Page 89 of Attached At Heart
THE CLUB BUZZED WITH an undeniable sexual energy that went beyond whatever was happening between Delaney and me.
With each step we took inside, I felt it build inside me. The music infused my bones, driving toward some kind of peak. My body ached more and more with every second that passed, with every person who danced around us, some out in the open, others half-hidden amongst the red velvet curtains that fell thick and heavy along the walls. Lips sought lips, bodies sought bodies, all with a carnality I felt intensify as we drifted further into the club.
For the most part, we went unnoticed as we entered, but once we passed through an interior velvet-adorned doorway, I felt eyes following us, hot on my neck. I pulled Delaney in front of me, wanting to be able to scan the room and keep her within my eyesight at the same time. A quick survey of the club led me to a few young guys chatting amongst themselves in the corner, beers in each of their hands. But their eyes kept flicking to us. Or, more accurately, to Delaney.
My grip on her tightened as she led us toward the bar, squeezing into an open spot along the counter. As soon as she stopped, I wrapped my arm possessively around her.
Not a single word I’d said to her outside was exaggerated. There was no way in hell I’d be letting go of her in a place like this. The waiter’s remarks at dinner had injected concern into my veins, the way he’d promised they wouldloveDelaney here. I couldn’t blame anyone for loving Delaney, but if they dared to touch her, I’d probably lose my fucking mind. No, Iwouldlose my mind. No doubt about it.
Delaney shouted at the bartender, holding up two fingers, telling me she’d ordered for me, too. When she leaned back into my arms again, waiting for our drinks, her head brushed against my nose. The smell of her sweet hair temporarily overpowered the sex haze in the air, and I pressed a kiss to her head. Delaney glanced back at me over her shoulder, giving me a soft smile.
There were a million words in that soft smile, and fuck if I didn’t hear all of them loud and clear.
I kissed her again and then dropped to brush my lips against the shell of her ear.
“What’d you order me?”
“Your favorite,” she said over her shoulder.
I frowned because I wasn’t aware that Ihada favorite drink.
“An appletini,” she laughed, and my lips cracked into a grin.
Thank fuck Delaney hadn’t let that cranky bartender ruin her love for appletinis forever and that she’d walked up to the bar tonight and ordered two without a second thought.
Tonight’s bartender—a man with suspenders, a grizzled beard, and a shiny, bald head—slid our drinks across the counter a few minutes later. They didn’t look like appletinis since they were in regular glasses instead of martini ones, but I reached over Delaney to pay for them anyway, slapping the euros on the bar top and letting the guy know I didn’t need change. Hethanked me and rushed to help the next person waiting along the cramped bar.
Delaney turned in my arms to face me, but we were so close that I had to suck in a breath to keep my shit together. I could see the dark blue outline around her irises and the equally dark twinkle in them.
“Here you go,” she said, offering me the drink.
“Thanks, Lane.” I took it, debating if I should tell her the truth about the drink. That it was, honest to God, one of my least favorite drinks in the world, but decided against it. It didn’t fucking matter. Right now, the only thing that mattered was how proud Delaney seemed of herself when she handed it over.
“You’re welcome,” she said. Her eyes stayed glued on me as she slipped her straw into her mouth and sucked, making me choke on air. By the time she lowered her drink, my cock had stiffened in my pants. “I loved that bar we used to go to off of Madison Street.”
“It was a good bar,” I muttered because I didn’t have any other words in my brain. All of my thoughts at the moment were geared toward Delaney’s mouth and how she’d returned to toying with the straw, biting on the end of it. “Yeah. Good bar.”
She smiled at me like she knew I was struggling.
Fuck if I cared.
What I did care about was the movement behind her, the eyes following her. They were the same eyes that had been watching us when we’d walked in. Watching her.
“Do you want to dance?” I offered, wanting to get her away from them.
She nodded. “That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
Right. Because weweren’there just for me to sit and stare at Delaney’s mouth.
Without another word, I whisked her toward the dance floor. When we reached it, she spun around in front of me and took thelead, which was for the best, considering I didn’t have a rhythmic bone in my body.
Well, maybe one.
But that one wasn’t the one I needed to come out to play at the moment.
Delaney shimmied backward, her body loosening with every step until I could almost see how the music flowed through her. She beckoned me with a curl of her finger, walking me like a dog as I followed her.
But then she got distracted, forgetting about me as the song switched to something with a quicker beat, something synth-filled and intoxicating. Delaney threw a hand up while clinging to her drink with the other, giving a joyful shout. And then she let the music sweep her away, her eyes closing and body melting into the sensual rhythm. Her hips rolled and dropped like they had a mind of their own, and shit, my mouth ran dry at the sight.
