Page 86 of Just One Bite
“I promise to return the favor for letting me drink.”
“But …”
He moves his lips to the tip of my ear and hushes his voice till it’s barely audible. “I want to take my time with you and make sure you’re relaxed. I can’t ensure that here.”
When he pulls back to face me, his pupils are large and his presence is all-consuming. I shrink under his gaze and lean into him ever so slightly. The thundering heartbeat in his chest thrums steadily beneath my fingertips.
“I also don’t know if I can trust you to be quiet. I’ll finish what I started. My room tonight?”
“I …” I find the full strength of my voice. “I was going to practice late tonight with Octavia.”
“Perfect. I can help you wind down after. Would you like that?”
There’s something deathly charming about Parker. The way he smiles with those perfect canine teeth. It’s the smile of a confident man who knows he hasme exactly where he wants me. This is usually where I run. Hide. Anything, really, to find a reason not to bind myself any further to a man who is looking at me like he has three little words dancing on his lips. But I don’t feel the urge. I’m trying harder to hide my disappointment that we have to separate. The remnants of my dreams dance in the foothills of my mind. I have a dream nearly every night about him, and none of them involve clothes.
Are Parker and I going to have sex tonight? And if we do … does it mean something to him … to me?
I accept his invitation.
Parker is hesitant to leave me with Octavia, even after she assures him she’s drinking her last drink, then we’re heading to the studio. We’re one and the same dancing wise, and she never turns down an opportunity to practice when I ask.
“Your future mate is safe here. No one will touch her.” Octavia giggles. I’ve never heard her giggle before. She’s typically an intimidating athletic machine in the studio, but here, she’s bubbly and flirty. I even see her eyeing Barrett across the room who is not being subtle in that he notices. There must be a story there. They are on the council together, so it makes sense they are friendly since they meet for breakfast, but the thought of it makes my stomach turn.
Parker kisses me long and hard before saying his goodbyes, then leaves the party with Ryker. I’m proud of him. He told me about helping Ryker practice and convincing him not to quit. I’d seen them practice a few times, and during that time, I saw the same worry lines of stress scrunched on Parker’s forehead that I see staring back at me in the dance studio mirrors. The look of someone who has something to prove and a lot to lose.
“You smell like sex and Parker.” Octavia tugs me by the arm to the corner of the room.
There are so many people here it’s hard to see anything. She effortlessly waves away the males lingering on the bay window overlooking the lake so we can sit. The seat cushion beneath my fingertips is plush.
“I have … nothing to say about that,” I say.
“No, tell me something. Parker has been a girl magnet ever since he showed up. The masses are jealous of how quickly he picked you. You must be special to him.”
There it is again. That strange sensation loitering in my gut about Parker. From the moment we saw each other, there was a spark. I’m not a believer inlove at first sight, no matter how many times I’ve read it in the novels Emma suggests. Love can never be that easy.
“He’s very attentive,” I say, only then realizing I’m thinking of Parker and the word “love” at the same time.
Her eyes widen. “Go on.”
“There’s just this feeling around him. Since I met him. It’s like knowing someone you’ve known your whole life. Have you felt that?”
She shakes her head. Her hair is up in a ballet bun and doesn’t move a centimeter. “No, but I want to. I’m surprised he hasn’t marked you yet.”
“We just agreed on that actually. I wanted to ask you if you've ever—”
“No. But a few of my friends have.” She chugs the last of what’s in her cup and twirls a finger at someone saying her name from across the room.
“Anything you can say to help me prepare?”
“You don’t have anything to worry about. When your connection is close, I’ve heard it’s euphoric.”
My cheeks warm at the thought. Who am I kidding? The fact I’m even considering having sex with Parker is a testament that I care about him. How can it not be with the ache I feel at his absence? I promised myself I wouldn’t get attached to someone like this again. Especially not now that I’m so close to achieving everything I want.
We don’t talk about Parker for long. While standing at the bay window watching the crowd, I pick her brain about her previous performances and anything ballet related I can draw out of her. Her favorite ballet isSwan Lake, one I’ve not practiced before. She is the first person I’ve known since ballet school that gets it—the unbridled yearning for success, performance, and perfection that’s plagued me since I was a child. It plagues her too. She never tires of talking about ballet, and I don’t either.
After thirty minutes, I’m brimming with excitement to get my pointe shoes on and practice variations. We’ve been asked if we wanted drinks at least ten times, and none of them were water.
Octavia abruptly stops talking, and her chin juts out. “Leave her alone.”
