Beyond Eden (17 page)

He laughed, the music, beer and Eve making him forget to behave. He forced her to turn around in his arms, running one hand up her back, tracing the line of her spine through the tight black top she wore. Eve looked up at him with stunned green eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, moving her shoulders to the rhythm of the music as a seductive smile tugged at her lips, silently daring him to be bold.

Paul arched an eyebrow at her as he lightly tugged at her ponytail. Eve reacted immediately, arching her back, showing off beautiful, lush breasts straining against the tight tank top. He gripped at her hips tighter when she bent back far enough that her hair brushed the floor and then came back up in a slow, sensual move that had his mouth watering for her.

Finally losing the battle, Paul ran both hands up her waist, wrapping them around her back and forcing her tightly against him, her breasts pressing against his chest to the point he could feel her heat through their clothes. She wrapped one arm around his neck as they started moving together. The rhythm of the music and feeling Eve pressed tightly against him made his cock swell. Eve’s eyes became molten as she stared up at him. She could feel his reaction to her and it was obvious it affected her because he knew that look, had once lived to see it shining in her eyes. It took more strength than he knew he had not to lean down and bury his face into the curve of her neck to kiss and lick at her skin that glimmered with a fine sheen of sweat.

It didn’t occur to him that the reason he was suddenly craving the taste of her was because he was fucking her on the dance floor. He forgot about Trisha and Danny and was suddenly a teenager again, clubbing with Eve who had always adored dancing. He had gone out with her every Saturday once he had gotten a driver’s license. Dance clubs had been their favorite outing. He had looked forward to it all week—when the two of them would spend hours pressed tightly together, getting lost in the music. They could have done it until morning if their parents would have allowed it, but they always headed home before midnight, leaving early enough to have time to drive some place secluded and fuck in his car. They’d leave the car radio blaring as Eve rode him to the same rhythm she danced with.

The music, her scent, the feel of her slim body moving against his, it all triggered so many memory sensors he found himself being pissed Danny had driven them. Dancing with Eve meant fucking her afterwards. Eve seemed to be suffering from the same problem because he had seen her dancing with Danny earlier and she hadn’t done it like this.

When the song switched, it jerked him back to reality enough to have him pulling away and shaking his head to find sanity. It was just unfortunate the next song was older, something they had actually danced to ten years ago. It was a Latin song, one that fit so perfectly with the Spanish atmosphere of Ybor City it was easy for the edges of reality to blur and suck him deeper into the fantasy. It had a distinct rhythm, making

it a showing-off song that usually left one or two couples who really knew how to dance getting a large berth as others just stopped to watch.

“Don’t even think about it!” Eve grabbed his hand when he went to walk back to the bar. She jerked him back to her with surprising strength as she raised her arm in a pose that clearly said she wanted to show off and couldn’t do it with Danny. “Make me look hot!”

“You don’t need help with that.” He eyed her as she grabbed his hand tightly at the curve of her waist, making it obvious what she wanted. “But go for it.”

Eve spun away from him, her hand still tightly in his, making others gasp in surprise. When she rolled back to him, her back now pressed against chest and his arm wrapped around her waist, they suddenly had much more room to dance. Paul found himself awed they could still do it this well. Ten years was a very long time and though Eve obviously still went dancing on a regular basis, Paul didn’t. He was really impressed at how easy it was to dance with her in a way that got them that much attention. Dancing with Eve was like riding a bike—he could do it ten years later as if he had never stopped.

Football players weren’t supposed to know how to dance, but Eve loved it and Paul never cared if his friends had made fun of him for it. Making her happy had always been his first priority and because of that he was one of the few lawyers who knew how to dance really well. When the next song ended, people actually shouted in complaint when Paul and Eve walked off the dance floor, breathless and sweaty.

Paul let go of Eve’s hand, stepping away from her when he saw the way Trisha was staring at them, her blue eyes wide and stunned, her pink lips parted in shock as she sat there frozen next to Danny.

“I’m returning your date,” Paul said, pushing Eve lightly toward Danny, whose eyes were dark and devious as he smirked against the rim of his water bottle. “Take over.”

“Gimme.” Eve snatched Danny’s water bottle from him. She gulped down a large portion of his water as her chest heaved, making it hard not to stare at the edges of her breasts exposed from her low-cut tank top. She was still breathless as she said, “You’re Cuban. Why can’t you dance like him, Danny Boy?”

“’Cause I was doing other things in high school, not catering to you,” Danny said as his eyes darted from Eve to Paul. “That was impressive. I had forgotten how good you two were together.”

“I told you I didn’t want to dance,” Paul said, feeling the back of his neck flush as he sat down next to Trisha, who was still stunned speechless. He was longing for something stronger than beer when he realized he was still hard, a part of his mind wondering when they got to drive home and fuck in the car with the radio blaring. He leaned in closer to Trisha, raising his eyebrows when he couldn’t read the astonished expression on her face. “I asked you first.”

“I—” Trisha started, shaking her head in stunned amazement. “I couldn’t do that.

You think I could dance like that?”

“Maybe,” Paul said with a shrug. “It’s just like—” “Fucking?” Danny offered, arching a dark eyebrow at Paul.

Paul turned around rather than respond to Danny. He raised his hand, trying to get the bartender’s attention. “I need another beer.”

“Did you guys do a routine or something in high school?” Trisha asked curiously, her voice now surprisingly excited. “You must have danced to that song before. That’s why Danny requested it.”

Paul stiffened in anger and turned around to stare at Danny in disbelief. It
was
his fault they had let loose like that, having requested a song he knew they couldn’t resist showing off to.

Danny didn’t even look abashed. He just shrugged casually. “I like that song. It never gets old. People always prefer the music they listened to in high school. Have you ever noticed that?”

“I like that song too,” Trisha said, surprising Paul by leaning into him and wrapping an arm around his waist. “But I’ve never seen someone dance like that to it. I can’t believe it, but you’re an amazing dancer. It makes you look sort of—”

Paul tilted his head, looking at Trisha curiously. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her blue eyes were shining in a way he hadn’t seen before. “Sort of?” he pressed curiously.

Trisha shrugged, her cheeks growing pinker. “I don’t know—you looked really—” “Sexy. That’s the word you’re looking for,” Danny put in with a dark, disbelieving

look at Trisha. “You think he looked sexy, anyone with eyes would.”

Paul stared at Danny in horror, trying to convey that saying Paul looked sexy was not something typical between two male friends. Danny being such a player had everyone including Trisha assuming he was straight, but he was going to ruin that illusion if he kept saying things like that. Danny was completely bisexual. His reality was different from other people. He was entirely confident in his sex appeal and he never gave a shit what others thought, even knowing Paul’s father would go insane if he knew Paul was living with a man who went both ways and actually fucked other men. It wouldn’t make a difference that Danny had been his best friend since kindergarten. Paul living with him would make him guilty by association.

“What’s in your water bottle?” Paul asked him slowly, his voice clearly warning Danny to shut up. “Did you leave it sitting on the bar?”

“I was just stating the obvious. That’s what she was thinking,” Danny said with a shrug, taking his water bottle back from Eve, who was frozen there, her eyes darting back and forth between Danny and Paul. He took a long drink, mumbling against the rim, “At least now we know she has an actual pulse.”

Paul felt himself pale as he continued to give him a look he knew Danny understood but was choosing to ignore. Double dating with Danny and Eve had been a mistake. He was cursing himself for telling Trisha to just leave her car at their house to save ten bucks on parking because now would be a good time to leave.

“You did look—” Trisha started, reminding Paul she was still there as he turned around to look at her hesitantly. She shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips. “Sexy. He’s right, that’s the word I was looking for.”

Paul raised his eyebrows, forgetting Danny for the moment because he didn’t think he’d ever heard Trisha say the word sexy before. “I’ll dance with you if you want. We can be sexy together.”

“No,” she said slowly as her blush grew deeper. “But maybe you can stay at my place tonight—if you want. I’ll drive you back in the morning.”

“Sure,” Paul said with a smile, feeling genuine shock that Trisha wasn’t mad at him for dancing with Eve like he had. She was turned-on, which was surprising because sex had never been exciting for her no matter what Paul tried. “Staying at your place is always nice. Tomorrow’s Sunday. We can sleep in.”

“Unbelievable,” Danny said in disgust as he set the water bottle on the bar and stood up with Eve’s hand in his. “You owe me fifty bucks for the song, Paul Guy. I’m not forking out that much for someone to get laid unless I’m involved.”

“What an asshole,” Paul growled under his breath, his eyes wide once more as he watched Danny and Eve walk back to the dance floor. “Seriously, did he put his drink down on the bar?”

“No,” Trisha said with a laugh, her eyes still swirling with something that was as close to lust as Paul had ever seen in them. “He obviously knew I’d enjoy seeing you dance. Who wouldn’t?”

“Yeah, that’s why he did it,” Paul said and then ordered another beer, putting it on Danny’s tab just because he was pissed at him. Danny was lashing out because he had wanted Trisha to end up angry, not flushed and inviting Paul over to her place. Danny was a control freak. When things didn’t work out like he planned he got vicious. Paul sat back down, a fresh beer in his hand. He took a long drink of it as he reached out, wrapping an arm around Trisha’s waist casually. “I wish we’d brought your car. We could leave now. Doubling with them is misery.”

“It’s not so bad,” Trisha said, leaning into him, her cheek resting on his chest. “How long did you date Eve in high school?”

Paul had to physically restrain himself from stiffening in reaction to her question. He forced his body to remain relaxed as he took another long drink of his beer. “A few years. It was one of those kid things. You know, when it doesn’t matter how totally different you are from the other person because you feel like the world will always stay the same.”

“You two are very different. I couldn’t imagine you dating Eve when I first met her, but after seeing you dancing together…” Trisha started pensively, as if pondering it

more. “I could picture you as a couple. I bet you two were really cute together in high school.”

“It would’ve never worked out. She and Danny are much better together,” Paul said, finding that just saying the words made his chest hurt because he knew he could have spent the rest of his life with Eve and been extremely happy. Letting Danny have her was never going to stop hurting him. He was extremely relieved Trisha wanted to spend the night together because he found himself needing the soft feel of a woman. “You’re more my type. I’m seriously disappointed we have to wait until Eve wears herself out before we can leave. She does need to get a job, because all she has to do with her time is paint, work out and fuck Danny. She’ll be dancing forever and you got me wanting to be in bed with you, not sitting here waiting for them.”

Trisha laughed, the sound of it huskier than usual. “Me too.” She tilted her head up to stare at him. “I’ll give Danny the fifty bucks, because I just realized I’ve got one good-looking fiancé. That’s worth the price of the song.”

Paul was silently thankful Danny hadn’t heard Trisha say she had just realized he was good-looking. Paul would have had to punch him to keep him from saying something even more suspicious than he already had and punching Danny was something that would end badly. He moved his shoulder, feeling the slight sting of lash marks on his back. He was going to have to do it with Trisha in the dark, which wasn’t a problem since she preferred it that way. The real issue was Danny had whipped him until he bled for refusing to give up Eve and the wounds weren’t fully healed. If Trisha touched his back she’d feel the marks Danny had left on him. Paul mentally started working on a plan that would keep her hands from getting near his back, distracting himself from the much deeper problem of Danny because Paul found himself wanting him just as badly as Eve, perhaps more so, because Danny being an asshole got him hotter than anything.

“Maybe we should catch a cab?” Paul mused as he ran his fingers through Trisha’s short blonde hair softly. “You wanna take off? We’ll catch a cab to my place, pick up your car and then spend the rest of the night doing something much more fun than watching Danny and Eve.”

“Okay,” Trisha said with a laugh as she pulled away from him and let her bright blue eyes run over Paul appraisingly. “We’ll be rebels and leave early. That’s sort of exciting.”

Paul wondered for a moment what it would be like to find something as ordinary as leaving early from a club rebellious. He had to figure out a way to keep Trisha from touching his back to hide the fact that Danny had whipped the shit out of him and then fucked him senseless afterwards because Paul always got so hot after a beating he needed Danny more than air. Leaving early to have vanilla sex with a woman he planned to marry in five months was not something Paul would categorize as rebellious.