Page 39 of All Mine (The All Mine #1)

That famous guitar introduction sounded, and Fox and Walker positioned themselves slightly behind Etienne, one to either side, a triangle of gorgeousness.

Etienne pouted and shook his waves out at the familiar beat, apparently channelling his inner Mick Jagger.

He turned to the audience and started belting out the opening to ‘Satisfaction’.

He stalked one way across the stage, then the other as he sang, in a perfect imitation of the original.

Fox and Walker played air guitar behind him, swaying in perfect rhythm.

Either they’d been practising, or they’d done this before.

Gabi cheered, Amber whooped and Wren whistled.

Isabella and Jesse were both struck dumb.

Was there anything Etienne couldn’t do?

The dance floor was in chaos. People were whirling around in circles, jumping on the spot, shouting along.

Isabella leaped up to join Amber at the front of the booth and found herself doing some kind of flying angel.

Jesse and Gabi were stamping their feet so hard the glasses on their table rattled.

As the last chord sounded, the crowd roared. Etienne wiped a hand across his brow and grinned. Walker saluted and Fox pretended to stagger off stage clutching his heart.

Isabella threw a panicked glance at the girls as she realised what it meant. Their turn.

‘Help me,’ she mouthed to Gabi but Amber had grabbed her by the wrist before she could escape. Wren and Rosie jumped down from their bench and Isabella was swept along to the stage. Halfway there, they met the men on their way back.

‘You smashed it!’ Rosie said to Walker.

‘Tough act to follow,’ Wren agreed.

‘Especially with a karaoke virgin in our midst,’ Amber said, indicating Isabella.

‘And I can’t sing,’ Isabella exclaimed wildly, wondering why nobody was listening to her.

‘You’ll be fine,’ they all chorused as she stumbled into the spotlights.

A microphone was thrust into her hand and the bar manager ran off the stage.

Just as she was considering running after him, the song title appeared on the screen in front of her and the immediately recognisable electro strains of the intro sounded.

Well, at least she knew the words to Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me’.

Amber jumped to the centre of the stage in time to start and Isabella sighed in relief.

Of course Amber would take the lead, she was sassy and confident and obviously loved karaoke.

Isbella joined in with what Wren and Rosie were doing at the back, swaying and clicking their fingers until the chorus, when they all leaned in to join in with the refrain over a shared microphone. This wasn’t too bad.

As Wren and Rosie sang, Isabella made sure to keep her mouth as far away as possible from the microphone.

The crowd bellowed along and suddenly it was feeling better.

Almost like fun. She could be part of the backing singers– no problem.

She grinned and struck a pose on the next line, feeling more confident with every second.

Rosie and Wren grabbed a mic each and faced each other, taking the next couple of lines on their own. Isabella was happy to leave them to it, and did a little dance in the background. She was having a blast.

Until the next verse was about to start and Amber turned and shoved the mike into her hand. ‘Your turn,’ she shouted and stepped back, leaving Isabella out front on her own. In a spotlight. Facing a crowd.

Isabella shook her head frantically, but the other women waved their hands at her to get on with it.

They didn’t understand and it was too late to tell them now.

There was a reason Isabella didn’t do karaoke.

An extremely good one. She couldn’t sing.

At all . She was, as the music teacher at school had factually stated, tone deaf.

Amber pushed her forward again, and it was too late to do anything but go for it.

‘Sorry about this!’ she shouted into the microphone to the audience, then she grinned and began to sing.

The look of shock on people’s faces rippled down the front row.

She shrugged and carried on, nothing else for it.

She couldn’t let the girls down. She sang the next line and it came out a bit louder, which made someone at the nearest booth put their hands over their ears.

People were looking at each other in disbelief.

A handful laughed out loud. The others looked horrified.

She’d seen it before at school and it had hurt then, but tonight, it just seemed funny.

‘Yay, Isabella!’ Gabi shouted from the audience.

‘You go, girl!’ Amber said behind her and she heard Wren’s two-finger whistle.

She felt a giggle building inside her as she heard the girls all cheering her on. All of a sudden, it didn’t matter. She was having fun. And probably her last glass of wine had kicked in.

She sidestepped back and forth, then did a wiggle, which got a laugh. The more she threw herself into it, the more the audience joined in and by the time she’d finished her verse she was enjoying herself so much that the audience couldn’t help but go along with her.

They finished the track and the audience cheered and pumped the air with their fists. The girls collapsed into each other in a hot hug.

‘Girl, you could have warned us!’ Amber said, which set Rosie off cackling.

They made their way back to the booth. Fox and Walker were already there, lifting their beers in a salute.

‘Some performance, ladies!’ Walker said, which led to a thump on the arm by Rosie.

‘Truly never heard anything like it,’ Fox said with a wink.

‘Believe me, once you’ve heard that voice, you never forget it,’ laughed Jesse.

Isabella was waiting for everyone to move in and sit down as a hand snaked around her from behind. Although she glanced backwards over her shoulder, she knew by the way her body responded that it was Etienne.

‘I still want you,’ he said into her ear, chin resting on her shoulder. The words turned her innards to butter, hot and melting. ‘Even if you do sound like a cat dying when you sing.’ He pulled her back against his body. Her legs suddenly felt weaker than they had on stage.

‘Come with me,’ he said, picking up her jacket from the back of the booth.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked, turning to face him.

‘To put your coat in the cloakroom,’ he said, with a half-smile which made her want to bite him.

‘But the night’s nearly over?’ she said in confusion.

‘Not yet it’s not.’ He took her by the hand and led her through the crowd.

The cloakroom was full of coats and empty of attendants. Etienne confidently opened the door and tugged her inside, closing the door behind them, leaving them half lit.

‘What is it with you and cupboards?’ Isabella whispered.

‘The excitement,’ he murmured back.

‘What if someone comes in?’ she said.

‘They won’t. Not until closing.’

She didn’t even care how he knew that. She didn’t care about anything apart from him, right in front of her.

He turned to look at her. A long look that swept her entire body. She saw the twitch of his mouth as he appreciated her long, smooth legs. Every nerve in her body was straining. She had never felt such anticipation in her life.

They both moved at the same time, crushing together, his mouth on hers, hard and demanding.

She pushed back against him with just as much wanting.

He backed her up against the wall of coats, and she pulled him in closer, her arms round his neck, never losing contact with his mouth.

His tongue flicked in to meet her own and her stomach hollowed.

They turned together, Isabella pressing Etienne against the wall now.

She pushed the length of her body against his as his hands skimmed her back and grasped her butt.

She moaned as he turned her around, dropped his mouth to her throat and her head fell back against the wall.

He trailed the length of her neck, biting and licking and making her gasp.

His knee worked its way between hers, and she felt the rush of air against her already wet pants.

His hand joined his mouth at her neck, moving down until he reached the first button of her top.

It gave no resistance, and he moved his mouth to follow.

She was glad of the wall behind her, holding her up, as the second button popped and then he was laying bare her bra.

She could hear the hoarseness of his breathing as he pulled back to study her shape.

He ran his fingertips along the edge of the lacy cup where it met her skin and her nipples tightened into buds.

She put her hands into his hair, urging him on as he pushed the flimsy fabric out of the way and filled his hands with her breasts.

His head dipped and he caught her nipple between his lips and she moaned out loud as he nipped with his teeth.

She cradled his head, holding him against her. God, she wanted this.

He moved quickly and turned her again, this time swivelling her on the spot, so that she faced the cloakroom wall, her bare chest rubbing against the soft leather of someone’s jacket and him tight behind her body.

She could feel his hardness pressed against her.

His hands and mouth seemed to be everywhere at once.

She pushed against his erection and he growled into her hair.

His hand moved down, stroking over her stomach and skimming the front of her mini skirt until it skated across the smooth skin of her thigh.

Her eyes closed as he tugged up the hem.

She gasped as he ran the heel of his hand over her mound and between her legs, once, twice, three times.

Easing his fingers under the elastic, she finally felt him where she wanted him, rubbing the hot, throbbing core of her.

Her head fell back against his shoulder and a noise vibrated from deep inside her.

‘Is it good?’ he asked into her neck, and she moaned a response.

‘No, you have to tell me,’ he said, circling her clit with his thumb. She could hear her own ragged breathing. ‘Is it good?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered and her voice was hoarse. ‘It’s good. It’s so good.’ She gritted her teeth together as the feeling built inside.

He thrust against her, holding her in position against his hand, as his thumb increased speed and her legs started to tremble.

His other hand still cupped her breast as he used his thumb and forefinger to roll her nipple.

Her legs shook and she put one hand to the wall to hold on, reaching a coat hook for support as she approached the summit.

He flicked with both thumbs, nipple and clit at the same time, and she went over the brink. Eyes shut, the only thing holding her up was him as her knees buckled and she fell into the biggest orgasm of her life as he murmured, ‘ Yes, yes, yes ,’ into her hair.

It took her a minute to come back to herself. She panted and slumped against him until she found the strength to force herself upright. She pushed her hair away from her damp cheeks and turned to face him. He didn’t move away and she could feel the heat from his groin against her hip.

His green eyes glinted and he half smiled at her, letting his tongue run over his bottom lip.

‘I think we got that wrong,’ she rasped.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘You think? How?’

‘Normally if it’s your birthday, you get a present. . .’

‘I did.’ He laughed, nodding down at her boobs, still exposed over her bra.

‘I was thinking more of. . .’ Isabella reached a hand down between their bodies and saw his mouth part as she traced the huge outline of his cock, like rock in his jeans.

She ran her fingers along the length of him and watched as his breath caught.

She moved her hand to his zip. She could not wait to get her hands on him.

The door opened, flooding light into the room. Isabella shrieked and Etienne stepped in front of her while she stuffed herself back into her top and did the buttons up.

The cloakroom attendant raised an eyebrow but sighed like she’d seen it all before.

‘Sorry about that!’ Isabella stammered, shuffling past Etienne to the door.

‘We were just looking for something. . .’ Etienne said as he followed her.

‘Yeah,’ said the woman knowingly. ‘Satisfaction.’

Back at the booth, things had progressed in terms of drunkenness.

Walker and Rosie were doing some kind of waltz together on the dance floor while Wren was teaching Jesse basic pole.

His open shirt buttons were exposing a fair amount of fake-tanned chest as he spun around.

Amber was breakdancing, moves it looked like Jayden might have taught her, and Gabi was walking on her hands along the bar to cheers from a line of spectators.

Fox broke off from proudly showing pictures of his boys to a mum from school. ‘You’re back!’ he slurred. ‘Where’ve you been?’

‘Just showing Isabella around,’ Etienne said, sliding into the booth beside her and lifting a beer from the bucket.

He tipped his head back and drank, swallowing until half the bottle had disappeared.

She scoured the table for something to quench her own thirst, but the water jug was empty and the wine bottle was turned upside down in the ice.

He handed the beer over and she nodded her thanks as she sank the rest of the bottle.

‘Happy birthday,’ she said, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. ‘I still owe you a present.’

He nodded.

‘Looking forward to it,’ he said and then, putting his hands on her shoulder, he led her to the floor to dance on legs that were still shaking.