F, as Heather would say, and when he turned to catch her gaze with his own, Arden didn’t look away. His smile sent a shiver down her spine, straight between her thighs. Her nipples perked. Definite attraction.
For one instant, Jason’s face flashed in her mind, but Arden pushed it away. Jay was dead. She was not. If she wanted to get back to living, now might be the night to do it.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s dance!”
He got up and followed her to the smaller room where the dance floor was set up. She’d picked the song because it was one of her favorites and easy to dance to, but it ended just as they got to the dance floor. The DJ decided the time had come to encourage all the couples bumping and grinding to get a little more serious. He started playing Madonna’s ballad “Crazy For You.”
Too late to back out now.
Philip pulled Arden into his arms as smoothly as though she’d always been there. Her cheek rested against his chest. His hands cupped her waist. He led the dance, and like everything else he’d proven good at this evening, he was a good dancer too.
She was horny, Arden thought as Philip’s hands stroked her back and tangled in her hair. Her breasts ached, the nipples pebbled and rubbing against the silk of her bra. Between her legs, her clit began to throb with every brush against her satin panties. Her thighs rubbed, creating delicious friction, and slickness coated her.
He’d be a great kisser, too, she just knew it, but Arden could not find the courage to lift her face to his. They’d just met. But wasn’t this why she’d gone out with him tonight? It was stupid to fool herself into thinking this was just a normal blind date.
Philip took the lead. His lips brushed the side of her neck. Her clit jumped, her nipples got even harder, though she wouldn’t have thought they could. Her breath caught. He kissed her again, his hands making sensuous patterns on her back, sliding over her ass, moving up her sides to brush his thumbs on the underside of her breasts.
Arden looked up, meaning to tell him she wasn’t ready, that she should just go home, but she didn’t have time to say anything because he kissed her. And it was good. Damn fine, she heard Lida’s whisper in her head, and Arden opened her mouth to Philip’s lips.
His tongue dove inside, but didn’t plunder. He took his time, stroking and teasing her with his tongue and lips until her entire body quivered with arousal. She opened her eyes when he pulled away. The song had ended, replaced by another bouncy ’80s pop tune. They’d look like idiots if they kept slow dancing, but Arden wasn’t sure she could stand if he let go of her, since her knees had gone so weak.
Philip pulled her toward the edge of the dance floor, out of the way of the other dancers exuberantly bouncing to Cyndi Lauper’s “She Bop.” He tilted his head to look at her, like he was waiting for her permission to kiss her again, and something in her eyes must have given it because he did.
The second kiss was even better than the first. Like that first bite of chocolate after dieting for a month, the first drink of cold water after running in the sun, the smoothness of a soft pillow and flannel sheets after undressing in a winter-cold room, Philip’s kiss transported Arden out of the tiny, riotous bar and straight into a lust-induced fantasy.
She could do this. Take this man home and fuck the living daylights out of him, no strings attached, just give her body the relief it craved. He was gorgeous, he was nice...he was waiting.
But she couldn’t bring herself to just say, Let’s blow this Popsicle stand and screw like bunnies.
Philip nodded at the dance floor. “Want to dance some more?”
Again, he’d said the perfect thing. She did want to dance. Dance the way she’d done in eighth grade, wild limbs and flying hair, dance until she was exhausted. Because it was fun.
He pulled her back onto the dance floor and they began to bop. At first, despite herself, Arden felt self-conscious. Then, looking around, she realized she had no reason to be. Most everyone in the place was half snockered, or didn’t care. Everyone was dancing like junior high students. She wouldn’t be out of place at all.
So she danced. And