Page 1 of All Hallows' Maze
CHAPTER1
Vera
March— Before I Fell in Love
Dakota heldmy car door open as I stepped out and eyed the “surprise” he had for me today. We were parked in front of a dance studio just off the main road. It had gone through a few renovations and name changes, but my parents had enrolled me at this one ages ago.
“Bunny, I’m telling you it’ll be fun.” He tugged on the ends of my hair as he tried to convince me.
“I don’t know, I’m not good at it like you are.” I smacked his hand away before he could yank it again. “And stop pulling on my hair.” He smiled, bending down to my height and leaning in close.
“It’s fun,” he teased, twisting the ponytail tendril around his finger before gently pulling it. “Your head just follows,” he said, laughing. I couldn’t beat him there; he’d turned my head to the side as far as I could go.
“You’re still a child,” I chided and slapped the back of his hand again.
“Come on, we do everything together and I want you there with me.” He laid it on thick with a pout, making his bright green eyes round.
Our parents had signed us up for the same dance lesson when we were children, and it was fun, but he took to it in ways I hadn’t cared to. Dancing was one of his passions that I had supported with my presence selfishly. Instructors praised me and my parents for the talent I had, but I wasn’t there for the sport.
The longer I delayed in answering him, the closer he got. I was almost caged against his car.
“But I can’t—”
“I’ll teach you. Class is already over, and the studio is free. Trevor said I could use the space for the rest of the day.” He flashed a set of silver nondescript keys in my faces.
“Fine,” I relented. In a swift motion, he threw me over his shoulder and ran across the lot. His hand spanned the width of my thigh and settled under the curve of my ass. Dampening my reactions to his touches became an impossible task as time moved forward, but our relationship didn’t.
“Thank you, thank you!” He rushed the front entrance and jumped onto the sidewalk, eliciting a squeal from me with the fear of being dropped. The keys jingled as he fidgeted with lock, and a cool breeze met my backside when the door finally opened, and we stepped inside.
“Put me down,” I demanded, slapping my hand to his ass. I didn’t want him to put me down, but I did enjoy touching his butt.
He didn’t immediately release me. He walked us further into the studio and stopped in front of the wall to wall and floor to ceiling mirror. My feet hit the ground with a soft thud as he righted me to face our reflection. Dakota towered over me. I’ve always claimed to be of average height while he was the freakishly abnormally tall one. Bunny wasn’t just a cute nickname carried over from our childhood, not to me at least. I very much felt like prey under his gaze, but not in a fearful way—I wanted him to consume me.
Both of his hands rested on my shoulders before he twisted the sections of hair around two fingers. With each wrap around, he pulled me closer to him until the back of my head brushed his chest.
“I like the purple, too,” he whispered, lightly tipping my head back so that I looked up at him. My hair fell from his hands in loose waves as stepped off the main floor and toward a closet. The door opened to wires and electrical boxes, and as he fiddled with various buttons, music bled through the speakers.
He took his place behind me, wrapping his hands around my waist. His thumbs pressed on the outside of my spine and his fingertips grazed my abdomen. My heart raced and thumped loudly in my ears.
“Okay, first I’ll walk you through the steps and then we’ll string them together.” He brushed circles with his thumbs over my back and my breath hitched. “Simple steps, okay?”
I only managed a nod, noting that his hold of me wasn’t even necessary at this point. Unsure of what to make of that, I filed it away to agonize and over-analyze later.
“Step out on the left, and then rock for two counts,” he instructed, and I did.
He tipped my hips how he wanted, and I wanted to bash my head through the mirror because I wasn’t coming out of this alive.
“Repeat it on the right.” We moved together, and while I watched us in the mirror, his gaze was down and focused on me. “See, you’re a natural.”
“That was two very easy steps, calm down,” I said, brushing off the shit I’d heard too often despite my lack of interest. “You’re still likely to catch a stray elbow.”
He laughed, trailing his hands up my back and over my shoulders. They swallowed my arms as he slid them down to circle my wrists. Dakota raised my hands, and I looked like his little puppet.
“Left, right,” he said, clapping my hands lightly with each direction. “Now change direction—in front, under then over.” The position of his hold change. “And front, back.”
My hands touched behind me and the implications were highly erotic and secretly coveted. If I were more delusional, I’d have believed that he dragged this out for a similar guilty pleasure. The heat from his body flirted with my exposed skin and I wanted to abandon all the dance nonsense.
“You’ll have to go quickly for the next change, okay?”
