“Sorry, sweetheart. You might be sexy as fuck, but a piece of ass isn’t worth my contract.” Hendrix leaned back against the bar, earning him a solid glare from Savannah. “Now, go play in the sandbox like a good little girl.”
She got right in his face. “And what if someone else wants to come play in my sandbox?”
His jaw ticked again. “Then I’d say be careful and choose well. The guy who orders your drink second won’t let you come first.” He smirked.
“News flash, I don’t need a guy to let me come.” She tapped his nose and then stepped back. “I do quite well on my own, thank you.”
She turned to walk away with her girlfriends.
“Hey, Red,” Hendrix called out.
Savannah turned.
“There’s a difference between an orgasm that you work for, and one that’s been given to you by a man who knows how. Something you might want to remind your little frat-boy sandbox partner.”
She rolled her eyes and continued her walk down the bar.
“There was no need to be a dick. She’s still Coach’s daughter,” I reminded him, since Nixon was busy talking to Weston Rutherford, our owner—who was dressed like a 1920’s gangster. Of course, his assistant, Brynn, was in a Flapper costume, complete with feather boa.
“And she knows I’d fucking kill any guy who did her wrong. Doesn’t mean she gets to fuck with me just because she’s drunk. She knows she’s off-limits.” He folded his arms and glared at her back, then promptly turned down the next girl who asked him to dance.
Interesting.
I locked eyes with Teagan as the song changed, the rhythm dropping from a quick, techno beat to something sultry as Beyoncé sang about being a naughty girl. Her lips parted as her hands skimmed down her costume-clad hips and back up. Damn.
She tilted her head and crooked a finger at me.
“Your Cleopatra beckons,” Hendrix laughed softly.
“We’re just friends.”
“Please. You guys brought a joint gift for Savannah. You might as well be married at this point.” He scoffed.
Married to Teagan? Only in my wildest dreams. If I’d even thought I had a chance of making her happy, of her wanting me the way I’d always wanted her, I would have proposed in a heartbeat. I couldn’t imagine a better future than being married to my best friend. But she’d said it herself—she didn’t think of me like that. But the way she’d kissed me…
She arched a brow, and I abandoned Hendrix without another thought. She was all I saw as I crossed the floor.
“Dance with me?” she asked, her eyes bright.
I nodded. Like I’d ever deny her something I had within my power to give? Her answering smile was more than enough in return.
We moved to the rhythm, but I kept a few inches away…until she put her hands on my waist and slid her way down and back up my body. Holy shit. She kept her eyes locked on mine, and my pulse kicked up a notch.
“Oh, you want to play?” I dared her with a smirk.
She tugged her lower lip between her teeth and nodded.
I tugged her against me with a smile and moved. It wasn’t the first time we’d danced together, but it was the first time we’d ever done it like this. Her soft breasts pressed against my chest as my hand splayed over her lower back, holding her as we dipped and swayed.
If I wasn’t careful, I was going to be stretching this shendyt way more than the costume allowed for. My blood heated with need. This was why I hadn’t danced with the cheerleader. I didn’t want anyone besides Teagan.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t want me as more than her friend.
I’d never push the issue.
But I was done pretending like any other woman underneath me was even an option anymore.
Teagan turned in my arms, hooking her hand around my neck as she pushed her ass against me. Her quick, indrawn breath told me she wasn’t oblivious—she felt the proof of how badly I wanted her.
She dipped and blatantly drifted down my body, using hers to rub against every line of mine. By the time she brought her face back to mine, it took everything I had not to kiss her.
“I thought the wig might do it for you.” She gave me a wicked smile as my hand stretched over her belly, keeping my thumb from grazing her breasts.
“Why would you think that?” Why was she thinking at all? God knew I wasn’t, not with her ass cradling my dick, moving with me like we'd already been far closer.
“You always go for the brunettes,” she said softly, reaching up the back of my neck to get a grip on my hair.
I groaned and let my lips skim her forehead. “There’s a reason I never touch the blondes.”
“Not your type?” She tilted her face toward mine.
“There’s only one blonde I’ve ever wanted.” My heart slammed with the admission.
Her lips parted, and her eyes flared wide with surprise.
My lips lifted in a wry smile as her brow puckered in obvious confusion.
“Dance, Teagan.” I kissed her forehead again and kept us moving to the beat.
She nodded slowly, then lost herself in the music for the rest of the song. As the track shifted, she looked across the floor and froze, going rigid in my arms.
Rick stood at the closest grouping of tables, and he must have recognized her at the exact same time because he started in our direction.
Teagan broke away and slipped behind me, disappearing into the crowded floor toward the back exit.
I stepped into Rick’s path. “Don’t even fucking think about it.”
His eyes shone with murderous rage. “She’s mine. Keep your fucking hands off her.”
A mixture of icy wrath and jealousy flowed through my veins, jacking my adrenaline sky high. He’d had her. He’d had the right to touch her, to kiss her, to love her, and he’d used those hands in violence against her and that mouth to demean her into a shadow of herself.
Fuck that.
“She belongs to herself, and if you take one step outside that door, so help me God, it will be your last.” I let him see everything I was feeling, and his eyes flared slightly.
“Rick, why don’t you step off?” Nixon asked as he came between us.
“Excellent idea.” I turned and followed the path Teagan had taken, pushing open the back door to the crisp evening air.
Teagan stood on the sidewalk, fumbling through her small purse for her phone.
“You okay?”
She spun, her eyes wide with fear for a millisecond before she recognized me.
“Yeah. Fine. I just…I can’t stay here.”
“Okay, where do you want to go?” I asked.
“Oh. Um. I was just going to call an Uber and head home.”
I brushed the hair of her wig out of her eyes. “Then I’ll take you home.”
She flushed. “I don’t want you to have to leave. You should go back in. Have some fun.”
“You’re the only place I want to be tonight.” I jokingly cringed. “Plus, you have my car keys, since this doesn’t exactly have pockets.”
“Oh! Right. Are you sure?” She looked back at the exit door.
“More than. Let’s go home.”
She nodded, then tucked her hand in mine as we walked to my car.