Page 58 of Late Nights & Love Lines
Alexei lifts Miles’s dead weight off me and hefts him up on his shoulder. “He’s getting a little big for this.”
“It happens fast.”
Alexei pats my shoulder and walks toward the house with Maria at his side.
“That could get messy,” Elijah chuckles.
He, Beck, and Leo have been sitting with me for the last couple of hours.
“Only for Leo,” Beck says, holding his hands up in mock surrender.
The party is winding to a close, and it’s now or never if I want to get my dance with Rowan. Finishing the last of my beer, I set it on top of the table. “Gentlemen,” I say with a nod as I stand, and then I stride toward Rowan.
It’s time for our first dance.
14
COLLARS AND TOMBSTONES
ROWAN
“Dance with me.” Sebastian’s quiet words silence the table of talkers. Again, he doesn’t ask. He demands, and freaking hell, does my body respond. Even the ocean breeze has settled as if he’s commanded it too.
“I’m busy with the girls,” I say without looking at him. Doing so is like being frozen by Medusa herself—it’s dangerous.
Tabby and Beck’s wife, Stella, don’t hide their laughter. The fruity concoction they made with more parts tequila than juice might have something to do with it.
“Oh, that’s hot,” Bella whispers to my right. I still haven’t figured out how she fits into this trio, but there’s no denying she’s one of them.
Their eyes widen comically as they all sink lower into their chairs at once. Then, of their own volition, my lashes flutter closed when Sebastian presses his lips into my hair.
“Dance with me, Rowan,” he says for my ears only, “or I’m going to tell all your new friends exactly what I want to do to your tight little body, and trust me, I’ll be very thorough in my descriptions.” Those gravelly words scrape across my skin more sensually than a Wartenberg wheel.
He’s barely finished speaking before I stand so quickly that I almost topple my chair over.
“What do you think he said?” Tabby asks out of the side of her mouth. The alcohol has apparently made them incapable of whispering.
“Oh, it was something dirty all right.” Lottie grins. “You don’t get that red from a grocery list.”
“And she’s breathing hard,” Bella says behind her hand.
“Are her hands shaking?” Tabby chuckles.
“Okay, that’s enough of…whatever this is,” I say, spinning to face Sebastian up close for the first time in hours.
Damn. That was a mistake. His charcoal gray T-shirt is stretched at the neck where Miles must have weighed it down and a tiny tuft of chest hair pokes through it.
“You.” I point at his chest because I can’t bring myself to lift my gaze from how his shirt clings to his pecs. “Let’s go.”
I march toward the dance floor, but he takes my hand and walks me right over and past it.
“I thought you wanted to dance?”
The moonlight bathes his face in dim light and shadows.
“I do, but not here. Leo and Beck told me about a place on the other side of the house. It’s up the beach a bit.” He pauses and glances down at my feet. “Is your ankle okay to walk?”
Eye rolls around here seem to be contagious. “Yes, I told you I was fine when it happened. It’s not the first time I’ve dealt with a sprain. A couple of days of ice and elevation at night and it was good to go.”
