Dani’s [POV]
My head spins from the impact of his words and his intoxicating scent. I put my palm on his chest, gently pushing him away so I can whip my thoughts in order. Feeling his defined muscles beneath my fingers has the opposite effect, unleashing memories I tried hard to forget. The night we spent together flashes before my eyes, the hunger he awoke in me then ravaging me now.
“You’re taking things a bit too fast, Damon. I didn’t even know you were back until today.”
“Okay, let’s start with baby steps. A date?”
I chuckle, twirling a strand of hair between my fingers. “That’s a giant step.”
“A dance?” Damon holds out his hand, giving a theatrical bow as if inviting me to a turn-of-the-century dance.
“That would be nice,” I say. “Let’s stay here, though. There are too many people in the other room.”
“I was going to suggest the same. I like it here. It’s more… intimate.”
The moment I place my hand in his, he pulls me to him, twirling me around until I’m no longer facing him. He pulls my hips against his with such force that he steals my breath away. I try-and fail-not to think about the fact that my bum presses on his crotch as we start moving to the inviting rhythm of the music. Intimate, indeed.
“Relax, Dani,” he whispers in my ear. Every muscle in my body surrenders to his command, liquefying. I give myself to him, allowing him to guide my moves, to own my body. His fingers descend from my hips, intertwining with my fingers. The skin-on-skin touch is electrifying, zipping through me and awakening every inch of me. His grasp tightens as we lower ourselves toward the floor during the refrain, then rise back up, our hips glued to each other the entire time. I’ve always found this move a challenge for everyone who has mediocre coordination skills-like me. Somehow, I know Damon will never let me fall. Pushing my hair to one side, he bares my neck to him. I think he might kiss me there. His breath on my skin and the proximity of his lips drive me crazy with anticipation. I know I’ll combust the second his lips touch my neck. Except they don’t. Such a tease. But two can play at this game, so I start moving more provocatively, pressing myself more into him as we dance. The effect is immediate; his breaths come out in short, intense puffs. I continue my ministrations, relishing when a deep groan reverberates from his chest.
It gives me a weird sense of power to know that I can undo him this way. The music changes, the rhythm becomes even more inviting and the lyrics are so explicit they make me blush.
“Dani, stop.” He twirls me around. His eyes are hooded with desire, their electrifying green a few shades darker. “You can’t do this, or I’ll come in my pants.”
I giggle, tugging at my lip. “That’s how everyone around us is dancing.”
“Well, maybe they’ve gotten more action than I have in the last year. My right hand isn’t much to brag about,” he says. I look at him in confusion. “I haven’t been with anyone since you. Have you…?” A somber look takes hold of his features as his words trail away as if they’re too painful to utter. “Forget I asked that. It wouldn’t matter. It was your right to date other people.”
“No,” I whisper. I cup his face, forcing him to look at me. I want him to know this is the truth, to have no doubt. No matter what happens between us, I need him to know this. “I haven’t been with anyone else. A few guys asked me out in London, but it didn’t feel right…”
“I’ve thought about that night so many times, Dani.” He cups my face, too, our arms intertwining. The space between our lips is so small… it would take very little for us to kiss.
“At times, I felt guilty for having made love to you. I wasn’t sure how much the memory hurt you, but I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. It made your memory too real and too raw. When I was in those dark places, Dani, all I had to do was think of you, and I’d go on.”
“You haven’t been with other women?”
“No.” He presses his forehead to mine, closing his eyes. “Is that so hard to believe if you didn’t?”
“Men are different from women.”
“Not when we love,” he says. My breath hitches, my heart thundering in my chest. Everything around us fades. The music, the people, the party altogether. Time seems to stop too, or at least pause on this very second. Yesterday seems like a lifetime ago, the same as all the days since his lips last touched me. “I know the rule is that first kisses come after first dates, but then again, we’ve always made our own rules.”
His mouth covers mine so completely I’m sure he’ll take my breath away, but the opposite happens. It feels like this is the first time I’m breathing in months. I lose myself in his kiss and the warmth of his arms. He coaxes my lips open, slipping his tongue into my mouth. Sighing, I welcome him, allowing him to probe me on the inside, exploring in turn his delicious taste. The primal dance of our tongues lights up an impulse deep inside me that travels right between my thighs, turning my intimate spot tender and wanting. His kiss drives me to the edge, and I find myself returning to that happy place I had memorized and revisited in my dreams.
We gasped for air, and our breaths skittered.
“I haven’t asked for permission,” he says in a husky voice. “Do I need to ask for forgiveness?”
“Wow, Damon. We need to slow down. You cannot just waltz back into my life and declare your love for me. You’re making me hyperventilate.”
He chuckles lightly, but his stare loses none of its intensity. It smolders me. “I got my shit together, and I want you, Dani. I will accept nothing less. I will fight for it, and I won’t play fair all the time. I need you. This year has proven to me how miserable I am without you. So, how about that first date? What do I have to do for you to agree to it?”
“This can be our first date,” I offer.
“Not a chance. Last time, I did it all wrong.”
“I liked it,” I say in all honesty. “I think a little adrenaline was just what I needed at that time.”
“Regardless, had I been more careful, maybe things would have been different. This time, I want to do everything the right way.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s go back to your friends.”
“Why?” I ask, startled.
“Because if it’s just the two of us here, I’ll damn all rules, and do more than just kiss you senseless.”
“Oh.” Heat creeps in my cheeks, and somehow Damon notices it even in the dim lighting.
“Stop blushing, or I will not be responsible for my actions. I always did think you were irresistible when you blushed.”
“Let’s go,” I murmur.
When we find the group on the dance floor, Chase immediately puts an arm around my waist, as if we’re old friends.
“If you want to keep that arm, you’d better put it elsewhere,” Damon tells him. His tone is half-joking, but the glint in his eyes is dangerous. Even in his advanced state of drunkenness, Chase recognizes an alpha claiming what’s his and backs away.
“Didn’t realize she’s yours,” Chase slurs, removing his hand. “My bad.”
“Now you know it. She’s mine.” Damon pulls me into him, and we begin to swing our hips to the rhythm of the music. We spend the rest of the night dancing with the group, laughing and joking. Damon never lets go of me.
***
When the night is over, Damon walks Hazel and me back to our dorm while Kylie and Drew carry a drunk Chase to his room. Tiredness sweeps into my bones, yet when I slide under my covers, I remember the touch of Damon’s lips before he says goodnight. A delicious shiver shakes me. Suddenly, I knew sleep wouldn’t come easily. Hazel twists around in her bed, too. I bet I know what keeps her awake.
Clearing my throat, I ask, “What’s the deal with Chase?”
“He’s the world’s biggest man-whore,” Hazel declares. “And I am totally in love with him.”
“Of course you are.” I punch my pillow into a more comfortable mass then turn on one side toward Hazel. “You are finally meeting your mom’s prophesy of dating a bad boy.”
“Not exactly. I’m not dating, just daydreaming about a bad boy.”
“Did anything happen between the two of you?”
“You mean besides me drooling whenever I see him?”
“I’m pretty sure there’s some drooling on his part, too.”
“Nope, that look he gives me is just him exercising his eye-fucking muscles.” There is disappointment in her voice; my heart breaks for her. “Don’t read anything into it. I did last semester and was bitterly disappointed.”
“But why are you into him? I mean, he’s good-looking and fun, but seems a bit of an asshole.”
Hazel gets out of her bed, groping for the door in the darkness.
“Where are you going?”
“This talk needs chocolate,” she says.
“True that.” I follow her, driven by the promise of chocolate. Nothing better to prolong the afterglow of a kiss than chocolate. I turn on the small lamp on our couch table, though Hazel seems to be able to find her way to the chocolate piling place even without light. That’s what I call commitment. She whisks out a new package and we both sink on the couch, ripping it open.
Hazel sighs over-dramatically while taking a bite. “Other college kids have beer stacked up everywhere, and we still swear by chocolate. Do you think we might do college wrong?”
“Not.” I savor the chocolate, the caramel melting in my mouth and the pepper giving it just the right amount of kick.
“I don’t get the appeal of beer. It’s bitter and makes you fat. Why not eat chocolate instead? Anything that fits the saying one second on your lips, a lifetime on your hips should at least have the decency to be sweet.”
“Amen.”
We chew on our guilty pleasure for a while before I bring Chase up again. “So… every good girl has to fall for a bad boy, right?” I say, remembering her mother’s words of wisdom.
“Yep. My turn has come, it seems. I just wish it would fade away soon. I’m tired of hyperventilating every single time I’m around him.”
“Have you tried… you know, making a move on him?” I ask tentatively. Knowing our history with boys, it’s unlikely.
“He sort of made it clear last semester that he only sees me as a friend.” She plays with the hem of her pajama top, rubbing her thumbs together.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. We had that talk.”
A loud bang coming from the direction of the corridor makes us both jump. “Should we go outside and see what happened?”
“Nah, probably just someone who partied too hard tonight. You’ll get used to it.” We listen for a few more seconds, but no other sound comes.
“Do you think Chase meant it?”
Hazel throws up her hands in frustration. “How the hell do I know? He kept giving me that stare and hung out with me during all our classes-he insisted we take the same classes because he said I was a good study partner. But when we go out, he makes it his mission to either ignore me or keep an embarrassingly large distance between us if we dance. You’d think I develop some incredibly dangerous virus as soon as I’m in party clothes, and he can’t come closer than an arm’s length.”
“Hmm…” I make a mental note to study Chase closer.
“Do you want to talk about Damon?”
“Not really. I’m still trying to convince myself I haven’t just imagined the whole thing,” I answer. Hazel sashays across the room, returning with a new chocolate package. “Give that here. It’s my favorite chocolate in the world.”
“I know,” Hazel says proudly. “Lucky your parents own the company producing it.”
I lean my head back, closing my eyes as I take the first bite.
“God, I think I am in love with chocolate,” Hazel announces. “I think Facebook should have the option to put as a status, In a relationship with chocolate, and it’s not complicated at all.”