Page 23 of Rebel Secrets (Devils Hockey #3)

Chapter Fifteen

R ebel

Erin hurried across the floor, practically running by the time she got to the opposite side of the room. Away from me.

If I was smart, I’d do the same in the opposite direction. Instead, I stood there and watched her. The band had ramped up the party vibe again and everyone on the floor had taken places for a line dance.

“Hey, bro. You gonna join in or just glare across the room?”

Erin disappeared into the hall that led to the bathrooms.

I glanced at Rocky, his cheeks flushed and his glasses sitting awkwardly on his nose. Sleeves rolled up and tie nowhere in sight, he looked like a professor who’d had one too many at a faculty gathering. His huge grin made me smile, but a little voice in my brain kept telling me to follow Erin.

“I’ll leave the dancing to you. I need to?—”

“You were dancing with Erin. I thought you two had a hate-hate relationship.”

My smile disappeared in a flash. “Who told you that?”

Rocky didn’t notice the sharp edge on my tone, his interest somewhere on the dance floor. Little brother loved to dance. Must have inherited that gene from Mom.

“No one had to tell me. It’s been common knowledge for years.” He shrugged. “You don’t get along. Hey, I’m gonna…” He pointed toward the dance floor, his feet already moving in that direction.

“Don’t let me stop you.” I waved him back onto the floor, taking a few steps back so I wasn’t in the flow of things.

Rocky headed into the fray without a backward glance. I watched him for a few seconds as he wove his way into the crowd, winding up beside Tressy, who let him grab her hand and twirl her around before joining in on the dance like he knew exactly what he was doing. Maybe he did.

I didn’t have a clue. And honestly, I didn’t care. My entire attention was focused on the hall where Erin had disappeared.

Almost everyone left at the wedding was on the floor or hanging out at the bar on the other side of the room. The band must have turned up the volume, the floor vibrating beneath my bare feet.

I started walking, skirting the crowd, sticking to the wall. My gaze focused on that hallway. She still hadn’t emerged. No one stopped me. Hell, I don’t think anyone even noticed me. Everyone was having too much fun on the dance floor. They bounced and laughed and shook like crazy people.

Good. I didn’t want to answer to anyone. Didn’t want to talk to anyone. I had one goal in mind.

Inside the hallway, the music became a little muffled.

Still loud but not as overpowering as it had been in the great room.

The air was also a little cooler here. I’d ditched my jacket hours ago, rolled up my sleeves, and I had no idea where I’d put my tie.

I’d left my socks tucked in my shoes under the table.

Still, I felt like I was in a sauna, but the heat was coming from inside of me.

What are you doing?

Hell, I knew exactly what I was doing. I wasn’t being affected by the amount of alcohol I’d drank, though I’m sure that had helped bring down my walls. Those walls were in pieces right now, and I didn’t even want to build them back up.

She’d gotten under my skin. I didn’t know how. I just knew it’d been building, and I needed to do something about it, or it’d drive me crazy.

She wasn’t there.

I stopped before the end of the hallway, looking everywhere. I even walked back to the end of the hall and looked out over the dance floor to see if I’d missed her. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Was she still in the bathroom? Was she okay? Had something happened to her?

Had she left?

I was on my way back to the ballroom to ask Rain if Erin had said goodbye when I saw the shadows shift at the end of the hallway. And I remembered that there was a door that led into the garden.

Maybe I’d had more to drink than I realized. Or maybe I just had one thing on my mind, and it wasn’t the layout of my parents’ house.

I should leave, and I didn’t mean follow her. I should go home, because what I wanted to do was stupid. I didn’t do stupid things. And I tried my damnedest not to do really stupid things that would cause issues I couldn’t fix.

And I still walked to the door and opened it.

She sat on a lounger at the edge of the gardens, looking away from the door.

She must not have heard me. She didn’t turn, the music from the party covering my approach.

I couldn’t see her face, but she had her legs drawn up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them.

I couldn’t believe she was cold. The temperature had only lowered to about 75 degrees.

Then again, her dress left her shoulders and the lower half of her legs bare. That dress had made me question things about myself I’d never questioned before. Like why, until these past few weeks, had I never been attracted to her.

And I don’t just mean attracted. I meant, I wanted to kiss my way up her legs until I had that dress around her waist and had my mouth on her?—

I shut down the X-rated image in my head before it could go farther. Even though I’d been dreaming about the woman for the past couple of weeks. I wanted more than dreams.

Was it just the alcohol talking?

I stopped and gave it a few seconds.

No.

The alcohol let me jump the wall I’d built around the feelings I’d developed for Erin. Now I was going to do something about them before I decided it was a really bad idea.

I walked over, stopping just behind and to the side of her chair. I didn’t want to startle her or let her think I was sneaking up on her. I wanted her to know I was there. I wanted her to know why I was there.

It took a couple of seconds, but finally she turned her head and looked up at me.

I couldn’t believe at one time I’d thought those wide eyes looked at the world with a skewed vision.

Now I knew she just had a different way of looking at things.

A sweeter way. A way I couldn’t. And I wanted her to look at me that way.

I’d seen glimpses of it during the past couple of weeks. And maybe more, if I was honest. And right now, that’s all I wanted. Honesty.

She stared up at me, and I swore I saw stars reflected in her eyes.

Her head tilted slightly to the side, her teeth digging into her lower lip as her arms tightened around her legs.

I wanted to reach for her, pull her up against me.

Instead, I forced my arms to hang at my sides, hands loose as I waited for her to make a move.

Another couple of seconds passed before she reached for one of my hands. She looked down as she laced our fingers together, as if it was the most interesting thing she’d ever done. I watched her because she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

She’d loosened her hair from the fancy style it’d been in for the wedding. I liked it better this way. I wouldn’t feel bad when I ran my fingers through it. Some women didn’t like to get their hair mussed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Erin when it wasn’t. Except for today.

Swinging her legs over the side of the lounge, she left space next to her. I took the hint and lowered myself down, adjusting our hands so they weren’t at an awkward angle. But I didn’t let her go.

We sat there for a few seconds, the darkness cut only by the low-voltage lighting in the garden. Otherwise, it reminded me of a movie set. Kind of magical.

I turned to look at her and found her turning to look at me. I didn’t stop to think. I leaned down and kissed her. She was already on her way to meet me, and our lips crashed together.

Heat exploded and lust ignited with an almost vicious twist in my gut.

The fact that she seemed to be just as overcome as I was amped my desire. I couldn’t get enough air, but I didn’t want to stop kissing her. Some part of me thought, if I stopped, she’d realize what was going on and leave.

Hell, I wasn’t even sure what was going on. I only knew I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to press her back into the lounge cushions and let my mouth roam her body. Wanted to stroke over her bare skin and find every soft part of her.

My mouth released hers for a split second so I could breathe, and the little sound she made shot straight to my cock. I was already stiff and aching, but some part of my brain still resisted.

Until I opened my eyes and looked into hers. I heard her heavy breathing over the music, felt my own lungs working to pull in air. But it was the look in her eyes that made me realize this was going to happen.

I saw no hesitation, no question. Just an overwhelming desire.

Standing, I grabbed her hand and tugged her to her feet then led her through the garden, brushing past the roses Pop spent so much time on because my mom loved them and the bed of all white flowers that glowed in the moonlight.

Erin tightened her grip on my hand when we made it across the stone patio to the door into the now-dark kitchen.

I thought about stealing her back to my place but that would take too long, and my brain kept urging me to go faster. I knew she was staying in a room here, and I even knew which one it was. Rain had told me.

I could do this walk in my sleep. Hell, I’d done it half-lit more times than I cared to admit as a teenager. Winding our way up the back staircase and through the hall to the second floor, we finally reached the door to her room. I opened it just as she said, “Careful.”

I nearly tripped over something that sat just inside the door. I kicked it out of the way, pulled her through and shut the door behind her.

In the moonlight coming through the open windows, I saw her lips part, like she was going to say something, then shut as if she decided against it. Then she put her hands on my cheeks and pulled me back down to kiss her.

She tasted like the fruity sweet cocktails most of the women had been drinking all night. I had no idea what was in them. I’d been tossing back the bourbon that had made my dad’s family’s fortune.

Had I had too much? No.

Had I had just enough? Yes, I had.