Page 29 of Do It With Me

“No, they don’t. It’s definitely not a rich people thing. It’s a these people thing, and they’re not my friends. I was invited only because of the size of the project we’re about to embark on together.”

“Oh, the size of the project, huh?” She batted her lashes at me. “Something about all these huge cocks walking around tells me that’s not the only size this guy is worried about.”

I nearly sprayed the sip of bourbon I’d just taken all over the table, but before I could respond, I felt the shift in the air before I saw her. Like all the joy had suddenly been sucked out of the room.

“Heads up,” I murmured, nudging Ella lightly and keeping my voice low. “My ex-wife is heading right for us.”

When I looked up, I watched Shannon glide through the crowd like a great white shark, her black, soulless eyes locked on me. My stomach knotted.

Perfect timing. I just started enjoying this. My date is talking about cocks, for fuck’s sake. Could she not have held off for just another few minutes?

Ellora didn’t even hesitate, though. As soon as she spotted the blonde in the sky high heels, long legs quickly eating up the distance between us, she turned back to me, leaned in, and pressed her lips to mine.

The kiss was electrifying. Hot. Fierce. Too fast. It stole my breath and left my head spinning. The sweet taste of strawberries on her tongue and the pillowy softness of her lips were the only things I could focus on right then.

I barely registered anything else. Not even Shannon, who reached our table just as Ellora pulled back. Her lips were slightly parted and she was a little breathless, but there was a glimmer of satisfaction in her eyes. I stared at her, dizzy and dumbstruck, completely enthralled.

She officially had my full attention. Only her.

Ellora had claimed me and Shannon had ceased to exist. Until she spoke, that was, her voice cutting and cool.

“Holden.” When I glanced at her, she wore that perfect, insincere smile I’d always hated so much. “I see you’ve found yourself a young new plaything. That’s quite a choice for Richard’s wedding. Perhaps a touch immature, don’t you think?”

My jaw clenched, but before I could say anything, Ellora slid an arm around my shoulders and smiled up at her. “Funny. I think he’s perfect, but just so you know, he’s also mine now.”

The words were casual, but the possessive undercurrent made Shannon’s eyes go wide. Suddenly, the smirk melted into horror. It wasn’t about me, though. I knew better than to think that. This was about her ego and being spoken to like that by someone she considered a plaything.

“Excuse me?” she said, a little too shrill now. “Yours? I don’t think so, darling. You’re a toy. A⁠—”

“Mine.” Ellora interrupted, not backing down. “We don’t really care what you think. He’s still mine. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but also, I’m not really sorry at all. Run along, darling. Surely, you have better things to do than antagonize your ex. That really is perhaps a touch immature, don’t you think?”

That was all it took. Shannon’s face flushed, her perfect hair bouncing as she spun on her heels, stomping off with a huff that practically rattled the chandeliers.

I exhaled and turned to Ellora, unable to look away from that possessive fire burning in her eyes. “You just made my night.”

She laughed, a little breathless all over again. “It’s a pity she ran away so soon. I was just getting started.”

I held out my hand. “Then let’s make it official. Dance with me.”

Her answering grin was wicked, but she slid her hand into mine. I pulled her up, holding on to her, and led her to the dance floor. The moment we hit it, we were moving together.

She pressed her body against mine, heat radiating between us. I locked an arm around her waist. I could feel every one of her curves against me, the brush of her hair against my cheek, and the way her soft body molded to me.

All sense of rhyme and reason left me in that moment. I whispered in her ear, low and rough. I blamed it on the adrenaline of that showdown. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

She tilted her head up to look into my eyes, a teasing smile ghosting across her lips. “Oh, I think have a pretty good idea. Don’t worry, though. It’ll wear off in a minute.”

It didn’t wear off. In fact, it only got worse as we lost ourselves to the dance floor like the outside world didn’t even exist. As far as I was concerned, it didn’t.

This woman might’ve entered my life unexpectedly like a hurricane of wrinkled laundry, but she was completely pulling me into her orbit. It was the strangest thing, but when I was with her, I didn’t even try to fight it.

Eventually, the music slowed and I pulled her a little closer. My hand slid lower on her back, but I was careful to keep it polite for anyone watching. It was still enough to make my pulse spike.

Her hand found mine again, our fingers interlacing while her free hand drifted from my neck to my shoulder. I let my other hand slide over her hip, following the natural curve of her body. She fit against me like she belonged there.

“You make this feel so easy,” she murmured, her lips grazing against my ear. “Slow dancing. I’ve never really been very good at it.”

A shiver ran through me in response. “That’s because it’s easy when you know what you’re doing, but somehow, it’s even easier with you.”

She looked up at me, those green eyes locking on mine. In that moment, the world could have ended, chandeliers could’ve crashed to the floor, and the peacocks could’ve flown, but nothing would have pulled me from her.

She was fire, a spark that refused to be ignored, and I wanted to see exactly how far she’d let me push this. I leaned down just enough so our lips were almost touching. “You’re having too much fun with this.”

“Like you aren’t?” she countered, tilting her head a little further so that her lips brushed mine.

It wasn’t quite a kiss, just a tantalizing tease that had my brain tossing out every excuse about why we couldn’t take this further tonight. “Oh, I definitely am. Careful, though. I might not be as scary as you thought I was that first day, but I’m not harmless either, Ella.”

Every little movement of her against me made my blood roar in my ears, and when she smiled up at me, pushing her fingers into my hair, I nearly lost it right there. “I’m no innocent little flower either, Holden. I just told your ex that you were mine. You might want to put your back into making it look official.”