We come to a smooth stop, climb out the car and walk across a gravel footpath.

  “Is that good?” Braxton asks pointing to a corner where I can set my decks.

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “You have enough room?”

  “Yup.”

  Cars begin to roll in as the sun melts into the horizon. Soon, the guests, family, and friends, fill the house and the terrace. The music floats in the air, meshed with the cheerful voices.

  As Braxton sets my drink on the table, a pair of arms curl around me.

  Smoothly, I tear away.

  “Hey, Diana,” I say as I turn around.

  “Hey.”

  She gives me a once over before she locks my eyes.

  “You look good,” she says, her eyes glinting with a smile.

  Leaning back against a table, I put some space between us.

  “You too,” I reply politely.

  The twilight makes her eyes look almost green and her skin slightly tanned. She wears a one-shoulder white chiffon dress, channeling a modern version of a Greek Goddess. The fabric drapes over her chest, tapers at her waist and flows to her knees.

  She drinks me in, fascination spilling in her gaze.

  “Is she coming tonight?” she asks.

  “Mm-hmm.”

  A smile touches her lips as she leans toward me, curls her hands around my neck and brings her lips to mine.

  I turn to stone.

  “I missed you, Jagger,” she says and gives me a soft kiss before she tears away jiggling her fingers at me.

  She turns her back to me and walks away, my eyes following her all the way to a group of people.

  A long breath flows in my lungs as cold sweat trickles down my neck.

  Panicked, I scan the crowd before I glance back at Diana. She drapes her arm over a man’s back and sends me a languorous gaze over her shoulder.

  Hooking up with her was definitely not one of my brightest ideas. Her laughter shifts in the air, and my eyes are drawn to her again. She dances with that guy, glancing at me from time to time.

  I forget about her and look up the road. As the cars pull in, I expect to see Violet any minute.

  Moments pass by, and then a full hour.

  The cars are no longer coming in, and the party is already in full swing. The guests are dancing and drinking and laughing. It’s almost ten o’clock when I start grappling with a bad feeling.

  Tense like fuck, I keep my fingers occupied, dark thoughts clashing in my mind. She couldn’t have been here when Diana shoved herself in my arms. That would’ve been a cosmic joke.

  I push that idea to the side, dismissing it as crazy, but then the thought that something bad might have actually happened hurls a shiver down my back.

  I pull the phone out of my pocket and call her. It goes straight to voicemail. My stomach shrinks. I try again and again. Nothing. Fuck.

  I can’t leave now. And even if I could, how many times do we need to do this? She’s either home or she’s already left, and going after her would certainly not bring her back to me.

  “Hey, gorgeous.”

  I spin fast enough to catch Diana as she crashes in my arms. The alcohol sparkles in her eyes. Her hands grab my neck, pulling me to her lips.

  “Diana... Stop,” I say firmly as I cuff her wrists and peel her hands off me. “I can’t do this. Please stop,” I say, almost growling.

  A smile creeps up her lips.

  “Why’s that?” she slurs, and then she giggles like the spoiled brat that she is.

  “You know why.”

  “She’s not here... Jagger.”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “Then what is the point, baby?”

  She leans on me again, breathing on my lips.

  “I miss you fucking me,” she says her eyes sinking deep into mine.

  “Diana!”

  I push her off me, yet her hand remains glued to my chest, her fingers tracing my pecs.

  “None of the men I fucked were as good as you... Why can’t you just forget about her and come with me, huh?”

  “Braxton??”

  My voice thunders over the thudding sound of the bass and drums. I pull my phone out and text him to come and take her off my hands.

  “She’s not here, damn it!”

  She stomps her foot, frowning.

  “I wouldn’t do it anyway,” I slip under my breath as Braxton comes into view, strides to us, snakes an arm around her shoulders and pulls her away.

  “Time to go to sleep, sweetie,” he says, glancing at me over his shoulder, giving me a thumbs up.

  Her protests fade away as he hauls her into the house. I turn back to the table, dark and hollow. It’s getting late, and the crowd starts to thin out, and sadness pours over me.

  What the fuck went wrong?

  From time to time, I glance at the terrace. A half hour later, the faint headlights of a car stream through a curtain of trees. My heart starts to pound as I catch sight of my car coming to a full stop.

  Something must have happened. I take a long breath and brace myself.

  “You okay?”

  Braxton’s arm curls around my shoulders.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I say my voice soft, my brow furrowed.

  He swivels his head and studies me.

  “She’s here, man. Don't worry.”

  And then, he turns his eyes to her and freezes.

  “Jagger...?” he murmurs, his voice trailing off.

  “Huh...?”

  “Is that... Violet?”

  “Uh-huh...”

  “Damn...”

  Stunned, we both take her in as she struts across the lawn, gingerly walking on the pebble footpath.

  She steps carefully on her high heel sandals, her toned legs bare, her body hugged by a short, silver dress that drapes over her pert breasts and molds on her hips. She veers to the terrace, and gives us a full view of her naked back, narrowed straps crisscrossing from the nape of her neck to her rear.

  My eyes linger on the outline of her backside, the muscles clenching as she climbs the few stairs leading to me. There are no panties beneath that fabric, and I’m getting hard.

  “Fucking shit... man. I gotta go, I can’t watch this,” Braxton puffs, throwing his hands in the air.

  Flushed, he rushes away.

  She waves at me, a faint smile fluttering across her lips, and my heart drops. Her eyes look sad and foggy as if she’s been crying. She picks up a goblet of wine and gulps half of it on her way over.

  Something is really wrong.

  The bad feeling comes back to me, weighing heavy on my chest. I change the tracks to slow tunes and lower the lights.

  As she walks around the table, I prop on it, my back to the guests.

  She closes the gap between us, evading my eyes. She places the glass on the table and wedges herself between my legs, and with one smooth move, she presses her body on mine. Her hips touch my groin, her breasts crashing against my chest. My hands go to her rear as she twines her arms around my neck.

  “Hi, baby,” she breathes in me, her voice soft and sorrowful, her scent sweet, carrying the lingering aroma of the wine.

  “Is everything okay?” I murmur.

  “Yes.”

  “What happened?”

  Her eyes fill with tears.

  “I don’t want to talk about it, now.”

  “Violet?”

  My voice comes out strained, tinged with panic.

  “Shh...”

  She cups my face, her fingers trailing down my cheek.

  “Is it something bad?” I ask, nervous.

  She shakes her head slowly, blinking back tears.

  “I’ll tell you later. Please don’t worry. Okay?”

  Her lips come on mine.

  She runs one hand up my back and the other one between us, palming my groin.

  “Violet?” I whisper.

  “You were right about so many things, Jagger...” she murmurs, and before I can ask something and make sense of anything, she slips her tongue between my lips, and our lips crush in a breathless kiss.

  Her hand moves up and down, slowly stroking me, and I start moaning in her mouth. My hands find their way under her dress, my fingers curling around the back of her thighs, dipping into the wetness between her legs.

  An urgent need to bury myself in that hot softness barrels through me.

  “I can’t leave right now...” I mumble. “I’m not done...” I breathe in her, hoarse. And hard. “Give me another half hour.”

  She tears away, her eyes unfocused. She sweeps the glass of wine off the table, and in one gulp she empties it.

  “No hurry...” she murmurs. “I want to dance.”

  “Okay...” I say, turning around to change the music.

  “Leave this one on... I want to dance with Braxton.”

  My stomach does a double flip.

  “What? Why?”

  “It’s his birthday, baby,” she says, innocent.

  She pushes up on her toes and gives me a soft kiss on my lips as I grab her dress and pull down the skirt trying to make it longer.

  Her mouth opens, letting out a crystalline laugh, her eyes narrowing and sparkling like stars, and I look at her smitten, losing myself in her, filled with angst and lust.

  “I’ll be fine... Don’t worry.”

  “Sure,” I grumble.

  She twirls away, finds Braxton, and wraps an arm around him. He slings panicked glances at me. He does his best to keep a gap between them, yet she pulls him close to her.

  The moment his arm loops around her waist and his fingers splay on the small of her back, I almost burst a vessel.

  They start moving, her body waving against his, his leg slipping between hers, and my eyes get congested from watching that hemline slide up.

  As he’s getting more and more attuned to her, he relaxes, swept under her spell. His hands move, the one on her back kneading softly at the top of her rear as the other slips into the back of her hair. I watch his body as he starts rolling his hips, his thigh pushing deep between her legs...

  His eyes burning. He must be hard by now. I know I am.

  Braxton

  I try.

  I fucking try.

  I do my best.

  She’s Jagger’s, and he means so much to me, more than she does. But this is new to me. To us. We’ve never had a woman... off limits. He’s never drawn that line, and that’s why it’s so hard, and it also hurts so much.

  Furtively, I take her in, my eyes drifting down on her. She could easily be the end of us...

  Although I hope she’s not.

  But she’s different than the others, so full of contrasts.

  She is the way she is. Flowing like a river. Deep like the ocean. Playful like the wind. Mysterious like the night. Unscripted, and unpredictable. Hot like the sand basking in the summer sun. Elusive like the morning mist.

  I try to keep the distance between us, but it’s so hard. The dress may just as well be off her, the soft, clinging fabric hardly covering her body. Her high heels bring her close to my lips.

  She smoothly moves her body as if she’s making love with the lascivious music… or me.

  She’s soft in just the right places… the curves of her sleepy tits, the perfect arch of her butt, the sinuous lines of her hips. It makes it so easy to envision her naked.

  The back neckline of her dress starts at her butt, the front molding on her perfect tits, dipping low as well. There’s not a scrap of lingerie on her, not that it would make a difference.

  “You’re not shy, are you?” she sings to me, and my ears perk up.

  “Nah,” I mumble, sounding like a fucking schooler, caught with his hand in his pants.

  You’d think she was trying to lure me, but no, she isn’t. She’s sad as fuck, and yet she’s smiling, trying to be friendly. I wonder if she knows... how dangerously close she is to finding the real answer to her question.

  “Relax, Braxton,” she chirps again, and relaxing becomes increasingly elusive.

  Not with her moving against my body, almost naked in my arms, not with the image of her watching me, dumbstruck, as I was getting sucked by another woman. And certainly not with the image of her, straddled by him, as she was sucking him, her legs open, her flesh swollen, glistening, and dripping.

  Oh, fuck...

  And not with him watching us now as we are arguably dancing if you can call it that. I feel his stare. On her. On me. I’d do the same. I’d feel the same. I know he’s torn. I try to make it easier for him, but she doesn’t want to help at all.

  Tightening her arm around my neck, she pulls me into her, pressing her soft, warm body, against mine. Locked, we sway, following the music, pretending that we don’t feel that our bodies can’t deny each other.

  She feels so warm in my embrace, our bodies moving as if we’re making love.

  My hand slides low on her back, my fingers inching to her butt. Briefly, I close my eyes, and raise my chest with a long breath, my hard flesh pointing at my abs in its full, hard, big girth glory.

  I’m so fucking fucked.

  I can almost feel my fingers dipping, rubbing that curve, entering her from behind, while pressing her against my burning shaft. I try to keep my hips away. The last thing I want is her to feel me.

  So yeah... telling me to relax would not work right now.

  As if she wants to heal me of my ‘shyness’, she braces her arm around my waist, and pushes her hips against mine, shattering that little space of sanity between us.

  My eyes stay on her, gauging her reaction, as my hard cock presses flush against her belly. She cuts her eyes up to me and holds my gaze, not a lash batting.

  She says nothing and does nothing, and she doesn’t tear away. And she must feel how full and hot I am. In a way, it’s not as if we’re strangers. She’s seen the damn thing, and it’s too late to hide it now.

  And even so... We could be naked and alone, and she wouldn’t let me cross that line. That’s why she doesn’t shy away from me. She’d still say no to me because she’s his.

  A dark emotion flows through me, unsettling. She might be the end of us, and the thought puts daggers in my heart.

  I peel my eyes away, and she brings her hand to my face.

  “Why are you sad, Braxton?” she asks, and a smile I never thought I’d share with her, sprouts on my lips.

  Seemingly I’m not the only one who knows how to read a heart.

  “I’m not,” I say, and for some unexplained reason, I tighten my arms around her waist and pull her into me.

  Her fingers brush my lips, her eyes, misty from the blur of tears, dipping into mine.

  “Don’t lie to me, Braxton... ”

  We look at each other as if we both face a crossroad, and in a sense we do, the only difference is, I’m about to lose a part of me, while she’s about to walk away with what I hold dear most.

  I look at her, serious.

  “I’m not. And you can probably tell by now how I feel...” I say.

  Her lips curve into a soft smile. She’s so much more beautiful than I thought. I could easily get lost in her, and he could too, but if he does, that would be the end for me.

  Rolling my hips, I slip my thigh between her legs, grinding into her. Touching her. A soft jolt goes through her body as the sensation takes her by surprise. Her lips part slowly.

  A light flickers in her eyes, that doesn’t have anything to do with her heart but the chemistry between us.

  She slips into unchartered territory, and for a moment she’s keen to explore the craving that seizes her blood. It’s new to her, and it turns her on, and I bet she can’t explain it.

  The same way she couldn’t explain why she couldn’t peel her eyes away from me, the night she came looking for him, and stumbled on that woman and me.

  Her fingers start kneading on my neck, and I feel her melting in my arms, walking that thin line, her body wanting something her mind can’t even grasp. And mine does too.

  And it’s the music, and the secret betraying of our bodies, and the mix of my cologne and her perfume, the smell of warm skin, and above all it’s him watching us...

  His stare burns through my blood, and it flows through her too. Unaware, she lets herself get swept away by that feeling as I spin away with her, our bodies tangled, my hips grinding, my erection straining against her, my thigh pushing deeper, filling the space between her legs.

  She’s turned on like crazy, and so am I.

  Her eyes stay on mine, her lips pulling open, moist and full, and so fucking tempting. Her tits crash against my chest, and my hand itches to grab her ass as I barely keep myself under control. Her body gets warmer and warmer, and if I know anything about anything, she must be wet, and hot and most likely tingling, perfect for him... to fuck her.

  I can almost smell the scent of her arousal coming from between her thighs... the memory of that day when I walked on them coming back to me.

  The image of her lying at his feet... Her flesh wet and swollen, so fucking ready, her mouth filled... The only thing I would’ve liked was to kneel behind him, bury my head between her thighs, have my lips on that juicy flesh, and suck her the same way she sucked him. Have her come, and him exploding in her mouth...

  She pushes up on her toes, her lips brushing mine with a soft kiss.

  A thunderbolt rams through me.

  “Happy Birthday, Braxton!” she says, and then the music stops.

  9

  JAGGER

  My fingers snap out of paralysis, and a fast song shatters the magic and kills the romantic mood. He steps back, dazed, running his hand through his hair as I leap to the floor dance.

  “There’s a playlist for another hour,” I say to him, and he gives me a slow nod, unable to speak.

  This is so much worse than I thought.

  “I’ll be back,” I say curtly as I lace my fingers through hers and pull her away.

  I rush down the stairs, and she does her best to keep up with me, balancing on her four-inch heels, swaying her hips.

  “Hey... Where are we going?”

  We escape the cone of light, the music becoming a muffled hum in the distance.

  “Jagger?”

  We make a sharp right and walk around the stable, and as we slip behind the building, I pull her close to me and pin her against the wall.