“Will you at least think about it? For me?”
I sighed. “Fine, but no promises.”
At 12am, I walked Trevon to the door. He told me he had to be at the bar at 6am for delivery, so he wouldn’t be able to stay the night. Again.
The apartment was deathly silent since Maria still wasn’t home yet, and it was making me anxious. I leaned against the doorway, bouncing my foot up and down, and watched him walk toward the elevators. “See you tomorrow night, Babe!” he said as the elevator doors closed.
I groaned and rubbed my hand over my face. The sacrifices I made for that man. I was stuck going now.
“That bad, huh?” someone said from behind me.
Damn it.
Eros was leaning against his door frame, arms crossed over one another. The sleeves of his gray crew-neck sweater were pulled up his forearms, and he was giving me those eyes again.
“What?”
“That’s the first time I heard you groan all night.” He smirked. “I think it’s safe to say he didn’t please you like he should have.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t think you’d understand, but you don’t have to fuck in order to enjoy the time you spend with someone you like.”
He raised his brow. “Like? You don’t love Trevon?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “That’s not what I meant. Of course, I love him.”
“Maybe, you wouldn’t have to pretend to love him if he could actually please you.”
My nostrils flared, and I stepped into the hallway. “Well, maybe, you wouldn’t have to flirt with a girl who’s already taken if you could actually get someone to like you.”
He took a step toward me. “Maybe if you didn’t like it so much, you wouldn’t flirt back.”
I marched right up to him and stared into those deep, dark eyes. “You think I like your constant, uninvited flirting?”
“Oh, I do, Dani.” He brushed his fingers against my hips and pushed me against the wall. “I think you love every… single… second of it.” He posted his hands on the wall next to me, trapping me.
Push him away, Dani.
I swallowed hard.
He was close. So damn close.
His stubble brushed against my neck, making me shiver. His fingers felt rough against my skin. I inhaled his cinnamon scent, eyes fluttering closed. Don’t fall under his spell, Dani. Don’t do it.
“Aren’t you supposed to be out with Maria?” I whispered. I didn’t know why I was still standing here this close to him. Maybe it was because I couldn’t move—my arms felt heavy, my legs wouldn’t budge, my head felt muddled—or maybe I just didn’t want to.
He chuckled, and my heart raced at the sound. I didn’t know how far gone I was until now. How could I ache for something so immoral? Why did I want to sin with him? Mom had to be cursing me out up in Heaven for thinking such devilish thoughts, but I couldn’t stop.
When he gazed into my eyes, all I wanted him to do was to push his lips against mine, tug on my hair, thrust me against the wall over and over until I was gasping for breath, until my nails were digging into his back, until I was screaming out his name.
He trailed one finger up the column of my neck to my chin, his gaze following, then gently wrapped his hand around the front of my throat and drew me close to him until his lips were against my ear. “You can try to fight it, Dani, but you won’t win.”
I placed my hands on his taut chest, wanting to push him away.
“Go ahead,” he said, fingers stroking my jaw. “Tell me that you never want me to touch you again.”
I dug my nails into him softly and parted my lips. Say it, Dani.
“Do it.”
Cinnamon. Sweet cinnamon. Drifting through the air, coiling around me, consuming me.
When I didn’t answer him, he pushed himself away from me and sneered in victory. “I’ll see you at the party tomorrow then, Dani.” He turned around and walked to his apartment. “Oh, and, if it makes you feel any better”—he stopped and looked back—“I didn’t go out with Maria tonight.”
Then the door closed.
I parted my lips, staring at the gold label 56C on his stupid door. “Yeah… well…” I said to myself. “I don’t care.”
CHAPTER 9
Dani
Kasey banged on the bathroom door. “Come out!”
I gripped onto the latex costume that she had given me and tried to pull it up again, but the damn thing wouldn’t even go past my hips.
“Just give it a little tug!”
After a few more pulls, I released the material from my fists. “It’s too small. I guess I won’t be able to go tonight. Oh, darn, maybe next year,” I said. I couldn’t go to a Halloween party without a Halloween costume. It was the perfect excuse to get out of tonight and it wasn’t even an excuse which made me feel that much better about it.
She wiggled the handle and pushed open the door. I covered my chest with my hands. “Kasey!”
She leaned down and grabbed the one-piece. “It’s gonna fit!” Then, she pulled, prodded, yanked, and yelled for ten minutes. When she had finally got it up over my curves, she took a deep breath, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead. “Almost done.” She reached for the straps of my bra and tugged on them. “Just take this off and pull it up.”
“My boobs don’t just stay perky without a bra,” I said, pulling the straps back up.
“That’s why this costume has a built-in push-up bra, Sweet Cheeks.” She pouted her red lips, unclipped my bra, and pulled up the costume. When she stepped back and looked at me, she grinned wider than I had ever seen her grin before. “You’re so hot. It looks so good on you.” She dragged me to the toilet seat and forced me to sit. “Now I just have to add the final touch. Close your eyes.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, letting her do whatever she wanted to do to me. She tugged on strands of my hair and clipped something heavy to my hair on each side of my head. Then, she squealed. “Oh, my gosh. He’s gonna love it!”
When I opened my eyes, she was holding a mirror in front of me. I gazed at myself, my eyes widening. She put horns on my head—horns. My fingers grazed against the black matte curves on my head. “You think Trevon will like this?”
She toyed with the curls in my hair. “Oh-uh, yeah, Trevon. He’ll like it, I guess.”
I gazed at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. The black latex suit showed every single curve of my body—my hips, my waist, my breasts—leaving no room for the imagination. She had painted my lips a maroon color and eyelids a smoky black.
“You’re going to be the hottest demon there.” She wiggled her brows at me and applied another coat of red lipstick. I’d probably be the only demon there.
I grabbed Maria’s lilac perfume off the counter near the sink. If I was going to go all out, I might as well finish the look. But before I could spray it, Kasey grabbed it from me. “Don’t use that. You smell too good already. He won’t be able to resist you.”
And, after giving myself one more lingering look in the mirror, I took a deep breath. I sure hoped that he was going to like it.
Trevon’s bar, Elysium Taproom, was crowded when we arrived. People were hanging around the wrap-around bar in the back which was lit with dim white lights. Others were crowded around in a tight circle in the middle of the room, dancing on each other. And the stench of alcohol was overwhelming me with bad memories of last year.