Authors: Lexxi Callahan
“Are you crazy?” Lizzie ignored the burning sensation sliding all over her. “These are my dancing shoes.”
“Come on, runt.” Jared twirled her around. “The night is young and music’s high —”
Adam groaned. “We are not singing that song tonight.”
Lizzie let them sweep her along to Jared’s SUV, while Jared sang “Dancing Queen” and Adam sang “Enter Sandman” back. Their banter didn’t distract her from remembering how Nic had backed his sister up and how gentle he was with his nephew. The memories burned themselves into her brain right along with the dance they’d shared tonight, the almost kiss and the other times they’d met. Pretty memories, she told herself. She didn’t have time for anything else.
The after-party at the house on St. Charles should’ve been more fun than the reception. There were no elderly relatives to worry about. No children tugging on her dress, begging for strawberries or asking her to add huge random numbers in her head. She glanced around the backyard where Stefan and Jen swayed under the colored lanterns she’d made Jared and Adam string into the pergola that morning. Jared and Adam sat in the corner remaking tired old 90s songs into acoustic romance. The music blended perfectly with the sounds of street cars and the city.
It was a beautiful, perfect night. There was more food, more wine, cold beer and warm brownies. Everyone grabbed a stick when she produced giant marshmallows to roast over the copper fire pit blazing on the patio. Lizzie tried to pretend she didn’t feel like the marshmallow she held over the fire. Burnt around the edges and starting to dissolve.
“It might be a little too crispy.” Adam nudged her shoulder with his and the marshmallow fell into the flames.
“Hey.” She forced a laugh, then handed him her empty stick.
“It deserved a proper Viking funeral.” He grinned, his dark blue eyes at odds with the exotic features he’d inherited from his Japanese grandmother. Adam was all kinds of beautiful and there were girls in the city who would give up years of their life to have him smile at them the way he did at her. That she could smile straight into those beautiful eyes without her heart so much as hesitating proved there was something wrong with her.
It wasn’t fair.
He pulled her to her feet. “Dance with me, Lizzie.”
She let him tug her under the soft-colored lights and hold her close. She loved dancing with Adam. His natural rhythm was easy to follow. The lean body under the faded black T-shirt and threadbare jeans was hard but comfortable at the same time. His arms were reassuring and warm but it wasn’t the same.
Dancing under those colored lanterns with possibly the nicest guy in the world, Lizzie hated Nic. Hated herself for not being able to shake him off and get on with her life. Nic had ruined her for all other men.
“We’re playing at Trick’s at midnight.” Adam’s breath was warm against her ear. Her forehead pressed against his chest. He rested his cheek on the top her head. Why couldn’t there at least be a spark? It was a crime Adam wasn’t the one. She backed up, blinking back tears and trying to move away from him before he noticed.
He noticed.
“You’re killing me, Lizzie.”
It would be easy to be with Adam. There was no way it wouldn’t be amazing. But she would always compare him to Nic and she cared about him too much. Because she would never inflict the flaying sensation she couldn’t shake on anyone else.
She had the sudden urge to go home. The bleakness ached inside her. The home she wanted didn’t exist anymore; the flood waters had washed it away years ago.
“Come to Trick’s tonight. I’ll buy you breakfast when the sun comes up.” He kept hold of her hand as they walked off the patio and into the house.
“I don’t know, Lizzie,” Jared chimed in from behind them, popping Adam on the shoulder and spoiling the serious expression on Adam’s face. “Be careful with this guy. He has a thing for knots.”
Adam’s arms went out, as he spun around and pushed Jared hard. “Shut the fuck up, Marshall.”
“Are you blushing?” Jared crowed with laughter as he stumbled back. “He’s blushing, Lizzie. He’s cute when he blushes.”
“Fuck you.” Adam tried to sound fierce as he caught the motorcycle jacket Jared tossed at him but Lizzie had known them too long to believe their posturing.
At least she was laughing now and it definitely felt better.
“You wish, Granger. I don’t like knots. Now can we get the hell out of here before Sellers explodes? There’re like a gazillion buttons on Jen’s dress. Really don’t want to be here when he goes all Neanderthal and starts bodice ripping.”
Lizzie smirked. “She will skin him if he rips her dress.”
“Come to Trick’s, we’ll dance.” Jared twirled her in his arms.
“She’s coming.” Adam tried to catch Lizzie back but Jared was too fast for him and dipped Lizzie low on his arm.
When they straightened, Lizzie was officially in a better mood.
“Yeah—” Jared threw one arm over Adam’s shoulder and the other over Lizzie’s, “—but she’s riding with me. No way is she getting on your bike in those shoes. Those shoes are hot, Lizzie. Have I told you they’re hot?”
“Are you drunk?” She slid out from under his arm and turned to face him. He was talking too fast and his eyes were wild. She put her hands on his chest when he tried to brush past her. She saw a brief flash of pain before he covered it.
“Oh.” She breathed out the word.
“Oh, nothing.” He laughed. Because Jared always laughed. He was never serious, until he was. Then he was a tiny bit dangerous. “It’s not what you think, now less talking more dancing. Let’s go.”
The line at Trick’s was down the block and around the corner. They parked in Elliot’s restaurant’s parking lot, one of the few actual parking lots on the edge of the French Quarter. They walked the two blocks to the back entrance and downstairs. The walls and ceiling were vibrating from the other band. Sugar Coma had an hour before they were due on stage. They headed straight into the crush of bodies writhing on the dance floor.
She danced with them until a girl with white blond hair dragged Adam away. Jared took the opening, grabbed Lizzie and dove into a sea of people. Jared was lethal on the dance floor. Dancing with Adam was fun. Dancing with Jared was the equivalent of a spin class combined with an MMA session on steroids. Actually, it was better. Within minutes Lizzie lost herself in the rhythm and the energy sizzling through the crowd. She was burning up, but she didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. Jared moved her so deep into the music she forgot where she was.
It was nothing like when Nic held her. There was no electricity, no breathless excitement, no aching longing. This was muscle and sweat and music and heat and Lizzie loved it, but it wasn't the same.
Sugar Coma took the stage but Jared stayed with her.
“You’re not going to play?”
He shook his head, leaning into her. “They’ll be okay for the first set.”
“Are you okay?” she asked between songs.
He nodded. “I will be.”
She didn’t believe him. “Does Jen know?”
“No!” He jumped back from her. “No.” His voice was calmer but he didn’t meet her eyes. “It got real with the priest and all. They’re really married.” Jared exhaled a painful breath. “It’s cool.”
It wasn’t cool. He was hurting. Lizzie couldn’t believe she’d never noticed his feelings for Jen might be stronger than friendship. Jen hadn’t either. She would never have asked him to walk her down the aisle if she suspected. “Jared…”
He shook his head again, as if shaking off the pain. “He loves her.”
The music was building again. Lizzie had to shout. “He always has.”
“It’s a pain being nice to him.” Then a wicked grin broke out across his devilishly handsome face. “Screw him, he has to be nice first. Now dance.”
She had no idea how much time passed before Jared leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Brace yourself. Incoming.”
Hard hands closed around her waist. Jared made no attempt to stop the force of nature who jerked her away from him. Instead, he laughed. “Have fun, brat, I’m going to play.” He dropped a kiss on her cheek and escaped toward the stage.
The hands spun her around and she collided with a heat her body instantly recognized. She lost her breath as hungry eyes narrowed on her. There was no mistaking Nic, but it was a Nic she didn’t recognize. All his smooth, detached calm was gone, replaced by a raw edginess that lent an air of danger to him.
Jared plugged his guitar in and blew the dance floor wide open. The frenetic energy cresting across the dance floor turned more sensual as Sugar Coma launched into their cover of “Little Wing.”
Nic’s arm went around her waist and she melted into him, losing herself in the heat of his body and the rhythm he set. Chills danced across her skin and she let the music take over. She had no idea how long they danced. Nothing else existed except the wild pulse of music and Nic. He was here. With her. Like they’d been together forever.
Her arms wound around him and held on tight. She refused to let go of him. She wanted to hide in his arms as long as possible and maybe, she’d get lucky and the sun wouldn’t rise.
She lost all track of time. Forgot where they were. She sighed in protest when he led her off the dance floor toward the bar. Despite the crowd, he procured a bottled water for her and long neck beer for himself. There was something so wrong about Nic drinking a beer but he wasn’t that elegant man tonight. He’d changed into jeans and a black button down shirt, his hair was a rumpled mess and he hadn’t shaved either.
“How did you find me?”
“Rogan told me when I dropped by Jen and Stefan’s.” He finished the beer.
“Were you looking for me?” The idea made her breathless.
“What if I was?”
She opened her mouth, then realized she didn’t know how to answer. She settled for a smile and hoped it was mysterious.
“You waiting for them to finish their set?” He nodded toward the stage where Jared and Adam had the crowd under their spell.
Lizzie smiled as she watched Jared crouch down and sing to a couple of girls standing by the stage. One almost fainted. Adam shook his head in disgust and played his guitar. He was as serious as Jared was crazy.
Then fingers had hold of her chin bringing her attention back to the man holding her. Jared and Adam were boys compared to Nic. Lizzie was way out of her league with him.
“The musicians. Are you waiting for them to finish?”
She tilted her head and slicked her tongue across her dry bottom lip. She loved the way he honed in on the small movement. It made all the liquid in her body start to simmer.
“What if I was?” she taunted, knowing she was poking a real live tiger. She couldn’t stop herself.
Her breath caught as he moved in, backing her up against a wall vibrating with bass. He crowded straight into her personal space until nothing else existed but him. His dangerous edge was back and once again her response was seriously inappropriate. Instead of trying to get away from him, she lit up like a Roman candle.
“Tell me about blue-haired boy.”
She tried to smile but she was trembling too hard. This was definitely not the elegant man she’d danced with at the wedding. This guy was ruthless and…hungry?
“He’s a friend.”
He relaxed but didn’t move away from her. Instead his head came down, but he didn’t kiss her. His mouth opened against her throat and Lizzie’s water bottle crashed to the floor, water going everywhere.
“Are you really this sweet?” The words wisped against her ear, making the tiny hairs on her body decide to tango. “You are, aren’t you? Are you going to let me find out?”
“Yes.” The word trembled out despite her mouth and throat feeling as dry as the Sahara.
“Then come with me, Lizzie.”
“Okay.” Her eyelids were starting to lose the war. The muscles in her neck were protesting and she wanted to lean into him until she was no longer in the world. Her body was going to burn to a crisp if she didn’t get next to him soon.
“Don’t you want to know where?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
His smile was strange. “Then let’s go.”
Her lips parted to speak as she stared up at him again. Time froze around them while they continued to move. Or they had slipped into imaginary time. Lizzie wasn’t sure.
She was standing at one of the crazy crossroads life liked to throw at you. She saw her life down one road, all planned out and ready to go. Graduate School. Full Professorship. Tenure. Field medals. Finding a real unicorn or a nontrivial zero that wasn't on the half line of the critical strip. Her odds were on the unicorn.
There was another, darker road, but Nic blocked the entrance. He held out his hand, ready to drag her away from both paths. His way was the most dangerous. The devil had nothing on Nic Maretti. The devil, like the unicorn, was the safer bet. He only wanted her soul. Nic would take everything.
There was no way she could go back the way she came. If she did, she'd lie awake every night for the rest of her life regretting it. She had to go with him or she’d never get him out of her system.
Staring at him too long was like staring into the sun. Her eyelashes flickered and she smiled. Alarm bells went wild in her head, but she ignored them. “Okay.”
A smile curved his sensual mouth ripping through her like shrapnel. She had been gloriously and deliciously wrong. The fantasy she'd built around him wasn't even the tip of the iceberg. Nothing about Nic was ordinary. He was pure, dark, dangerous magic, and the rest of her life could hold on because Lizzie was going. Anywhere Nic wanted to take her was fine with her.
He slid his arm around her waist then they stepped outside. The French Quarter was in full swing. People were milling everywhere as they walked to his SUV. He’d also parked at Elliot’s which surprised her. He opened the car with his remote and Lizzie reached for the passenger door at the same time he did but his hand flattened on the window before she could pull the door open.
Confused, she turned about to ask what was wrong when his mouth crashed into hers, his tongue stabbing deep as his arm curled around her, keeping her upright. She’d wanted him to kiss her for so long. She’d lost count of the nights she’d sat up in bed sweating and gasping from vivid dreams that left her tingling and disoriented.