Page 19 of The Tempted
Chapter Seven
I don’t know what I was thinking asking Nikki to go out with me. It’s not that she was a bad time or anything like that. Hell, I was having a great time with her. I don’t remember the last time I was so comfortable around a woman or a time when I actually enjoyed being with one. However, being with Nikki made me want things I had no business wanting especially with her. I could blame it on the dress she was wearing. The black material clung to her body like a second skin not revealing much in the front but when she turned around her entire back was bare. Her skin was like silk. I know this because when we arrived at the club, she suggested we go to I placed my hand on her naked back to usher her through the club. I’ve been fighting a war inside my head since we arrived trying to keep my hands to myself when all they wanted to do was travel along her skin. I wanted to feel the goosebumps along her spine that my touch created.
It wasn’t the dress or the fact that her naked back was exposed to my hungry gaze that made me want her. It was simply her just Nikki. She owned the room actually she was the center of attention even before we walked through the door. The bouncer greeted her as if she was the queen of England kissing both of her cheeks as he let her passed the velvet rope. He stared me down until Nikki told him that I was a guest of hers with a grunt the beast opened the rope to let me into the club. We walked through a sea of people nearly all of them knew the girl on my arm and they all wanted to be near her. I couldn’t blame them. Not one bit. However, I wasn’t in the mood to share her either.
She sat on the bar stool legs crossed and her skirt inched its way up her thighs. I lifted my gaze from her legs why torture myself? She was staring at me with an amused look on her pretty little face. Her lips painted a rich crimson color curved upward treating me with a smile I probably didn’t deserve.
“You clean up nice Mikey,” she said her eyes quickly glancing along the length of me. I had thrown on a pair of black slacks pairing it with a gray button-down shirt. I had shaved finally, so I didn’t look like an ape and my hair was actually styled with a comb not just my fingers.
I leaned closer partially so she could hear me over the music that vibrated through the club, but mainly just to catch a glimpse of her scent. Whatever perfume she was wearing was putting me in a trance.
“I could say the same about you,” I paused to brush her hair over her shoulder so I could access her ear better. “You’ve turned heads since we stepped out of the car.”
She turned her head, glancing over her shoulder so that we were nose to nose. Her lips parted slightly her smile faltering. I stared into her eyes, wondering what was going on in that pretty little mind of hers.
“What’re you drinking?” I asked my fingertips lingered on her shoulder before trailing down her arm.
“Vodka and cranberry,” she said. I regretfully dropped my hand from her arm and signaled to the bartender. I probably should’ve left that part to Nikki considering the bartender was a guy and was only paying attention to the girls that shook their tits in his face. Yeah, we’d get a drink tomorrow morning at this rate. I glanced at Nikki as she chewed on her lip.
“What’s the deal? Guys don’t order drinks for girls anymore?” I asked her two seconds short of sticking my fingers in my mouth and whistling to get the bartender's attention.
She smiled sweetly at me before leaning over the bar, making eye contact with the bartender. She winked at him and he held up one finger signaling to her that he’d make his way to her next. Well, she didn’t have to shake her tits, thank Christ.
“Most guy bartenders gravitate towards female patrons for purely selfish reasons their dicks,” she laughed. “Close your mouth, Mikey. Yes, I really did just say dick.”
Her eyes were full of humor as I struggled. I was sure she didn’t mean to sound so goddamn sexy, but one little word off that tongue of hers sent all the blood rushing down to my groin. I shoved my hand into my pocket and tried to reposition myself as she continued to talk. I could barely make out what she was saying because I was fixated on her mouth.
“They are just worried about their tips and which willing drunk chick they are going to end the night with,” she said through her smile as she focused her attention to the bartender that was leaning into her.
“What can I get you gorgeous?” he said. I wanted to punch him in the face.
Nikki looked up at me expectantly waiting for me to answer.
“Vodka, cranberry and a vodka straight,” I said peering at him. He stood straight, giving me a curt nod before he busied himself making our drinks.
“Bottle service is something you should push when the club opens,” Nikki said reminding me that the whole point of this night was to get a taste of what I was going to be dealing with at Temptations.
“Why is that?” I said, pushing some bills onto the bar and handing Nikki her drink.
“You charge triple the price for a bottle of liquor and they get a server for the night. The club makes a nice profit, and the customer is happy because they avoided all this,” she said motioning to the crowded bar.
She raised her glass to mine. “Welcome home Mikey.” She said sweetly clinking her glass against mine before she took a sip. I already felt drunk by just looking into her eyes.
“You’re something else,” I said with a slight shake of my head.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I took a hefty gulp of my drink before settling the glass on top of the bar. I placed one hand on the back of her stool and the other on the bar caging her with my body. I leaned close trying to find my words, but they failed me as I watched her nervously chew on her lip again. I give her credit though she didn’t back away. Sure, she had to have seen the animalistic hunger in my eyes as I stared at her. That was probably why she squirmed in her seat. Yet still, she held my gaze.
“Mikey,” she said in an exasperated whisper. I lifted my finger to her lips, silencing her. In that single moment, listening to her whisper my name sounding almost breathless I wanted more than my next breath to have her underneath me naked or hell on top of me I bet she’d be something on top. I needed to hear her say my name because I was doing things to her with my hands and my tongue not just my eyes. I’d even let her call me Mikey coming out of her sweet mouth there was nothing childish about her nickname for me.
“Rico’s a lucky son of a bitch,” I said regretfully cocking my head to the side I dropped my fingers from her lips. “Does he know how lucky he is?”
She swallowed. Instead of answering my question, she countered it with one of her own. “Why is he lucky?”
“Because he has all of you,” I said with conviction. For some reason unknown to me, I felt it was important for me to get what I was about to say out and say it right. I was probably about to make her uncomfortable, but I desperately needed to say what was on my mind. I wanted her to know that what I was about to tell her I believed to be true too. I held her weary eyes with my own as I lifted my hand to touch the side of her head. “He has your mind…,” my hand glided from her hair down the side of her face passing down her shoulder my fingertips grazing her arm. There were the goosebumps I was hoping to feel. “… body and soul,” I sighed, shaking my head. I dropped my hand abruptly and reached for my drink again throwing it back, I welcomed the harsh burn sliding down my throat before slamming the glass down on the bar.
“Lucky son of a bitch,” I repeated.
I watched her reach for her drink out of the corner of my eye guzzling it down as if she were stranded in the Sahara Desert.
Good to know that I wasn’t the only one affected by my words.
