Her full name slips through my lips, but it feels right. Like so right.
“I was hoping you’d want to dance?”
I look behind her as Hannah and Shelby each give me winks and a thumbs up. “With you? Always.”
There’s a simultaneous smile on her lips and blush in her cheeks as she puts her arms around my neck. I pull her in closer, our chests now touching, which is only adding to the heat coming off us as our bodies start moving to a song that is in no way slow or soulful, but our movements are. I know when Linc warned me that she was different, he was talking about her age and stage of life. But what he didn’t realize is that this feeling? The pull I have to this woman as our bodies feed off each otherand the music? This, too, is different. I’ve been attracted to many women in my day, but never, and I mean never, have I been drawn to someone like this.
The beat of the song changes, the DJ mixing it to another slightly faster song, as Gabi turns in my arms, moving back so her ass is against my cock.
Cold water… my teammate’s bare asses… blue cheese dressing…
Nope. It’s no use. Even thinking about three things that should instantly make my dick limp are useless to the powers of Gabi, the way she’s moving her hips, and this little black dress. My hands have a mind of their own, grazing down the sides of her body, through the curve of her waist before they grip the hips that I want nothing more than to leave fingerprints on.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I whisper into her ear as I wrap my arm around her stomach, bringing her back so tight into me that she has to feel my hardening cock.
I look on as she tilts her head to the side, her lips in a smirk that I’m dying to kiss away. “Not now. But the night’s still young.”
I can’t even hide my physical reaction to her. And I know she can tell by the way her ass starts moving more against me. I swear, she’s one body roll from me throwing her over my shoulder, finding a private spot in this club, and showing her how much she’s fucking driving me crazy.
I let my head fall back, my body still moving as I watch Gabi dance in front of me, when I feel her suddenly still.
“Gabi?”
She doesn’t answer, but doesn’t move out of my hold, either. I look up to realize that she’s staring at Hannah and Shelby, who each have a mixture of concern and anger on their faces.
“What?” she says, her voice the most serious I’ve heard it all night. “Whatever it is, tell me.”
The two look at each other before granting Gabi’s request. “Apparently your earlier performance has already found its way back to Nashville via the internet.”
Gabi reaches out and grabs Hannah’s phone from of her hands. I look over her shoulder, and yup, just as I thought. Our first performance of the night, when she came up on stage with me, has already started making the rounds on social media. The video itself is fine—it’s me singing and Gabi dancing on stage, having the time of her life. We’re interacting like I remembered, and honestly? I need to find a few people who have this video, because I want it as a souvenir of the night.
But I don’t think the video is what’s making Gabi’s face turn eight shades of red right now. No, I have a feeling it’s the caption that goes along with it:
Nice to know that while I’m here in Nashville, grieving the end of my marriage, my ex-wife is galivanting in Vegas, getting drunk, dancing on stage with dumb jocks and chasing five minutes of fame. Maybe this is why she wanted out so bad, so she could go live this kind of life. Sad.
Sometimes I hate being a man, because I have to be in the same category as this mediocre one. Also, how dare he.
“I’m not dumb!” I protest. “I graduated top of my class.”
My joke misses the mark as I feel Gabi breaks from my hold and storms away from our roped-off area. I’m stunned for a second, not knowing what to do, until I see Shelby signal for me to go after her. I don’t even hesitate, following Gabi into a hallway that’s not private, but at least out of the way of the rest of my teammates.
“Where the actual fuck does he get off playing the victim card!” Gabi yells, and I’m not even sure she knows I’m here yet. “The asshole talks out of both sides of his mouth. He’ll go on social media and fucking whine that I’m this horrible personwho’s galivanting around, which is rich considering he broke our marriage when he fucked her. I fuckingcan’twith him!”
Gabi’s paces become faster, and it’s like watching a tennis match as she walks back and forth, random swear words coming out of her mouth that I didn’t even know could be used together. And while I don’t know the whole story, I already know I hate her ex-husband.
“Hey,” I say, catching her mid stride.
“Maddox. Please…”
I shake my head because I have a feeling she thinks I’m going to tell her to calm down. Which I would never. “I’m all for you being pissed. I encourage pissed. But I want you to remember to breathe.”
“Breathe?”
“Yeah, breathe,” I say. “It can be angry breaths, but breathing is important.”
It takes her a few seconds to hear my words, but eventually, her breaths go from short and huffy to more slow and even. There’s still fire behind each of them, which I think is appropriate. Her ex sounds like a fucking jackass.
“How long did it go on?”
