He sways me around the room, taking my breath at the same time. “What changed?” I ask.
He stares directly into my eyes. My spine tingles. “Don’t tell me you haven’t felt a thing between us?” He presses my waist into his body and I feel his hard cock. “I’ve been like this ever since I saw you in that wedding dress.”
“And you decided you wanted me after spitting in my face time and time again, then saying you’d rather die than fuck me.”
His hand slides up my body to the top of my back and down my waist, caressing my back in a way that makes my center pool with desire. “You feel it, don’t you? Or are you afraid that I’ll fuck you and you will remember how good that night was between ”
My phone rings at that moment and my attention darts to it. Lake. I want to answer it. It could be important. But if I do and Damien catches part of our conversation…
“What’s the matter?” Damien asks.
“Nothing.”
“You’ve been obsessed with that phone the whole day. Is your boyfriend looking for you?”
“No.” I say too quickly and afraid that I might have exposed something about me, I add, “How long are we staying here? We leave tomorrow, right?”
His hand tightens on my waist. “You don’t want to go on a honeymoon?”
“I have work waiting for me.”
“Only work?”
“I thought you had a business thing you need to attend.”
“It got canceled.” We slow down as the music slows down, about to end. “Or are you afraid your boyfriend will know you’re secretly getting married? Wait, is that the reason you want tokeep this on the down low?” I glare at him and he chuckles. “Fine. I’ll drop it.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
His nostrils flare. “Then you shouldn’t have an issue making love to your husband on your wedding night.”
“Making love?”
“Fucking. Don’t you want to know if things are still good between us?”
I do. I want to so much. But what happens after that? I don’t trust myself to have unemotional sex with Damien and call it a day. Any other man, yes. Damien? Never. “I would rather sleep in my bed alone, thank you.”
The song ends and Damien comes to a stop, but he doesn’t let go of me. He continues to stare into my eyes as if looking to see if I’m telling the truth. It is only after Dante and Corina clap he pulls away and turns to them.
“I think it’s about time Ivy and I went to bed.” I hate the implication of his statement. That Damien and I will be sleeping together, and it’s obvious that’s what his friends think as well.
Dante whips out a key card and comes over to us. “Here’s a honeymoon suite,” he says, handing Damien the card, “complements of the hotel.”
Damien slides his arm around my waist, takes the card with his other hand, and places it in his pocket. “Thanks.” He raises his eyebrows at me. “Ivy?” the unspoken line is, “let’s go.” I should reject him. I should show him I won’t play along with his game. But I need him more than he needs me. I nod, take his arm, and bid goodbye to everyone while a drunk Terry screams ribald jokes at us. The ever-professional Nicole, however, sits still, her attention on her phone.
“Are you sure you don’t want me?” He says as soon as the elevator doors close and the glass cylinder whisks us up to the suite. Leaning against the rail, he appears like a carefreearistocrat with his undone bowtie and the top buttons of his shirt undone. He looks tempting. Deliciously so. “It could be our only night together. No one has to know.” He says the last sentence in a low and sultry tone that shakes my resolve.
“So you can spit at me the next morning? You already did that, remember?”
His mood darkens. The playful seductiveness is gone. “And whose fault was that?”
Mine. That’s what I get for playing with fire. The consequences reverberated and are still reverberating to this day. Hell, I am here because of what happened that night. Damien is a burning ember that should not be toyed with. I would be a fool to not have learned that lesson.
The elevator comes to a stop and opens to a corridor with very few doors. This must be an exclusive floor, from the looks of it. There was no one else on it except for a man just coming out of another elevator and going to a room a few doors down from our own.
Damien stops in front of the door and hesitates putting the card in. While staring at the card, he says, “I wanted you too. That night. When we made love and almost killed each other with passion. I wanted you before you approached me.”
I take a sharp intake of breath and feel as if the wind has been taken out of me. He has to be lying. He’s saying this now because he wants to get in my pants. “Damien. If you think—”
