Page 63 of Eye Candy

It was unexpectedly exhilarating to be in a performer’s shadow like this. For once, having a crowd’s focused attention wasn’t stressing me out. People were looking near me, but notatme. Caroline was a lightning rod in a storm—who would want to look at me when they could look at her?

To Rob, she purred, “On your knees please, handsome.”

He did, such were the lengths he would go to get a reaction from me.

“Bring it on,” he said to Caroline. “Is it like the dentist, do I open wide?”

“Oh yes. You’ll want every drop.” She was still doing her low, sultry voice, but somehow the whole room could hear her. It was incredible.Shewas incredible. “Put your tongue out, handsome. In case I gush.”

The point she was making was clear: Caroline had never used this kind of calculated sensuality on me. Part of me felt pride, but shame was quick to follow. Correlation was not causation—would that ever sink through my head? I wrote about it enough. Banking that thought for a later time, preferably when the woman I was head over heels for wasn’t about to seduce another man in front of me, I braced myself.

Caroline bit the edge of one long glove and turned slowly in a circle, peeling the shiny fabric off with her teeth. As she revolved, her hips swung like a metronome.

If she’d done that when we were alone, my erection would have split my pants. As it was, in a public context, I wasn’t thinking like that. Or rather, I was, but I was working very hard not to let the situation in my pants become an obvious spectacle. Casually, I tugged my jacket down a bit and hoped for the best.

Summer held the rapt attention of the crowd as she nibbled the tip of each finger and then tossed the limp fabric over her shoulder. With the hand still gloved, she brought the champagne to her lips and took a pull straight from the bottle. I watched her throat, and she didn’t swallow at all. She was pretending.

Would she swallow if?—

I shook off the thought. She was punishing me, not performing for me. I had to be a polite audience member even if it killed me.

Caroline/Summer let a droplet of champagne slide down the corner of her mouth and splash onto her breast. “Oops.” Shescooped the liquid up and sucked her finger dry in a way that was simultaneously obscene and guileless.

I stood to attention—in more ways than one—as she brought the bottle over the shoulder of her bare arm, almost like an archer would pull a bow. Her fingertips were level with Rob’s mouth, where he knelt at her side. She wiggled her fingers at him, and he obligingly stuck out his tongue.

Then she tipped the bottle.

Sticky, sweet champagne streamed down her extended arm, and she dangled her fingers over Rob’s tongue so lush droplets fell from her body into his waiting mouth.

Her crowd cheered. The sound made my skin prickle, but when I glanced around, not a single person was looking at me, because Summer held them captivated.

Rivulets of the expensive liquid wound messily down her arm, still she kept pouring. Rob approached the task with the same vigor he had keg stands at college, gulping down as much as she poured. The pair of them made a hell of a scene: the goddess and her supplicant.

After what felt like a lifetime, the bottle emptied. Caroline licked up the full length of her arm then sucked her sticky fingers into her mouth.

“Mmm,” her hum of satisfaction was obscenely muffled.

When she pulled her fingers out of her mouth with a wet pop, I wasn’t the only one who groaned.

Enthusiastically, the crowd broke into applause. It was late in the evening, and her trick wasn’t on par with a flaming candelabra, but it was sexy and people were horny. Me most of all. Still, when Rob stood up and took a bow of his own, I clapped like I ought. Rob came over to me and tried to say something, but I clapped louder so I couldn’t hear him.

Earlier tonight, I’d accused Caroline of putting on a performance to entrap me. Now, having seen her perform, the difference was obvious. She’d lied about who she was, and she’d been incahoots with Gerry. But whatever it was between us had been real.

As my scammer basked in her due, I knew I should back away and give her the space she’d asked for. But I’d watched her face in the mirror at my apartment when pleasure had overwhelmed her. Then, her responses had been unpracticed, ferocious.Real. More than I needed air, honesty, or to confront my arrogant stepbrother, I needed to see those expressions again, and I needed to be the reason for them.

I moved toward her like a man possessed, and people got out of my way.

CHAPTER 25

CAROLINE

If that stuck-upnerd with his smug morality blog was still convinced that I had faked my attraction to him, he was delulu.

I was a good performer, but even I couldn’t hide the fact that when I looked at Chase, all I could think about was how much I wished it were him on his knees in front of me, lapping from my fingertips.

And wasn’t that some unfair irony? I worked my tits off in performances to curate allure, and Chase made me horny just by doing things like walking around. Breathing.

But the scammer and the ethics blogger were a match made in hell.

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