When he stepped to my side and opened my door, I hesitated. He dipped his head down, held out his hand, and waited for me to take it. “Come on, it’s right down those steps.”
I accepted his help getting out of the car, glancing around and only seeing dumpsters, a stray dog, and litter scattered about. He again placed his hand on the center of my back, guiding me to steps that led to a black metal unmarked door… and once again my body reacted to his touch.
Forcing myself to snap out of it, I asked, “What is this place?”
“A club.”
My feet stopped moving. “You’re taking me to a sex club?” It may not have been an obvious question, but based on the location and its appearance it looked like something out of a BDSM book I had read.
Dante, a step ahead of me, craned his head back. “No, a dance club. Why, would you prefer me to take you to the other?”
“No!” I shouted louder and quicker than I intended. Dante started laughing, took my hand in his, and pulled me toward the door. Fear. That was the emotion that should have been coursing through my veins, but instead, that delicious zing again took hold… as well as anticipation and intrigue.
“That’s too bad,” he said with an exaggerated frown. Dante knocked on the door three times—reminiscent of a gangster movie. Instead of a burly man in a three-piece suit and a fedora answering the door, imagine my surprise when a tall, redheaded woman dressed to the nines did. Heavy beats from the music sounded from inside. Multicolored lights flashed, and the woman sized Dante up with a glint in her eyes.
“Dante Benedetto, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”
Dante leaned down and kissed her on both cheeks. “Marisa, it’s good to see you.” He pulled me closer to him. “This is my friend, Cassie. Cassie this is Alessandro’s wife, Marisa.”
Why I was relieved she was married was unbeknownst to me, but I was. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Any friend of this guy’s is a friend of mine,” Marisa said as she patted Dante’s chest. “Come, Alessandro had to step out, but you know your way around. Go have fun.”
In a sexy move, Dante laced his fingers with mine. Marisa wasn’t kidding when she said he knew his way around. He weaved us through the small crowd until we reached the dance floor.
A disc jockey sat in an elevated booth on the right side, cradling one headphone between his ear and shoulder, while he pressed buttons on a keyboard. The music changed to a slower melody, and like robots, the couples dancing all slowed down. They didn’t stop, but rather than their feet doing most of the work, their hips were.
“Dance with me.” Dante’s warm breath tickled the sensitive spot beneath my ear.
Panic shot through me. I pointed to a woman who was bent backward, her partner’s thigh supporting her body as if they were connected. “I… I can’t do that.”
“Sure you can.” Without haste, Dante pulled me into the center of the floor. Couldn’t he have picked a less conspicuous spot? All the saliva in my mouth evaporated, and I was sure this was going to end badly.
“Dante…”
He placed his finger over my lips and brushed his scruff-covered jaw over my cheek. “Follow my lead. I’ve got you, Cassie.”
Chapter 5
Cassie
Dante took my right hand in his left, his right went to my lower back, and he pulled me toward him until our hips touched and our chests grazed against each other. I watched in awe as a couple gyrated next to us. It felt like we were in the middle of a Dirty Dancing remake, and the more I watched, the more I knew I couldn’t dance like that.
Suddenly, his hand lifted to cup my cheek, guiding my attention back to him. I worried my bottom lip until his thumb tugged and then stroked over where my teeth had been. Dante lowered his head, bringing his lips a breath away from mine. If I leaned forward one millimeter, our mouths would touch.
Maybe it was the music or the erotic vibe in the club, but my body screamed to be caressed—my lips begged to be kissed. He rested his forehead on mine, and when the music paused a beat, he said in a husky voice, “Dance as though you’re making love.”
The DJ raised the volume of the next song, and we were back in dancing position, except now I had sex on my brain. Dante slid his leg between mine, bringing the top of his thigh to brush against the part of my body that hadn’t seen any action in a long time. Instantly, every nerve ending pulsed to life from my head down to my toes. I felt it everywhere, and if I concentrated enough, I knew I could make myself come.
When Dante mentioned making love, he wasn’t kidding. The way he moved his muscular abdomen to create a wave as his hips followed the rhythm simulated sex so accurately, my panties dampened as a result.
There was no denying the man could dance. Hell, he was so good that he had me believing I could as well. I closed my eyes and let my body go, figuring I’d never see these people again, so why not? Dante’s hand went from my waist to the curve of my ass, where he let it linger a bit. At the same time, my free hand rounded his shoulder, traveled down his back, and because what was good for the goose… landed on his tight ass.
Despite him raising a suggestive brow, or how much I wanted to leave my hand there, I thought better of it. So instead, I dropped it until it rested on the side of his leg. Our eyes remained connected, and although I knew we were still moving, I no longer cared if I was doing it right. I had taken ballroom lessons, as most uptight families back home forced their daughters to do. But the rumba, or whatever we were doing, wasn’t part of the curriculum at Miss Carrington’s School of Dance.
Dante pulled me closer, not bothering to hide his excitement, which I could feel pressing up against my hip. He speared my hair above the nape of my neck, gently guiding me backward. My foot rose, and my leg curled around his. Balancing on one foot, he dipped me farther back into the position I never imagined pulling off.
When the song ended, and the DJ started announcing events that were going to happen in the upcoming days, we didn’t move right away. Instead, we stood in the center of the dance floor, staring at each other. Something passed between us—for me it was indescribable. It wasn’t long ago this man infuriated me. Tonight, I had never been so turned on in my life. I wasn’t sure if my body could withstand another dance like that without stripping him naked. Get it together, Cassie.
I rose on the balls of my feet. “Can we get a drink?”
Dante nodded, and hand in hand we walked through another black door. The dimly lit eclectic room was small, yet housed a bar, a few tables, and a couple booths. He led me to the one in the back, where it was quiet enough to have a conversation.
“I’ll be back.” He pointed to the bar. “Cosmo?”
“Yes, thank you.”
I watched him, as did many other females in the room. Dante’s dark hair, olive complexion, and sinewy body were difficult to ignore. The black button-down and black jeans not only fit his perfect physique like a glove, they gave him a dangerous edge. Soon enough, with his beer and my drink in hand, he began to make his way toward me.
A dark-haired woman stopped him, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and whispered in his ear. Dante’s eyes landed on me before pointing in my direction with his pinky finger. The woman glanced my way, and then shrugged and walked off.
Acting as if that was a common occurrence in his life, he merely continued to the table, set my drink in front of me, and sat down. “So what do you think? Cool place, right?”
I let the cold fruity liquid sit on my tongue before letting it slide down my throat. “Yes, and you seem to be quite popular here.”
His eyes flitted to the brunette before coming back to me. “She was only asking for directions.”
A laugh erupted from me. “Directions? To where… your bed?”
The corners of his full lips quirked up. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you sounded a bit jealous.”
“No, not jealous. The same thing would happen when I went out with Luca. Women acted as though I wasn’t in
the room. It was annoying.”
An immediate frown furrowed his brow. “You dated Luca? I thought you were just friends?”
“We didn’t date. But the women who flaunted themselves in front of him didn’t know we weren’t a couple. I may as well have been invisible. Was I not pretty enough? Sexy enough?”
“Sweetheart, you’re the sexiest woman here.”
“Thank you, but I wasn’t fishing for a compliment.”
“And I wasn’t trying to score any points. You’re gorgeous. You might not have noticed, Cassie, but when we were dancing, I was the envy of most men in the room. You move like your body was made for sex. Plus…” He waggled his finger toward my blouse. When I looked down, I saw a few buttons must have come undone when we were dancing, revealing the lace of my demi cup bra as well as my cleavage. “That is hot as fuck.”
Dante
The blush that colored her creamy cheeks at my declaration was even hotter than her blouse being unbuttoned. I smiled at how she adorably fumbled to close the buttons with clumsy fingers.
This woman was such a contradiction to the woman I had conjured in my mind. There was the Cassie that my brother had told me about, who seemed so sweet, innocent, and one stop away from joining a convent. Based on his description, I had an entirely different image of what she looked like, a different assumption of how she acted. In all honesty, the Cassie I had heard about seemed boring.
This Cassie, this firecracker with a short fuse and an undeniable hunger in her brilliant baby-blue eyes, might have had everyone she knew fooled… but not me. The way she pressed her body against my thigh, followed my lead so perfectly in the sway of her hips, and looked into my eyes like she wanted to devour me most definitely revealed an inner vixen.
The combination of kindergarten teacher by day and—if given the opportunity I wouldn’t doubt—siren by night caused my cock to harden against her hip. And when it did, she subtly pushed against me. Now that was fucking hot. Show me a man who didn’t have the naughty teacher wet dream and I’d show you a gay man.
“Do you always do that?” she asked, her eyes meeting mine over the rim of her cocktail.
“Do what?”
“Stare?”
“It’s kind of my profession, to admire beautiful women.” I leaned closer, resting on my bent elbows. “You can tell a lot about a woman by staring into her eyes, by watching her reaction to studying her.”
She placed her drink down and mimicked my stance. “Okay, what can you tell about me?”
“Well, I can tell you’re naturally curious. For instance, you’re dying to know about my piercing, because you keep staring at my shirt. Right?”
My question shocked her, as evidenced by the instant reddening of her cheeks. “I… well, I’m a teacher, and of course I’m naturally curious. I…” With another awkward pause, she stopped short of asking me what she wanted to know.
“It’s okay,” I said, letting her off the hook. “Ask me.”
She hesitated slightly before succumbing to that curiosity I pegged her to have. “Jude said it was on a dare. Who dared you?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a dare. That’s just what I told the guys.”
Cassie opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. I was sure she wondered, if not a dare, then what? I half expected her to ask, but instead she changed course. “How badly did it hurt?”
“Bad.” Was she curious because she wanted her nipple pierced? That thought shot blood directly to my dick. I couldn’t resist fueling her curiosity. “But not as bad as my other one.” Lifting my beer bottle to my lips, I took a slow pull, watching her the entire time. The way she tilted her head to look at my ear almost had me laughing out loud. Instead, I glanced down and added, “It’s a bit more south than that. If you’re that intrigued, I’d be happy to show it to you.”
In a playful manner, I moved my hands to the waistband of my pants, only for her to blurt out, “No!” When she realized I was joking, she smirked and shook her head. “Jerk.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” She fought hard to hold back a smile and failed. “Why do you look disappointed?”
“What? No, I don’t,” she was quick to respond. “I just think that’s crazy. Who would be so stupid to get one…” Her eyes fell down to where the edge of the table met my abs. “Down there.”
“Many men, and women for that matter. I looked into it. Once I read up on the downsides, it didn’t seem worth it. I don’t need help stimulating a woman. I can do that fine on my own without complaints.”
Those two cornflower-blue eyes lifted toward the ceiling in an exasperated way. “I’ll take your word for it.”
I chuckled at her obvious discomfort. “Anyway, back to you. Want to know what else I can tell about you?”
“I don’t think so.”
Ignoring her, I said my thought anyway. “Your eyes say otherwise.” Starting at the top of her head, I scrolled my gaze over her inch by inch. First, I focused on her baby blues, her lips, the kissable curve of her neck. A pinkish hue tinged the span of pale flesh when my line of sight kept raking over her body. Taking my time, wanting to cause her to squirm, it felt like minutes before I finally met her eyes again. Purposely prolonging my response by drilling into her soul, the squirm I craved finally came. She shifted in her seat and looked away. Then, and only then, did I say, “There are two Cassies.”
Her gaze cut back to mine. “Two? Like I have a split personality… I’m nuts?” she asked with a silly grin. “I guess I deserve that label based on how I acted the night we met.”
“No… not a split personality as in being nuts, although that night I did think you were wacko. I meant two Cassies with split interests.” Seeing her teeth clamping down on her bottom lip meant I must have touched on something—a vulnerability… an insecurity?
She played my assessment off with a wave of her hand. “Pfft, I don’t have interests besides reading and teaching.” Slender fingers gripped the stem of the glass, and it trembled ever so slightly as it made its way to her mouth.
“I call bullshit.” My claim had her halting her drink midair. The anticipation for my explanation revealed itself in her wide-eyed stare and parted lips. But I didn’t give her any more than that. I didn’t share how I suspected Miss Brooks would be into trying all sorts of lewd interests. I didn’t hint that I suspected she wasn’t as innocent as she acted. So, instead of giving her more, or playing my hand, I simply said, “Ready to go?”
The more time I spent with Cassie, the more it became obvious she wasn’t a fan of being analyzed. That inner snark I had gotten a taste of tried to take over her otherwise calm, cool, and collected demeanor. And the more I teased her, the feistier she became. However, the joke was on me, because the feistier she got, the stiffer I did.
There I was fresh in a new city, hanging out with one of my brother’s best friends, and already envisioning all sorts of ways to not only give her pleasure… but to take all her pleasure as well. And I did want all of it, which fucking freaked me out.
By the time the cab pulled up to her building, my grand plan to get a rise out of her had backfired. Because in doing so, I had worked myself up in the process. If it were someone I had randomly picked up, things would have already become physical. Visions of crashing through her apartment door and tearing her clothes off like an animal weren’t helping my predicament. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so turned on, the last time I wanted to do filthy things to a woman. To be honest, I had no idea how to proceed, or whether to proceed at all.
“You didn’t have to ride all the way with me.” Ignoring her, I slid my card through the scanner, but my silence didn’t stop her rambling. “So, um… thank you… and good night, Dante.” She opened her door to get out, never expecting me to hop out of my side and trot around to hers. Once out on the sidewalk, a light breeze caught her hair and lifted it off her shoulders, except for one piece that stuck to her lip and caught my attention. “Dante, I’m fine. You don’t have
to see me in.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Nothing is going to happen tonight,” she spit out, but then quickly blushed at the abrupt assumption.
“I don’t expect anything to happen, Cassie.” A defiant expression crossed over her face, and instead of arguing, she sighed impatiently before turning toward her building. Nothing was said between us as I followed like a dog in heat right to her door. Who was I kidding? If she suddenly had a change of heart, I’d oblige in a split second.
“See, I’m home now safe and sound,” she said with sass while sporting a teasing smile. “I had a really nice time, Dante. Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome. I hope our do-over was a success and you no longer think I’m an ass.”
“I never thought you were an ass,” she quickly replied. Her cornflower eyes appeared backlit in the dim light of her hallway.
“Sure about that?”
When I leaned closer, she swallowed audibly and whispered, “Just a jerk.”
“Actually, I think you called me a pig.” I put my hand on the door beside her head and smiled at her discomfort. “But I’m sorry I was an all-around jerk.” It sounded like she dragged in a breath and held it as I moved closer to place a soft kiss on her cheek. Keeping my lips on her silky-soft skin, I let the kiss linger. Her warm breath hit my face. I could hear each additional breath she took. I could smell the spicy perfume she dabbed beneath her ear. And through it all, my cock stiffened in my jeans.
I could easily twist my face and take her mouth. Better yet, bust through her door, as I had imagined, and take her body. But this was Cassie. And as much as I wanted to, or as much as she’d want me to, I couldn’t do that to her. I couldn’t go there. Not only would my brother kick my ass, the rest of her friends would as well. That wasn’t to say I wouldn’t another day. I wanted her too badly, my curiosity was too strong. Regardless, I needed to navigate this carefully.
The Mr. Wrong Series Page 83