Page 13 of Ava After Midnight

Reality slams into me like a freight train. Domingo’s hands fall away, but his eyes promise this isn’t over.

“You should go,” I tell Zoe and Jade. “Damage control. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” Zoe hesitates. “Because leaving you alone with Tall, Dark and Dangerous here…”

“Means I’ll behave,” Domingo cuts in smoothly. “Scout’s honor.”

I shoot him a look. “Why do I feel like you were never a scout,” I guess, making him grin. Mischief dances in his eyes.

“No,” he admits, “but I am a gentleman. Most nights.”

“And tonight?” The words slip out before I can stop them.

His smile turns wicked. “Tonight I’m whatever you need me to be,princesa.”

Jade whistles low. “And on that note, we’re out.” She tugs on her jeans, cursing at the friction her newly-dried legs create. Once they’re on, she throws a t-shirt over her head. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Once she’s also dressed, only throwing a skirt on over her bathing suit, Zoe looks over her shoulder at us one more time. “That leaves a lot of room for bad decisions,” she mutters, but she’s smiling as they leave.

In their wake, the city lights flicker like whispered secrets, and in Domingo’s eyes, I see the kind of promises I’ve only ever been too afraid to make.

Chapter Four

DOMINGO

Steam curls between us, representative of promises we shouldn’t be making. It wraps Ava in a heat that makes her glow. Even here, submerged in water, her body follows a rhythm—like she’s made of music. Under the Miami lights, her skin gleams as if painted in moonlight.Mi bailarina nocturna. My midnight dancer.

She’s a fantasy come to life—wild, untamed, beautiful. Everything I could ever want, except for that rock on her finger.

“Baila conmigo, princesa,” I murmur, guiding her onto my lap with the same precision I once used to lift partners on stage.

The water parts as she straddles my thighs, her body naturally finding the perfect balance point. Even this intimate moment follows dance’s rules—tension, control, the promise of movement.

I can’t help myself. “Let me show you how music’s meant to feel.”

“Here?” Her fingers brush my chest as she leans in, midnight temptation in human form. The palm of her hand presses against my sternum, firm in both composition and placement.

“Anywhere. Everywhere.” My fingers trace the constellation of freckles on the outside of her shoulder. “The whole city’s our dance floor tonight,princesa.”

She finds the invisible tempo instinctively. Her hips roll in a perfect bachata rhythm that draws a groan from deep in my chest—half desire, half recognition.

“Teach me your rhythm.” Her words sound breathless, but I can feel the control she has over each inhale and exhale.She must be a dancer too.

I guide her through movements as ancient as ritual—one-two-three, pause, the basic bachata step that feels like coming home. Her body responds like she’s been dancingcompásher whole life. Each touch kindles a fire that could burn this whole city down, and I’ll be damned if I don’t want to watch it blaze.

“Domingo…” My name breaks on her lips like a shattered prayer.

“Dime que pare,” I breathe against her pulse point, the Spanish falling from my lips like dark honey. “Tell me to stop. Though stopping would kill me as surely as never dancing again.”

Instead, she kisses me like a flamenco’s final crescendo—all passion and fire andduende, that soul-deep spirit that makes audiences weep.

For a moment, it feels like being on stage again, that heady rush of knowing every eye is on you, of commanding the room without a single word. I had that once—before my body failed me, before I became something lesser.

Before I could convince myself I didn’t miss it. But she moves against me like music, and fuck, I miss it. I miss it so much I could drown in it. Ava’s lips trace promises against mine in a language older than words.

I’m lost, gone, burning alive in the best way. My hands slide lower, gripping her thighs, ready to show her exactly what her deepest wishes and most elaborate desires feel like?—

“Wait.” She pulls back, chest heaving, reality crashing back in her eyes. “I can’t... not like this. Not with?—”

---