Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,157

as we were submerged in the crowd.

Time slipped past as we danced and drank and laughed and I bathed in song after song while the music filled my soul and made me feel lighter than I had since before I'd come back here. Not that I'd often felt light while I was running with The Dead Dogs and Shawn Mackenzie either.

Fucking Shawn.

My skin got all hot and prickly just thinking about that motherfucker and I cursed beneath my breath, deciding that another drink was probably the best solution I could come up with to that particular shit fest of a line of thoughts.

But before I could turn away to the bar, a large hand traced a line right down the centre of my spine and I fell still as my skin prickled with heat for a much better reason than rage at Shawn.

The mystery man slid his arm around my hips and I looked down, finding tattooed skin covering him from his fingers to his hand and up his forearm where a charcoal grey sleeve had been rolled back to his elbow.

The guy's grip tightened, drawing me back against a hard, broad body and I fell into the movements of my dance again as I let him move me.

The scent of wood and leather surrounded me as we moved together, his other hand moving to brush his fingers against my thigh just beneath the hem of my dress and a breathy moan escaped me as I closed my eyes and tilted my head back to lean against his shoulder.

This was what I needed. An outlet for the tension in my body to help me look at the Harlequins without any unwanted lust clouding my vision. Someone to touch and caress me and wash away the feeling of Shawn's hands on my skin.

I didn't want flowers and kisses. I wanted a man who saw what he wanted and took it. I wanted to use him and be used by him and feel the most perfect kind of dirty in the morning. Because dirty suited me best. I was a fucked up, imperfect creature and I liked to act the part so that I never forgot it. Never again.

The guy I was dancing with moved his hand up my thigh, his thumb lifting the material of my skirt and making my breath hitch as he drew a line of blazing fire right the way up to my panty line with that single digit before allowing the material to fall down again.

I hadn't even seen his face yet and I knew he was the type who could destroy me. This one ate virgin souls for breakfast and feasted on a diet of sex and danger and I wanted to feast with him the next time he dined.

His left arm kept my back locked to his front so when I tried to turn to face him, I couldn't and my pulse hitched as he slid his right hand up the front of my body, his fingers carving a line over my flesh until he made it to my neck.

As his large hand slipped around my throat, I sucked in a gasp of fear, momentarily thrown back into that moment with Shawn as he tried to squeeze the life from my body and I found myself helpless to stop him.

I tried to jerk away but the guy's grip tightened on my throat, his fingers digging in hard enough to make my pulse spike as he tipped my chin up. His other arm tightened around my waist and he drew my ass back hard against his crotch and the solid swell of his cock.

He dipped his head over my shoulder, the rough scratch of stubble grazing my neck right beneath my ear.

"Hello, beautiful," he growled, his voice deep and dark and even more painful than I would have thought possible.

My lips popped open in surprise, my heart thrashing like mad and a soft whimper escaping me that I couldn't even interpret.

He squeezed my throat tighter, his mouth still pressed to the side of my neck just above his fingers and as he bit down on my skin, sucking hard, a moan of surprise slid from my lips and my thighs clenched involuntarily as my needy body reacted to his touch.

It shouldn't have turned me on, especially with his hand squeezing my throat like that, but before I could even really get started beating myself up or telling him to get the fuck off of me or