ass. At least my panties were cute. "Don't look!" I shouted, mortified.
"I'm not!" Sean spun around, deliberately not looking in my direction. That made me feel a little worse. Was I not his type? Shouldn't he be peeking, at least?
His eyes were shut so tight, his forehead was turning a different color. I grabbed the bust of the cocktail dress and shimmied it back over my chest. I was ready to give up on the world and go join some celibate covenant.
Maybe he sensed my mood, because he turned enough to glance my way. "I really didn't look."
"I believe you," I chuckled sourly.
With nothing but awkward air between us, I started to squeeze past him. I misjudged the space, bumping into him roughly while he was hiding his gaze from me. Gasping, I started to stumble, our ankles scissoring.
As if he was worried I was about to fall, Sean threw his hands out to grab me.
His palm landed perfectly on my ass.
On pure instinct, I whirled around and slapped him. The noise shattered the silence, my palm vibrating from the stinging impact. "Fuck!" Sean grunted, cupping his cheek and gawking at me.
Oh, shit. I just slapped my dream guy. I'd thought today couldn't get worse. I'd been wrong.
His eyes were huge; shocked. My face had to be pure white. Impossibly, his stunned look slowly curled into the most adorable smile since the invention of smiles. He laughed and said, “You’ve got quite an arm there.” He rubbed his chin and laughed again.
The sound was as sweet as the music I'd heard him play over the years. No, it was sweeter.
I was too lost to respond. He took my hand, his grip like velvet wrapped around metal. “What's your secret to muscles like these? I didn't think you had time to work out, Brenda.”
I gaped down at our linked fingers. "What do you mean?"
Shrugging, he didn't release me. "Whenever I watch you, you're always running around, super busy-like."
When he watches me? We'd been around each other many times, but I'd thought it was me who was always watching him.
He kept holding my hand. His smile faded just a bit and those eyes fixed on me like they'd finally focused, like I wasn't some background fixture. I saw his throat ripple as he swallowed.
We were standing there in a hotel bathroom—me holding up a busted dress I'd paid too much for, him gripping my hand like I might vanish—and I had a feeling my legs no longer worked. Is this really happening? I wondered.
His hand slid off my shoulder and to my collarbone. He was traveling towards my neck, and when he got there, he brushed along my jaw as if my skin was as fragile as powdered sugar.
I wet my lips. Speaking is hard when your mouth is stuck half-open like a fish. "What are you doing?" I asked him.
Sean worked his way behind my ear, winding his steel hold into my hair. “When we were dancing tonight, I wanted to tell you something."
I couldn't fucking blink. "What?"
"Brenda, earlier you were so—no, not just earlier. You've always been..."
What? I asked myself desperately. Dammit, spit it out! I’m what?
His grin lifted up high until I could see his upper row of pristine teeth. “You’re beautiful.”
The dress fell to my ankles. That time, when he didn't look at my chest and kept staring into my wide eyes, I wasn't offended. Lunging forward, I closed my lips on his and tasted what I'd dreamt about for years.
I didn’t let go. I didn’t withdraw. I refused to stop kissing him because if I did, I might wake up. He settled around me, his arms wrapping over my shoulders as he pulled me in. My sensitive skin scraped over his cotton shirt; I felt every single fiber. He held me close and dammit, no one had ever smelled so perfect.
I opened my eyes, practically drunk on delight. I'd started to smile like a brainless fool.
There was a twinkle of mischief in his smirk. Sean snatched me up, carrying me into the main room and pushing me hard against the wall. The material shook—I wondered if anyone had heard it or my shocked squeal.
His soft, gentle kisses morphed into rougher, needy things. I pushed off the wall and kissed him back, determined to get as much of him as I could. I wanted him to see I could keep up with him. Whatever was going on here, I wasn't going to ruin it by shying away.