypad is programmed to toggle mode, then when you enter the same code it will either release the lock again or reactivate it.”