Falling Hard (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #1)

by Blair Babylon

  “I’m not very good at fixing people. Care to dance?”

  Sometime while Lizzy had been stoned by the foot massage, the slow song had ended, and the DJ had started spinning bump-and-grind club music.

  She glanced over the field of heads and hair at the dance floor, looking for two tall people, one with hair like bright sunlight and the other, like glowing bronze.

  All the heads on the dance floor were shades of mundane wood.

  “I guess you’ve got magic fingers and healed my ankle,” she said. “Let’s dance.”

  She was just getting ready to clamber down from the bar stool when Theo offered her his hand again, and so she steadied herself by grasping his fingers, still hot from the friction of his skin on hers, and stepped down. She thought about tripping accidentally-on-purpose to see if he would catch her and what his chest felt like, but that was stupid. If she wanted to cop a feel, the dance floor was the perfect place.

  The music throbbed in her bones as he led her over, and she started dancing while they were still the crowd. He peeked back at her, watching her bop.

  He smiled a lot. At first it had seemed like some fake Californian plastic surgery grimace, but she liked how his toffee eyes were amused first, and then he smiled.

  Caramel, honey, toffee. Yes, his golden hazel eyes seemed very sweet.

  She wondered if his skin would taste as sweet under her mouth.

  Lizzy’s eyes roamed over the crowd as she pranced behind Theo, glad that she was dancing, that she felt great, and that she had found Theo the non-Guido who was gorgeous and laughed at her dirty jokes.

  From the crowd over by the windows, Mr. Smolder was still watching her. His blue eyes cut through the air between them. His midnight hair had the slight wave to it, and the light rolling down the waves shone blue-black on the crests. He shifted his wide shoulders and rubbed his abdomen, no doubt feeling the ripples of abdominal muscle there.

  Lizzy almost dropped Theo’s hand, so magnetic was Mr. Smolder’s draw, but she followed Theo to the dance floor.

  The crowd was jamming to better music than before. At Devilhouse parties, the DJ usually started with the oldest stuff and meandered up the decades as the old fogies went home to watch the ten o’clock local news. Lizzy wasn’t sure why The Dom even invited the geezers. Few of them were ever invited to membership. It almost seemed like taunting, though most showed up with subs. Lizzy wasn’t attracted to the cotton swabs. She liked her men virile, and strong, and young, and exotic.

  While Lizzy danced with Theo, her attention wandered back to Mr. Smolder. He was talking to a young woman, a brunette with long hair, and he had his hand wrapped in her hair. His face was serious but not angry.

  That was the possessive move of a Dom with his sub. Mr. Smolder was taken.

  Relief washed through her. If Mr. Smolder had been interested in Lizzy, she would have been tempted by his glowering and the darkness that she could practically see falling off of him like a black mist bleeding into the night outside the windows.

  But Mr. Smolder had a sub, and Lizzy was dancing with Theo.

  Beyond Theo, Georgie was dancing with some other guy, not even the guy she had been talking to when she had been standing behind Theo. Georgie ran through men like a psychotic tiger through a herd of paraplegic gazelles. Lizzy doubted Georgie would ever be able to stand monogamy.

  Lizzy stood back from Theo because he was hugely tall. She hated feeling so shrimpy when she was dancing. People in the West were taller than in Jersey, she could just swear.

  Theo seemed startled by how close to the ground she was, too. At least she was wearing spiked, platform hoochie shoes so she was around five-four. Most of the other women were wearing slut shoes, too, so Lizzy was still one of the shortest women on the dance floor, but at least the height differential between her and Theo was minimized.

  She was fretting about being short so much that she almost missed that Theo was a really good dancer.

  Really good.

  Lizzy had been going to clubs since she got her first fake ID when she sixteen, so she could see the influences of hip-hop in Theo’s feet and samba in his hips. He wasn’t doing the white-boy shuffle or hogging the dance-floor like a show-off. He felt the beat and let it roll through him. Theo upgraded from from merely gorgeous to sexy-as-chocolate on the dance floor, and Lizzy hopped closer to him, dancing with her hips.

  Theo took a long look down her wiggling body, like he could finally look, and his light hazel eyes scorched her when they finally met hers again. He stepped closer. Only an inch of air separated them, and warmth rolled off his body, wafting over her bare arms and legs.

  Lizzy turned her back to him while she danced, giving him a view of her muscular ass. The skin on her back prickled as she imagined him looking down her strong back, bared in the light gold dress.

  The warmth of his body intensified, and Theo’s fingers alighted on her hip. He wasn’t grabbing or groping, but the heat of his hand fell through the gauze of her dress.

  The crowd swayed in front of her, and a rift opened between Lizzy and Mr. Smolder.

  Mr. Smolder was still leaning against the wall, holding a drink, though he looked off to the left. His long, black hair was caught behind his shoulder, and his square jaw worked like he was mulling something over. He drank from his highball glass, a controlled motion like his bicep was so big that it bunched up when he bent his arm.

  His chest rose and fell, a hard sigh, and his blue eyes roved around the room.

  He caught Lizzy staring at him, and he smiled at her. His smile just curved his full lips, but it was still half a glower.

  Lizzy raised an arm and danced harder, staring at Mr. Smolder with Theo’s fingers just grazing her hip.

  She bit her lip and swiveled to face Theo, who was so close to her that his forehead was nearly pressed against hers. When she turned, his hand caressed her hips, dragging across the pale gold material of her dress.

  His light eyes, always laughing before, had sharpened with desire. She almost stepped back, unbalanced, but she stepped forward instead, and her hands splayed against his chest.

  His white shirt was crisp under her fingers, but through the silky cloth, muscle rounded his pecs. Her hand slipped a little, and her fingers found hard abdominal ripples below his ribs.

  Oh, yeah. Copping a feel on Theo was really good. Dang, but he must work out a lot.

  Her feet stopped moving as her hands explored the startling bands of muscle on Theo’s body. She was accustomed to the juiced-up club Guidos in Jersey, but Theo’s body was bound with hard, tight, strong muscles.

  His body swayed against hers, and she moved, too, picking up his rhythm. Her breath stuttered in the top of her chest.

  His hand slipped around to her lower back and pressed her against his body, a confident move. His torso felt like poured steel against her front, and she molded herself to him. His skin radiated heat through their clothes.

  She could pull Theo back through one of those doors, into one of those bedrooms, and screw him right now. Georgie had told her to boink someone. Theo seemed thoroughly boinkable.

  As a matter of fact, considering that clean, masculine scent drifting out of his unbuttoned collar, his sexy factor had ratcheted up yet a few more notches, and she couldn’t keep her hands off of him. Her palms loved the shapes of his rippled abs and rounded pecs under his shirt. Her whole body strained to touch him. Her head floated, turning her face up.

  Yeah, holy shit. Mr. Smolder, who? Seeing that other guy with his sub had freed Lizzy to forget him and to see Theo for the gorgeous man that he was.

  Theo bent, compressing his hard abdominal muscles under her hands, and he kissed her.

  His full lips were thick and soft against hers, and she rose farther up on her toes to press her lips harder against his. His other hand rubbed up her spine to cup her neck and the back of her head, and his lips wandered over hers, kissing her softly. If she had gone limp, he could have held her in his strong arms, but she s
tretched, reaching for more.

  Desire shot down her spine and spread through her stomach, heating between her legs.

  Lizzy gasped and stumbled back a half-step.

  Theo’s hands softened on her back, and he let her pull away. Lizzy opened her eyes to find him breathing hard, and a smile curved his lips. His eyes were drunk with desire.

  Good God, had that wonderful and terrible night with The Dom fixed her? She thought it was The Dom, it was only him and it could only be him, that only he could dole out what made her pop, but Theo’s hands and lips were winding her up.

  Well, Hell’s bells. Only one way to find out.

  She grabbed Theo’s hand. “Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” His deep voice was half an octave lower than it had been while they were talking at the bar.

  She tugged his hand, and he walked behind her toward the bedroom doors that lined the back wall.

  The first bedroom door was locked, but the second knob turned under Lizzy’s small hand. She tugged him inside, rolled against the wall, slammed and locked the door, and pulled his head way, way down to hers.

  His lips were just as pillowy as she remembered from two minutes before, but warmer.

  Theo’s mouth became more demanding, sucking at her lips. She opened her mouth, and his tongue rubbed against hers.

  Oh, God, yes. She moaned and her legs turned rubbery.

  She was throwing herself at him and she knew it, but her heart was shredded like a gossamer veil dragged behind a horse. Theo was right here, right now, and she wanted to be held in his strong arms.

  On her arm, her purse vibrated from her phone inside.

  Fuck them. Lizzy was getting some.

  When she tugged on his shirt, trying to slide the buttons through the tiny holes and pull his shirt tails out of his pants, Theo grasped her hands. “Stop.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Lizzy’s cheeks stung with blood. She leaned at him again, intending to kiss him until he gave her what she wanted.

  He held her wrists lightly in his huge hands. “Stop. We just met.”

  “So what?” She wanted to kiss him some more but didn’t want to look like an attacking suckerfish.

  Humor warmed his eyes. “I don’t do that on the first date.”

  Lizzy’s mouth dropped open. “You are shitting me!”

  Theo laughed and pulled away from her as he straightened.

  She made a grab at his shirt but missed. “Come on! Quit fucking around, slap me up against this wall, and screw me.”

  “I mean it. I don’t.” He stepped back.

  She stepped forward and poked him in the abs. She meant to poke him in the chest, but she was too short so she ended up poking him in the torso. Her finger slipped off a hard lump and slid into the deep valley that ran down the center of his abdominal muscles under his shirt. “You don’t like me? I’m too short?”

  He grasped her chin with his thumb and forefinger and turned her face up. His eyes seemed kind. “I like you. You’re funny.”

  “Is there something I should know? Something,” she searched for a euphemism, “viral?”

  “Nope. I’m as healthy as a thoroughly vaccinated horse—”

  Lizzy wanted to see if he was hung like one, too.

  “—but I made myself a promise a couple of years ago. I was tired of being treated like a piece of meat.”

  He looked like very good beefsteak, and Lizzy wanted to bite him.

  “So I don’t do that anymore.”

  Lizzy asked, “You know what this party is, right?”

  “Yes.” He dropped his head to the side.

  “Then why are you here?”

  “I was dragged here. It wasn’t my idea.”

  Her phone in her purse buzzed again and a horrible thought crossed Lizzy’s mind. “You’re not, like, saving yourself, right?”

  He laughed. “No, but I have relationships, not one-night-stands.”

  “Just how many dates does it take to get into your pants?”

  He grinned. “That’s the hard part.”

  “No, evidently, that’s the—”

  “You have to convince me that you don’t just want to get in my pants. Ready to give up yet?”

  She looked up into his light caramel eyes again, at the humor and intelligence and glints of gold there, and at his strong jaw and sun-bleached hair. Her hands rose on his shirt, tracing the contours of his chest and abs. “Jersey girls never give up.”

  “Good.” He ducked his head and kissed her again, exploring her lips. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “So we’re just going to neck back here?”

  “We might talk.”

  “I might have a heart attack and die.”

  “We could go back to the party, maybe dance some more, or have another drink.”

  Her purse strap buzzed on her wrist again.

  Lizzy scooped her phone out of her purse and glanced at it. “Damnit. My girlfriend Rae is texting me, wanting to know when we can leave. I guess I’m on my way out.” This would sound sappy if she didn’t say it right, and a Jersey girl was never fucking sappy. “So, you, um, want my number, or something? You know?”

  “Absolutely.” He tugged his phone out of a phone-holster on his belt and handed it to her.

  She typed in her number. “Yeah, you know, if you want it. Whatever.”

  He took the phone back. “I’ll call you.”

  There was no fucking way she was going to say something needy like when, so she shrugged. “Yeah, whatever.”

  He tapped his phone, and her cell buzzed in her hand.

  She raised the phone to her ear, staring into his golden eyes the whole time. Surely he wasn’t calling her right then, right? “Hello?”

  Theo’s lips were close to hers, and his breath warmed her lips. His voice felt like velvet on her lips and tickled her ear through her phone. “God, you smell good. When can I see you again?”

  This was weird. He was supposed to wait three days to call and she was supposed to act like she didn’t care. Of course, he was also supposed to take every opportunity to get his rocks off. “Um, next Friday?”

  His eyebrow rose. His lips barely touched hers, just rubbing her lower lip and sending vibrations down her spine.

  God, this was just kissing.

  Theo pulled back a half an inch and asked, “So long?”

  “I’m a busy girl. Why, do you want to give up on me?”

  He smiled. “Give up on a woman who says that she can see my soul? Not a chance.”

  After the Cocktail Party

  The limo rolled through the glittering city and the cooling night, driving the three girls back to their dorm and mundane college life. The sweaty tang from their warm bodies rose above their floral perfumes and chemical antiperspirants, and Lizzy’s nose twitched with the slightest salty musk of sex. Georgie must have gotten some in one of those back rooms, the tramp, Lizzy thought fondly. Lucky tramp.

  Lizzy held her phone, staring at the unidentified number glowing on the top of her recent calls list. She had touched the number twice, almost adding Theo to her contacts, but she had canceled the action both times. He wasn’t really going to call.

  Georgie talked over Lizzy, who once again sat in the middle, at Rae. “So? Spill it.”

  Rae watched out the window, distracted. “We danced. He seemed nice.”

  “Nice?” Lizzy wanted to shake Rae. The Dom wasn’t nice. Rae had had his attention, his full attention, and all she got was nice?

  Rae said, “You guys didn’t tell me that blond guy was Dom. I just thought he was some guy, but I guess everything went okay.”

  Georgie rolled her eyes. “Did he talk to you about The Devilhouse?”

  “Yeah.”

  “All about it?”

  “I guess so. I’m still kind of processing. At least it’s not selling drugs. I had drawn the line at selling drugs.”

  Lizzy and Georgie glanced at each other. Rae seemed closed off, like she was goin
g to bunk this chance.

  Georgie asked, “Did you get an interview?”

  Rae nodded. “Yep, I got an interview. Tomorrow.”

  Lizzy asked her, “Are you willing to work at The Devilhouse to stay in college?”

  Rae sighed. “I know you guys put yourselves out there for me. I won’t screw it up. I’ve got that interview, but that’s all.”

  Lizzy settled back in the deep car seat, satisfied that she probably wasn’t going to be summarily fired for even suggesting Rae to The Dom, but she was still sexed up from dancing and necking with Theo. Her body felt like a live wire sparking in the night.

  His lips had been so soft on hers, and she touched his glowing number on her phone again.

  In the quiet of the night with the dark car growling around them, while Rae and Georgie fell into drunken dozes against their windows, Lizzy watched bright headlights veering past them on the road ahead through the windshield.

  Theo was gorgeous, she knew.

  He had a rocking body under that suit and crisp, white shirt.

  He smiled a lot, and he laughed at her stupid jokes.

  He kissed better than most guys fucked.

  No matter what he quipped, he had a soul behind those pretty caramel eyes.

  He seemed like a nice guy, maybe even a great guy.

  Most women would be all over him.

  Theo was exactly the opposite of what Lizzy needed.

  Lizzy needed The Dom, who could break her until the cracks reached down past the scarring around her heart and she felt something.

  As she fell asleep, The Dom’s cold, blue eyes watched her, judged her, and a whip flicked out of the darkness.

  Riding to The Devilhouse

  Two days later, Sunday afternoon, Georgie drove Lizzy and Rae in her white Lexus through the crowded suburb traffic to The Devilhouse. Lizzy rode shotgun, hogging the air conditioning vents. The girls’ perfumes steamed in the heat radiating from the windows like baking flowers.

  Rae rode in the back seat, still too quiet. She was usually a bit of chatterbox, and yet she hadn’t said a goddamn word about her interview with The Dom yesterday. Not a single word.

  Jesus, Rae was going for an interview at The Devilhouse two days in a row. She must not have fucked up her first interview yesterday too badly.