Page 32

Awareness sizzles through me at the ghostly rasp next to my ear, followed by his distinctive cologne reaching my nose.

My mouth runs dry.

“Cat got your tongue?” A puff of breath hits the sensitive spot under my ear and I shiver.

Ethan’s breath catches, and he tightens his arms around my waist, drawing me closer to him.

So close I can feel his body heat singeing into my bare back.

“Ethan, what are you doing here?” I curse myself for the breathlessness in my voice.

My mind finally registers our positions on the dance floor—him pressing my body in front of his, his head dipped down, nose grazing my neck, his hands a firm brand on my hips, slowly moving us to the beat of the sultry music.

We’re dancing together.

But it feels way more than that.

“Lana told me to come and give her a flash drive.” He clears his throat.

I narrow my eyes. Something isn’t computing.

“And you didn’t think that was weird.”

“I was nearby.” He sounds strange.

He clears his throat again.

“I don’t buy it.”

Ethan chuckles.

“Well, I’m not selling you anything. And lucky I came because you were about to fall flat on your ass…again. ”

His fingers trail up the sides of my dress to the triangle cutouts at my waist. A new tension radiates from behind me as he grazes my bare skin.

My nerves light up from the simple touch and my clit pulses.

Unbidden, I place my hands over his and he freezes, halting us in place.

Time suspends—we’re caught in a heightened dimension where everything sharpens—the sounds, scents, touches, colors.

Multicolored strobe lights wash over us, the roaring crowds fading into the background as my thundering pulse thunders inside my ear.

He’s waiting for me.

To see what I’d do.

He’ll let me go if I pull away, if I give him the slightest denial.

I don’t know how I’m sure of it, but I am.

His heavy breaths caress my ear, his chest grazing my back with each inhale.

Awareness throbs between us—heady and addictive.

It’s taut, a rope slowly burning, its strands breaking, thinning, until we hang on by the barest thread.

A fire flickers inside me, my nerves sparking with each passing second.

I want, no need, more.

More.

An impulse—no—a surety reverberates in my body.

In this dark environment, with writhing bodies all around us, I want to turn off my mind and let my body take over.

Closing my eyes, I gyrate my backside, enough so that it grazes the front of his pants.

The rope snaps.

A growl snakes through his teeth, raw and unrestrained, as he tugs me hard against him.

He takes over, moving us in tandem, his fingers trailing circles on my bare skin before slipping inside the cutouts…

just slightly.

It’s torture.

I moan, my head arching back, resting on his muscular chest as he sweeps me up in this sultry dance .

I don’t know what we’re doing.

I don’t know why my body moves against him like I was born to do this.

I should pull away. I should stop this madness.

I wonder if we’ve been heading to this breaking point all along.

Each glare, each barb, the way my body comes alive in his presence, and how he always seems to thaw and become more human with me.

Maybe it’s been foreplay all along.

It feels right. Too right.

Like something I’ve been craving and wasn’t aware of before.

His nose grazes my neck again and I whimper as those talented fingers travel higher until they almost graze the underside of my breasts.

Common sense flies out the window as every atom of my body focuses on the sensual touches of the mysterious man behind me.

Wetness seeps out of my thong and I’m so glad I’m wearing a black dress because I can’t be sure if I’m making a mess between my legs.

“Fuck,” a guttural rasp, so faint I wonder if it was directed at himself.

“I’ve waited…”

My mind is a muddled mess as I gyrate against him, every part of me yearning for more.

This has to be lust. I haven’t been with anyone since I woke up.

Heck, am I still a virgin?

I can’t remember.

“Ethan, I…I…”

“Yes, hummingbird? What do you need?” There’s a softest pressure on my neck, my senses delayed until I feel the possessive suction followed by a lick.

He’s kissing me. Tasting my neck like he’s famished.

Each drugging pull is a direct caress on my clit as I melt into his embrace.

I need him to do more, to relieve this building pressure between my legs.

I can’t think or question what we’re doing, or why I’m responding this way.

All I can do is feel the thousand sensations coursing through me—the way my nipples strain against my dress, the heaviness of my breasts as we bob and move to the music, the goosebumps pebbling over my skin as his fingers rove back down, sliding to my hips before dipping under the cutouts again and this time hooking onto the strings of my thong.

“I can smell you. You make it so hard for me to—”

He thrusts against my ass and lets out a tortured sound—something between a hiss and a groan.

I clench my thighs when I feel a hard rod pressing against my curves.

Ethan Anderson, the ice monster, is turned on and burning hot.

For me.

It makes no sense, and yet, somehow, it does.

I can’t bring myself to analyze this right now.

“What?” I whimper, belatedly realizing he didn’t finish his sentence.

“Your arousal. I can smell it.”

“Y-You’re crazy.”

He grunts.

“Don’t deny it, my little hummingbird.”

Hummingbird.

Why does this word make my heart flutter?

Unbidden, he tugs on the strings of my thong again and the fabric bunches and digs into my folds, hitting the swollen bundle of nerves.

A scream tears out of me and he quickly clasps his hand over my mouth.

“Only I can hear those sounds.”

Raw possessiveness.

Obsession in a sentence.

My knees give out, but this time it isn’t from pain, it’s from the sharp pleasure coursing through my veins.

He supports me with his muscular body as he swivels us toward the floor before standing back up again.

I might not remember if I’ve had sex before, but I’d imagine it’d feel something like this.

“You were saying?” He sounds smug.

“You arrogant bastard.”

He chuckles, the deep sounds direct caresses to my pussy.

“Won’t admit it, huh? I’ll need to convince you then.”

Without warning, he moves his fingers again, tugging, pulling at my underwear strings like I’m a marionette.

The sparks begin anew and I whimper and thrash in his hold, my head dropping back against his chest.

“Shit. Fuck me,” he grunts, his fingers moving faster .

My thong saws up and down my pussy, each graze hitting my clit at the precise angle.

Blinding sparks appear in my vision as my lips part in an open gasp, the pressure building between my legs at the speed of light.

“Want me to stop?” he rasps, pausing his fiery torture.

Wordlessly, I clutch his wrists, not stopping him, but egging him on.

“Please…I need this.”

He works a quickening rhythm and I can only imagine how we look on the dance floor in the middle of a crowded room, our bodies plastered together, my legs slightly parted and his hands inside my dress through the side cutouts.

His hard cock digs into my back.

Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.

“Oh my god, yes,” I moan and I swear I can feel him grow harder against my ass.

My pussy pulses as he digs my thong sideways, flicking my clit in an expert rhythm.

Wetness leaks down my legs and I arch my tits out, my body wanting to explode, wanting to fall off this cliff and take this maddening man with me.

“Fuck, yes, Nova. You’re close, aren’t you? I can feel it. You must be dripping, needing a release. Let me give it to you.”

His dirty words fan the flames and another cry perches at the tip of my throat as I widen my stance, giving him more access.

My legs tremble and with a growl, he yanks the strings hard, digging the scrap of material deeper into my core.

The lash of pain sets me off.

I explode into a million pieces, my body twitching as ecstasy courses through my veins.

A cry rips out of my throat.

Not wanting to draw attention to us, I follow my basest impulse.

I bite the flesh closest to me.

His neck.

“Shit!” he growls and humps me faster before his body spasms behind me.

He clutches me tightly against him, his breathing in stuttered gasps, when I feel a damp heat on my ass .

He came. In his pants.

In public. Against me.

The next few seconds are pleasure-filled fragments.

His heavy breathing against my ear.

His fingers rubbing gentle circles on my waist as I ride out the aftershocks.

“I burn…because of you.” The faintest whisper.

So faint, I wonder if I’m hearing it right.

“What did you just say?”

He doesn’t answer me, but instead, there’s a soft pressure on my hair—a kiss?

My mind is in a haze.

Nothing makes sense.

I’m soaring in the skies like the hummingbird earrings I’m wearing.

“Ethan! Lexy! There you are. Sorry, we got pulled away by a few people.”

Lana’s voice shocks my senses, and I quickly hurl myself off her brother.

Thank God we’re in the dark, because there’s no way I can hide the flush I’m sure is on my face, or the way my nipples are still poking out of my dress like headlights.

“You guys good? Didn’t kill each other, right?” She grins and walks toward us, Olivia quick behind her.

“We’re good.” I strain a smile and hope it’s convincing.

“Here. Your USB.” A suit clad arm appears in my peripheral vision, a black, circular cuff link peeking out, and he hands his sister the drive.

Lana cocks her brow, then shakes her head, looking wholly unimpressed.

“Thanks, Ethan.”

“What’s the urgency? You really asked him to come here to give you a flash drive?” I can’t keep the incredulity out of my voice.

She grins. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

Ethan scoffs.

“Well. Have fun, ladies. And see you later…Alexis.”

At my name, I straighten my shoulders and turn around, bracing myself for the full impact of seeing him for the first time tonight.

Common sense flickers online as the remnants of pleasure slowly fade away .

Ethan Anderson, the ice monster, the man who drives me out of my mind with his overbearing ways, just made me come in public.

He rutted his no doubt sizable cock against me until he came in his pants.

And I liked it.

What the fuck—have I lost my mind?

Searing eyes meet mine and while the rest of his frame is relaxed in his usual detached indifference, the blistering expression on his face says otherwise.

His jaw locks and nostrils flare.

Under the dim light, I can see his pupils are dilated and his pulse battering against his temple.

Holding my gaze, he murmurs, “See you at work tomorrow, Alexis.”

Then he nods at the other girls and strides away, out of view, oblivious to the rioting heartbeats in my chest.

A few seconds later, Olivia pops up by my side.

“Don’t think I didn’t see that.”

I force out a few chuckles.

“W-What?”

“He looks like he could devour you alive.”

Devour me alive.

I should be scared. I should be worried.

I should go online and buy the first chastity belt I can find.

So why do I want to offer myself as a sacrifice instead?