Page 70 of Clean Point

This dress had to be designed by Satan himself, every inch against Scottie’s soft skin, begging me to sin.

‘Baby seals are fluffy, Scottie,’ Jon had corrected as I closed the door, desperately trying to fight the urge to kick him out and find out how easy it would be to remove that dress from her body. See what she was wearing underneath.

‘All I know is I’m counting the hours until I’m free of this dress.’

If Jon would leave it could be seconds …

I remained at a safe distance, leaning on the doorway, my eyes taking in every inch of her. The dress sparkled gold against her skin, which had also been given a golden shimmer, lighting her as she moved around the room. The straps sat delicately off her shoulders as if they had fallen off, but it was just another thing to add to the list of reasons that dress would kill me.

‘What do you think?’ She spun around the centre of the room to face me.

‘You look …’ I trailed off, unable to think of a single word that encapsulated how she looked. Was there even a word that would give her beauty the justice it required? She was starlight personified, gorgeous, and golden, and beautiful. Beyond beautiful.

‘Like an Oscar trophy. I know,’ she huffed, turning back to look at Jon, who had made himself comfy on my bed. ‘That beauty team you hired was torturous.’

‘What do you ladies say? Beauty is pain?’ Jon pushed himself up from the bed. ‘I need to go grab something from my room, then I’ll get the car round the front so we can head over.’ We both nodded in his direction.

Jon looked at me, raising his head slightly, a finger indicating to his neck. ‘Nico, your bow tie.’

I recalled my abandoned task, my hands pulling at the two ends of the material. Jon left the room as I headed over to the mirror, taking up my old position. But this time, it was Scottie who offered a tempting distraction from the task at hand. After a moment, my memory still uncooperative, I sighed loudly, pulling the bow tie entirely off my neck, and turned around, determined to find the regular tie I had been planning on wearing, only to find Scottie behind me.

‘Here, let me.’ She laid a hand out between us, but I only shook my head.

‘I can do it.’

Her lips, which had been painted a dark seductive red, turned up into a smirk. ‘Do it wrong, more like. Come on, one of us should look decent for this thing.’

I narrowed my eyes at her for a moment, before relenting, and handing her the tie. She looped it around my neck, taking a step closer to me as she did. My body almost went into fight-or-flight mode at the closeness, the gravity of the attraction to her too overwhelming.

‘You shouldn’t do that, you know?’ I said, trying to distract myself, desperate to look anywhere but her face, with her attention fixed on her fingers at my throat, her lip pulled in between her teeth.

‘What? Tie men’s bow ties? Does it emasculate you?’

‘You shouldn’t pretend like you aren’t going to be the most beautiful person in the room tonight,’ I continued as her hands released, her work finished. I kept my eyes on her. ‘I think you’ve been sent here to torture me because Jon just warned me not to make a scene, but I already can’t keep my eyes off you. No one else will be able to either, and I just want to keep you all to myself.’

She tilted her head, not stepping away, not moving a muscle. ‘Weren’t you taught to share your toys, Nico?’

I locked my jaw, hating how she thought about herself. My hand rose to her, setting under her chin to keep her eyes on me, my touch soft but demanding. ‘You’re no toy, Scottie. You’re a goddess in that dress. I don’t know how I am supposed to keep my hands to myself all evening.’

There were so many people at this event, and every single one had a camera in their pocket, waiting to capture one moment of weakness from me, from us. And she was dressed like temptation incarnate.

‘Tell me not to, Scottie, and I’ll be good.’ My voice grew husky, the need to close the gap and touch her growing more intense.

‘Nico, I—’

A knock on the door cut off her reply.

Neither of us moved. Neither of us looked away.

She just had to say no. Tell me she didn’t want me to touch her and tonight … tonight would go more smoothly if I just knew that was what she wanted. Then I could keep my hands to myself.

‘Well?’ I challenged, my eyes scanning every inch of her face.

In one movement, she’d stepped forward, her hands going to the back of my neck, and her lips met mine. For one moment it was soft, the next I’m lost in her, my hands skimming down her curves, hungrily pulling her body to mine. I’d found the slit in her dress, my hand sliding up her bare thigh so I could have her even closer.

One second we stood apart, the next, we were tangled up in each other like we had been starved of touch. She pulled at my hair as my hand explored every curve, desperate to commit her body to memory after the sudden, cruel separation last time.

Her lips pressed against mine, teeth grazing as we lost ourselves, lost our minds, until another knock pulled us apart, bringing us crashing back down to earth. She looked from the door and grinned up at me, blue eyes utterly wild.

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