Page 6 of Busted Dreams

Beck waited until he was out of earshot, then he brought his gaze back to mine. I fell so far into the depths of his soul, it was a wonder I even comprehended what he was saying.

“I’ve never had a lot. You know that. And with women actively trying to jump on my dick—” He turned his face to the side. I tried to tug my hands away from that nice little visual, but he gripped my fingers tighter, refusing to let go. “Wrong choice of words. With women chasing me, I didn’t see a whole lot of reason to spend any time with them outside of getting what I wanted, and I definitely didn’t see the point in making anything special. But to be real, Astrid, they didn’t care about me. In fact, I doubt even a quarter of those girls would have ever seriously considered dating me. I was just the fun time guy who was good for a few hours.

“But this here with you is so far away from anything I’ve ever experienced. What we have is already special, and I’m just trying to do it justice. You can feel it, can’t you? This thing between us?”

His voice deepened until it was like warm, melted honey whispering over my body.

I could feel it. How strange to experience something so keen and abstract all at the same time. The burning desire to capture this feeling on camera ghosted through my body, and my fingers itched for my phone. The look on Beck’s face right now,thatsaid love. That said I was important. Something I’d never been to anyone before, and it was intoxicating.

“You feel it, right?” he asked again, tugging on my hands as if his actions would ply the answer from my chapped lips.

Suddenly, my mouth was parched. “I feel it,” I whispered.

“Then you understand why this is special. And I’ve never had this before you. So what mynormal scenewas before this moment right now, doesn’t matter, becausetheydidn’t matter.”

I melted into a gooey puddle right there in the booth as I stared into his eyes.

“Let’s go.” He helped me up out of the seat. “This was only the first stop. There’s still more to come.” Excitement glimmered in his eyes, even though his hand was steady as he led me back to his pride and joy, Cherry.

No matter how hard I tried, he wouldn’t answer my attempts to figure out where we were going. It wasn’t until we found a lucky spot on the street that I had an inkling of where we were. And it didn’t give much of anything away. A quiet street on the outskirts of Denver, just far enough out the buildings were made of brick, with more character and charm than the cold, glass sky risers in the heart of Denver. There were even white Christmas lights wrapped around the trees lining the sidewalk, then stretching over the street, which had surprisingly little traffic for this time of night.

“Okay, this is a cute street, but I don’t see anything we could be doing right now, unless it’s to eat dinner again.” I hopped out of the car on steady feet before he could open the door.

Oops.

He scowled as he closed the door behind me. “That’s because we still have a street to go.”

Without another word, we strolled down the deserted street hand in hand. My innocent eyes drunk in the sight of urbanity all around me. I’d never really come into the city at night, and it had a whole new vibe I loved desperately.

A few couples appeared as we turned the corner, and all seemed to be going to the same shop up ahead. A smartly dressed attendant stood at the door gathering tickets as people passed by him.

“Is that it?” My voice pitched higher as I bounced on the balls of my feet, still without a clue about where we were going. The suspense and magic in those few moments right before I found out what he had planned was almost too much for me to handle.

“That’s it.”

“And what is it?” I leaned against his shoulder, trying to get a better peek through the glass. But there were too many people, too many distractions to pick out a clue as to what it was. Especially when I caught sight of the beautifully lit sign above the door.

‘The Hype’ was scrawled out in elegant calligraphy.

Yeah, that wasn’t a great clue. A comedy club? A dance club?

The people were dressed in various states of casual all the way to business formal. At least I wouldn’t feel out of place among them.

The gentleman at the door smiled as he collected the slightly crumpled tickets Beck pulled out of nowhere. “Complimentary refreshments are along the back wall. Enjoy your evening.”

The small group of people already behind us forced me further into the room, so I couldn’t take a minute to let my gaze roam over every little detail. Beck was on a mission anyway, heading straight for the back room.

He got two glasses of champagne from the table, handing me one.

“Beck.” I shuffled forward and whisper-shouted, “I’m not twenty-one.” They’d given me a few drinks when we’d gone out before, but the lights weren’t dim here. The room was more exposed.

Merely shrugging, he took a sip to hide his small grin. “I doubt there are many people here under age, and I want you to have the full experience. So don’t worry about one glass.”

I took a tentative sip as we claimed a high-top table draped in a solid black tablecloth for our own. Now I could soak in the atmosphere, but I barely took in half of the room before a man tapped the microphone on a podium by stairs ascending to a second level.

“Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to The Hype. As always, we thank you for your continued support and love of the arts.”

My brows popped up as my head swiveled to Beck. The smug look gracing his face warmed my belly. Slowly, he ran his fingers over my jaw and pressed his lips to mine, letting his tongue slip out to trace my bottom lip before he broke away.

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