He forces me to ride it, turning with the music, holding me close. Does anybody know what he’s doing to me? I clutch his lapels tight, digging my nails in. Liquid pools in my panties. My teeth grit. “You are such—”
“Watch it, princess.” His hand slides down to cup my ass and then squeezes, just as his thigh muscle tightens.
My body jerks and my nipples sharpen, scraping against the soft fabric of the dress. Even that small sensation is overwhelming.
My head drops toward him. Live wires uncoil inside me, and erotic sparks zing up from my clit. I blink several times. My breath starts to pant. Panic takes me along with the need to let go. “Justice,” I breathe again, needing him to stop. Now.
“Say please.”
I swallow. People are all around us. His gaze drops to my hardened nipples. “Last chance.”
“Please.” I can’t orgasm in front of everyone. How is this happening?
His leg slides back and he twirls us. “Good girl.”
I want to hit him. Kind of. I also want to finish what he just started. That’s not like me. Not at all.
He studies me. “You look lovely tonight, Ella.”
It sounds like he means the compliment. “Are you always this nice to your enemies?” I keep my tone dry, but I hear the edge in it. The nerves. The pull.
“I’m not nice,” he says. “This is containment.”
“Charming.” I stiffen.
His hand spans my entire lower back. “You should keep talking,” he adds.
This throws me, and I don’t want to challenge him again right now. Not with people all around us and my vagina weeping for him. This confuses my brain. My body seems to have a plan of its own. “Why should I talk?” I whisper.
He’s quiet for a beat too long. “Your voice helps me think.”
It’s a lie. Or it’s not. I can’t tell. I can’t read him. For someone like me, that’s terrifying. I narrow my eyes. “I know your brother has a form of lexical-gustatory synesthesia and can taste people’s words. Do you have it also?” The condition is real but enhanced with Thorn and makes him have a taste in his mouth any time somebody speaks. When Alana talks, he tastes honey.
Thorn apparently loves honey.
Justice stiffens and then relaxes. Crap. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. “How the hell do you know about Thorn?”
Heat tinges my face. “Alana told me. Thorn knows I know.” Anything that will keep Justice from snapping my neck right now is a good sentence to say. “I’ll never tell anybody. I promised her.” I will never break a promise to Rosalie or Alana. Regardless of the consequences. “Do you have it, too?”
“No. I just like your voice,” he says, and his thumb presses lightly into my lower back again, steadying me mid-turn. “If you’re talking to me, you’re not trying to kill anybody I care about.”
I laugh, breathy and sharp. Do I believe him? Maybe.He sounds sincere, but he wouldn’t tell me if he had a weakness, would he? I angle my head back to look at his rugged face. “I’ve already apologized. Are you going to take revenge?”
He doesn’t smile. His jaw flexes. He says nothing. But his eyes sayyes.
This is not comforting. “You’re making me nervous,” I say, and this time I mean it.
“Good.” His voice is too even. “You should be.”
He’s not threatening me. Not directly. But he doesn’t have to. The truth is worse than a threat. I’m the enemy, and I’m completely caught in his arms.
We dance another full song. Somehow, I move against him naturally, my body wanting more. A lot more from him. His hands are steady, his rhythm flawless, and every time I breathe in, I get that mix of expensive cologne and skin-warmed heat that makes my head spin. His touch never falters. Not too tight, not too soft. Controlled. Intentional. Deadly.
Which is exactly what I should be focusing on. Not the pressure of his palm, or the way he moves with me like we were made for this. Or the fact that part of me, a part that absolutely needs to shut up, is starting to enjoy the feeling of us plastered together.
Then someone taps a knife against a champagne glass. A softting ting tingechoes through the pavilion, pulling all attention toward the cake table.
“Oh, it’s speech time.” I’m breathless and a little dizzy. “Aren’t you the best man?”
