I stared at myself in the full-length mirror in my bedroom. I’d chosen a little black dress that I’d be able to slip off without too much fumbling—I hoped. Beneath it, I wore a black satin bra and panties. Nothing too crazy.
Although I didn’t often wear heels, I put on a pair of strappy ones that Gianna had convinced me to buy. They’d been sitting abandoned in my closet for months. Walking in them for a few minutes in the comfort of my bedroom shouldn’t be a challenge.
Diego was on the way over. He didn’t have to work tonight, so we had the night to ourselves.
“Nova?” he called from the living area on the first floor of my side of the house.
I poked my head out of my bedroom. “I’m upstairs.”
“Okay. I’ll wait here.”
We’d talked about going out for a walk and then taking it from there. Not tonight. I smirked at my reflection. Wouldn’t Diego be surprised at the hot change in plans?
“Come to my room,” I said in the most seductive voice I could muster.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, why?”
“You sound like you have a sore throat.”
Mission failed. I cleared my throat and tried to pull off a dark, smoky tone. “I have something to show you upstairs.”
Did that sound better? If Diego ran up with a bag of honey-flavored cough drops, I’d have my answer.
He entered my room without any sore throat remedies, so we were in positive territory. He fixed his bright blue eyes on me. He wore black jeans and a dark-green button-down shirt. For him, that was a wild color scheme. When I met him, he typically wore all black. Since his hair was almost that dark as well, the only color that stood out were his eyes.
“What are you doing?” His gaze moved from my head down. “You’re all dressed up.”
True, I often chose to dress for comfort with the softest fabrics I could find, so this sultry little number wasn’t in regular rotation. I strode over, somewhat wobbly on heels, which I didn’t wear often for a reason. I raised my chin, attempting to project false confidence to mask my awkward approach.
Once I reached Diego, I ran my hand over his chest and then peered up at him from under lowered lashes. “Do you like it?”
His pupils dilated, swallowing some of the blue. “Yeah.”
“Good.” I steered him back toward my bed and pushed him to sit down on it. “Then sit back, take off your shoes, and enjoy the performance.”
Turning away from him, I picked up my phone from the dresser and played the song I’d selected earlier. The intro to Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night” surrounded us with my Bluetooth speaker. Diego had sung along in a dramatic rendition of David Coverdale while playing it on drums in the basement when we were all hanging out one night, and it definitely had a seductive undertone.
I swayed my hips to the music. “Do you like what you see, big boy?”
Diego swallowed. “Hell yeah.”
Nice. We were off to a good start, and it wasn’t difficult at all.
When I turned to him, he’d slid back on my four-poster bed, leaning against pillows propped against the headboard.
I continued to move my hips from side to side with the music. This was easy enough. Diego and I had danced many times together, dating back to the ball last Halloween. That had been the night I’d pretended to be his girlfriend as a sort of mental shield to help him face his ex, the evil vampire who had turned him.
Nope, I wasn’t going to think about that stunning, willowy blonde while I got my sexy vibe on. That was a sure recipe for feeling inadequate.
Forcing her out of my mind, I closed my eyes and let myself feel the music, trying to channel my inner Tawny Kitaen from the Whitesnake videos.
Once I tried a couple of sultry hip moves, I drew a blank. Before I froze like a gargoyle, killing the mood, I searched my mental drive for some of the memories from Lucas’s club. One of the moves the guys were fond of was the slow body rolls, which showed off all the ripples in their core. I mimicked that move without feeling utterly ridiculous.
This is good. All you have to do is move your body slowly. Sensuously. You’ve got this.
After my pep talk, I reopened my eyes. Diego’s gaze was fixed on me. His blue eyes had darkened with smoldering intensity. Damn, he was hot. That steady gaze could level me, but I couldn’t let it distract me during this number.
