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This is the prequel to The Unwilling Bride by L. Steele
Harper
"What’s he doing here?" My friend, Phoenix stares over my shoulder.
"Who are you talking about?" I turn to look.
"Don’t do that!" She grabs my hand and drags me to the dance floor. "My oldest brother is here." She has to shout to be heard above the music.
"James?" I stiffen. "Isn’t he on tour?"
I’ve heard about Phe’s older brother. He’s a decorated Marine away on missions so classified only select members of His Majesty’s government knows the details. I’ve never met him before.
"He’s supposed to be on leave starting next week." Phe gyrates to the beats. "He must have returned earlier than planned. He’s not going to be pleased to see me here."
Ah, so that’s why she’s elbowing her way through the crush of bodies.
"You are twenty-one," I scoff. "Surely, you can do as you please?"
She snorts. "Tell that to my overprotective sibling. James is the oldest, and the most controlling of them.”
She’s the youngest of seven. And five of them are brothers. I wince. "Damn, it’s not easy when you’re the youngest, huh?"
"You can say that again."
Soon, we’re in the middle of the sweaty, moving mass of people on the dance floor.
The DJ amps up the beats, and the boom-boom-boom of the rave music seems to ricochet off my ribcage and bang against my heart. My bones seem to rattle. My ear drums clog. For a few seconds, I’m one with the music. I shake my booty, grinding up against Phoenix, who giggles, then mirrors my moves. The two of us turn so we’re back-to-back, dancing up and down against each other. The man opposite me sways his hips, flashes his smile, and gyrates in synchronicity with me. I laugh, feeling young and carefree and happy. I’m a year into my degree in hospitality management and working part time in a restaurant.
The future feels wide open. Like I am straddling so many beginnings, I have no idea which one I’m going to choose.
The beats pump up even further. I bounce up and down, up and down, giving over to the sheer delight of becoming one with the music.
Phoenix laughs out loud and mirrors me.
The two of us hold hands and sing aloud with the words that pump out in between the notes. The DJ switches off the music, and for a few seconds, it’s just us, our voices, and the voices of those around us. In harmony. We sound as one. That primal feeling of taking part in a group activity and being linkedto a community who, for this second at least, feels like they’re connected to me.
Then, the beats restart. The music slices through the space, bangs into my ears, and thrums across my pulse points.
I reach into a place deep inside and pull on the energy that lurks just below the surface. Adrenaline pumps into my blood. I move my legs, my arms, my hips even faster. Close my eyes and give myself up on the altar of the beats. Spin around. And around, the lights flashing behind my closed eyelids. Drop deep into a part of me lost to the trance. Hear Phe say something but can’t catch it. Spin again. Trip. And pitch forward.
Only, I’m stopped by hands which grip my biceps.
A shiver zips out from the point of contact. I snap my eyes open, taking in the tanned skin exposed by the lapels of the man standing in front of me. The white of the shirt stands out in relief. He’s wearing a jacket which clings to his broad shoulders. He cuts out the sight of everything behind him.
He tightens his hold on me. I tip my head back, and further back, until my gaze is caught by the electric blue eyes which seem to crackle with displeasure, and something else. An awareness that sizzles between us, so visceral it turns the air heavy, until I can taste it on my tongue. My throat goes desert dry.
I swallow, but it's useless. The tension wraps around my windpipe like a fist.
His thick eyebrows draw down. Along with his hooked nose and the scar over one cheekbone, it adds to the air of danger clinging to him.
It also hugely adds to his appeal. I’m aware, I’m staring. That I’m, somehow, rooted to the spot and, apparently, unable to take my gaze off his very striking good looks. He must notice it too, for his lips thin.
His jawline tightens. A slash of disapproval cuts through the haze I seem to have fallen into. Anger radiates off of him. It adds to his dark handsomeness. The sense of lethal confidence that ebbs and flows around him.
My breathing speeds up, my pulse rate dancing in tandem with the beats that vibrate the air around me.
