the bar, and they all looked to be filled with men in suits. The big, soft-looking booths were red and black and there were several large-screen televisions hanging around the room. One of them was playing a baseball game with no sound, and the other two were showing music videos. The sound was off on those as well and soft music was playing overhead.
Branden led her through that room and into the next, where there was a large stage and people were bustling around like they were getting ready for a show. Several of them smiled and said, “Hi, Mr. Duke,” as if he was a celebrity or owned the club.
The next room was the nightclub. The volume of the music was much louder due to the live band playing in the corner on an elevated black stage. The rest of the room was decorated in red and black like the bar. The wood dance floor was black and shiny and there were already quite a few people on it. The lighting was soft and high-top tables surrounded the dance floor. Branden took her hand and led her to one near the dance floor that was marked with a Reserved sign.
“This is your table?” Cara asked him.
“Yes, but I don’t use it often.”
She raised an eyebrow, doubting that was true considering the pictures she’d seen with various model-types hanging on his arm. She looked over and saw people coming in through a door on the side of the room that was flanked by bouncers who were checking IDs. She hadn’t thought about it, but people had barely glanced at her when she and Branden had come in the other way.
“Did we come in the back way or the front?” Cara asked.
“We came in the private entrance. It’s a perk of my membership,” he told her with a grin.
The cocktail waitress came over and took their order.
When she was gone, Branden surprised her by saying, “You are so pretty.”
“Thank you,” she said.
He had his eyes locked on hers again. Sometimes just the way he looked at her made her panties wet. Right now? Mission accomplished.
The band started playing dubstep. She was wiggling her legs and feet to the music when Branden stood and held out his hand to help her down off the high stool. “Shall we?”
He was being such a gentleman tonight. Not that he was ever rude—his manners were impeccable—but something just seemed different about him. She thought back on her little “domestic” fantasies earlier in the night and found herself wondering if he ever had any of those himself. She almost laughed out loud when she remembered who she was thinking about.
He led her out onto the dance floor and they found an empty spot. They both began to dance and she couldn’t help but notice how every woman on the floor looked at him with lust and her with envy. He was, of course, a great dancer. He danced like he did everything else. Perfectly. Cara was glad that dancing was something she’d always been good at. She’d taken ten years of dance classes before her father lost his job.
Her mind suddenly turned to her mother, who she needed to call. Needed to visit. She’d been allowing herself to enjoy the fantasy of being with Branden, but that wasn’t real life.
Branden suddenly pulled her tightly against his hard chest and leaned down so that his lips were almost touching her ear. The feel of his hot breath sent little jolts of electricity down her spine. “None of that tonight.”
She turned her head slightly, and when she did his lips were just inches from hers. She’d only had a few sips of her drink but she felt drunk. “None of what?”
“Whatever’s churning around inside your head. Tonight, I want you here with me. Completely.”
She still couldn’t take her eyes off his lips. She was hoping he had more to say, because being this close as she watched them move was lighting a fire of desire in the pit of her gut. She had her hands on his shoulders and she slid them upward, wrapping them up behind his neck. She rested them there, but allowed her fingers to dance along his hairline.
He had his hands on her waist, but as the beat accelerated and then decelerated, he slid them up, stopping briefly on the sides of her breasts before running them back down to her hips. As they swayed to music, Branden turned her in a slow circle