Take What You Want (60 page)

Danni shut the door louder
than she needed to and wrestled to get the red dress off her body,
grumbling the entire time. Alex waited patiently, smiling at her
mumbled rant, and then the small dressing room went silent.

“
Danni?
Do you have the black dress on?” he asked. When she didn't
answer him, he opened up the door a crack. He saw the shocked
expression on her face; her hand covering her mouth. His gaze
dropped down to her body and he sighed loudly. “Wow! Babe,
that dress is gorgeous,” he said. “It's like it was
designed with your body in mind.”

Alex's gaze skimmed over
every inch of her luscious curves perfectly encased in the tight
fabric. The dress stopped just shy of mid-thigh level; revealing her
ultra-toned and sinfully sexy legs. Alex swallowed hard and dragged
his eyes back up her backside. He saw her face in the reflection of
the wall mirror and saw tears shimmering in her dark eyes.

Without thinking, he moved
into the small room with her and shut the door. His arms circled her
waist and crossed over her lower belly. He set his chin on her bare
shoulder and looked at her face in the mirror.

“
Don't
you like the dress?” he asked her.

Danni closed her eyes and
drew in a long breath. “It's twelve hundred dollars, Alex, and
I …”

Alex turned her in his arms
and pressed her up against the wall, quickly covering her mouth in a
deep kiss. His hips tipped forward, grinding his growing erection
against her. When he finally ended the kiss they were both
breathless. “You didn't answer my question,” he
whispered against her partially opened mouth, taking quick licks at
her lips. “Do you like the dress?”

“
It's
beautiful, but I …”

“
That's
all I need to know,” he said. He smiled broadly and stepped
away from her. “I'll have the clerk box it up for you.”

“
Alex,
no! It's too much money,” she said. “I can't let you do
this.”

Alex faced her again and
bent a bit to meet her eyes. “I'm buying you the dress,
Danni,” he said smoothly. “And, there's not a chance in
hell you're talking me out of it, either. The quicker you get your
pretty little ass out of that dress, the faster we can leave and go
home.”

Danni didn't say another
word. She quietly slipped back into her Pilates workout clothes and
left the dressing room. She remained silent while Alex handed the
clerk his credit card, ignored the clerk as she wrapped the dress in
tissue paper and placed it into a shiny pink box and dropped that
into a fancy bag the same color as the box. She refused to even
carry the bag and left the store in front of Alex. They walked to
her car and got in with Alex behind the driver's wheel again, and
still Danni was silent.

Alex's fingers curled around
the back of her neck and massaged the tight muscles. “Danni,
don't be mad at me,” he said. “Aren't I allowed to buy
my girl something beautiful to wear to our party?”

“
I
don't feel comfortable with you spending that kind of money on me,”
she said.

“
You
look smoking hot in that dress, Danni, and if I thought you wouldn't
hit me, I'd buy you that very dress in seven different colors so you
could wear a different one every day of the week. That's how good
you looked in it. I'm sorry you're pissed-off, but I won't feel
guilty about buying something that makes you look so beautiful.”
Alex started the car and checked the side mirrors for traffic before
he pulled out onto main street. “I can't wait 'til Chase sees
you wearing that dress, babe,” he said. “And, it makes
my dick hard thinking about the fun him and me will have taking it
off of you after the party, too.”

He saw the faint smile tip
her lips, even though she attempted to hide it with the back of her
hand. “You like that idea of us peeling off that dress, don't
you sweetheart?” he asked.

“
Stop
it,” she said. “I'm still mad you spent that much money
on a dress.”

“
You'll
forgive me after Chase and I go crazy all over you Saturday night.”

“
You're
a pervert,” she said.

“
And
you love that about me,” he said.

-0-

As the start time for the
party arrived, one by one the limo services began driving vehicles
onto the property delivering the invited guests, and Danni's stomach
started doing flip-flops. She did her best to stay calm, smoothing
down the tight, black dress with the scoop neckline and spaghetti
straps Alex had bought for her to wear. The dress exposed a lot of
leg and the four-inch high-heeled sandals were the perfect accent to
showcase them. As much as she hated Alex had spent such a crazy
amount of money on one dress, she couldn't deny how sexy she felt
wearing it. And, the looks on both Chase and Alex's faces when they
saw her dressed for the party was priceless.

Chase and Alex didn't look
half bad themselves in their new linen shorts that hugged them in all
the right spots and polo shirts; Alex in teal and Chase in sapphire,
to match their eyes. Danni was happy to be on both their arms and
she, too, couldn't wait until the last guest left so she could remove
their new clothes. It would be like unwrapping gifts on Christmas
morning.

Before
they stepped out of the main house to begin greeting their guests,
Danni pulled Alex aside. She held his face with her hands, feeling
the prickly beard stubble against her palms, and rubbed her nose to
his. His big hands massaging the firm globes of her ass had her
momentarily distracted, but she closed her eyes to refocus her
thoughts.

“
Alex,
I want to thank you for this gorgeous dress,” she said. “And,
I'm truly sorry for acting like an ungrateful bitch about your
generous gift.”

Alex hugged her tightly,
lifting her off the floor when he did. “You're welcome, baby,”
he whispered beside her ear. “Seeing you in it is worth every
penny it cost.”

Chase came in close and
circled them both with his arms. He kissed Danni's cheek, then
turned to Alex. “I already thanked you for my new clothes,”
Chase said to Alex. “But, I'm happy to thank you again,
later.”

“
Oh,
Christ, now I'm hard,” Alex said.

Chase tipped his head and
took Alex's mouth. Danni leaned forward and pressed her forehead to
them and they shifted again to include her mouth in their kiss.

“
If
we don't leave this house soon, I'm going to drag you both back to
the bedroom and have my way with you,” Alex said.

Chase stepped back from
their shared embrace and took Danni's hand. Alex moved to the open
French doors in the kitchen and waved them to follow him.

“
Come
on,” Alex said. “I want you meet my friends.”

Danni stayed close to Chase,
and Alex did his best to introduce them to all his famous friends as
his 'partners'. The idea of so many people knowing about their
living arrangements was unnerving for Danni, but she appreciated the
sense of 'belonging' Alex was creating with the introductions. She
also loved the intimate touches and kisses he shared with both her
and Chase throughout the evening, too. Alex was being the perfect
host and she loved seeing this side of him.

It was difficult not to be
star-struck, with all these famous people wandering about the estate;
people Chase had only seen before tonight from a distance while they
performed on stage or in magazines. Never in his wildest dreams did
he think he'd be socializing with them or introduced to them as
Alex's lover. That part made him a little weak-kneed and nervous of
the fallout that could come from this admission, but he couldn't deny
how good it felt to have Alex on one side him and Danni on the other.
For the first time in his life, he felt full.

An hour into the party
Jayson arrived with Danni's friend, Allison. Chase had suggested
it'd be better for them to come together due to the V.I.P. status of
the guests. Chase and Danni introduced Jayson and Allison to a few
of Alex's friends and then began to mingle separately, but never
strayed far from each other.

Alex was working his way
around the pool patio area and the first-floor rooms of the estate.
Watching Alex with his friends had Chase smiling ear-to-ear.
Everything about the man captivated him; the dark shorts he wore
perfectly defining both his ass and the bulge in the front and the
partially unbuttoned polo shirt revealing a hint of his muscled
chest. Alex's hair was even lighter now, after spending months
outside in the sun; his tanned face making a nice contrast.

As if he could feel the heat
of Chase's gaze, Alex turned and found him across the patio. Chase
watched Alex excuse himself to his friend and walk over to Chase, his
smile growing wider with each step that brought them closer.

Alex stepped in front of
Chase; the tips of his fingers skimming the length of Chase's arm.
He inched closer and rubbed his nose to Chase; his hand easing behind
Chase's neck to draw him even closer.

“
Jesus,
you look good enough to eat,” Alex said. He rubbed his lips to
Chase's, then opened his mouth to Chase for a bone-melting kiss.

Chase swayed on his feet,
almost allowing Alex to sweep him away with that one kiss. “Your
friends are staring,” Chase panted.

“
They're
jealous,” Alex said, teasing Chase's bottom lip with the tip of
his tongue.

“
You're
making me hard,” Chase said. He took a gentle nip of Alex's
tongue.

Alex hummed. “I'd
like to drag you into the pool house and suck you dry.”

“
Are
you two the entertainment for this evening?” a male voice asked
behind Alex.

Alex quickly pulled away
from Chase and spun around. “Dagger you horny ol' dog,”
Alex said, quickly embracing the man.

Chase
nearly fell over at the sight of Dagger and Ryan. Both tall, dark,
and equally handsome for different reasons. Together they made a
beautiful couple; the mystery behind Dagger's dark eyes were
complimented perfectly by light color of Ryan's eyes and his softer
facial features. But, there was nothing soft about Ryan's muscled
frame. He was six-feet-plus of solid man.

Chase watched the warm
interplay between Dagger and Alex and the way Ryan stood close by
Dagger; his hand lightly pressed to Dagger's lower back. The
intimacy in that simple touch was powerful. When Dagger finally
stepped back, he quickly twined his fingers with Ryan's, as if he
couldn't wait another moment to have that physical connection with
his lover again.

Alex shifted to Ryan and
leaned in to give him a hug. “Are you still keeping this guy
honest?”

Ryan glanced at Dagger and
smiled. “Doing my best.”

Dagger's eyes darted to
Chase. Alex squeezed the back of Chase's neck. “This is
Chase,” Alex said to Dagger. “He's one of my partners.
My other partner must be off mingling.” Alex leaned in closer
to Chase's ear. “Where is Danni hiding?”

“
I
haven't seen her,” Chase said. He bent forward and shook
Dagger's hand, then offered his hand to Ryan. “It's nice to
finally meet you,” Chase said. “Alex talks a lot about
you both.”

Dagger's dark eyes bounced
back to Alex. “You making up stories about us again?”
Dagger asked Alex.

“
Only
the truth we all read about in the newspapers, right Ryan?”
Alex laughed, joking about Ryan's past job as an entertainment
journalist working for Music Spin Magazine.

Ryan rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, and we all know about the truth printed in the papers,”
Ryan said.

“
Well,
you always offered us the truth in your stories,” Alex said.

“
That's
because Ryan has honor and integrity,” Dagger said.

Again, Dagger and Ryan
exchanged goofy, love-sick glances that made Chase's stomach do
flip-flops.

“
He's
alone in that category,” Alex said.

“
Will
we be able to meet your other third,” Dagger asked Alex.

“
No
thirds in this,” Alex corrected. “We're all equally
invested.”

Alex spotted Danni coming
out of the house and signaled her with a wave to come over. All four
men watched her approach, but it was Chase and Alex that actually
made a sighing noise. The gentle sway of her hips and those killer
legs running from here to heaven, the diminishing boner Chase had
from Alex's kiss was once again stiffening and stretching the front
of his shorts. There was no doubt both he and Alex were going to
have fun undressing Danni later.