The Set Up (67 page)

“Hey, Blake.” Will pushes forward. “We should have called, but do you think you could let us in?” he asks, taking over, as if reading Jasper’s body language and looking to avoid an issue.

“The whole gang is here, it’s been way too long.” Blake, the bouncer, grins.

“We’ve been busy,” Will tells him.

“Yeah, I know. Of course, man, you’re always welcome here; go on in. And have fun.”

Inside, I look around. The place is huge. Old wood beams. People dressed in white are everywhere. There are even two other floors of dancing, and I think each floor has its own DJ.

Jake is right at home here. “Let’s grab some drinks!” he shouts and steps in front of Jasper to lead the way.

Through the packed club, Jasper guides me with his fingers firmly laced through mine.

Will in a white button down, Drew in a white polo, are both following behind us.

After a lot of teasing and harassing from Jake and Drew, Will had finally agreed to come out for an hour or two, only if he could have the car bring him home early and then return to get the rest of us.

“Blow Job or Buttery Nipple?” Jake shouts when we arrive at the bar.

I burst out laughing. “Is he serious?”

Jasper pulls me close to him. “Tell him you think we should drink Red Headed Sluts.”

I raise my brow. “What? No Blow Job for you?” I whisper.

His teeth nip at my ear and he growls, “I’d never turn one down.”

Intoxicated by his scent, it takes me a minute to compose myself.

It doesn’t get by Jasper either by the wicked gleam I see in his eyes, and then he adds, “If you’re offering, that is?”

With that, I break out of his spell and give him an eye roll.
Trust me, he’s not neglected.

Those lush lips curve into a slow, sexy smile that causes my knees to wobble.

Composing myself because the night has only just begun, I tell Jake what to order.

“Fuck, not Jäger,” he whines.

“You can’t turn down a girl, Pretty Boy.” Drew harasses.

Jake is pretty.
It’s not a word that should be used to describe a man, but his blond hair, tanned skin, blue eyes, and soft features make him that way. Don’t worry though, he’s all man, and anyone who doesn’t know him finds that out as soon as he opens his mouth. “Whatever. Let’s just fucking do this and get it over with.”

Five shot glasses come our way with a red cloudy liquid in them. Handing them out, the cheers come fast. I sip mine and let out a little oof. “What is this?” I ask puckering my lips.

The shot glasses that surround me are empty.

Jasper leans over to say into my ear with a tickling whisper, “It’s a shot, Charlotte. You’re supposed to drink it quickly, not sip it.”

“Oh, right,” I say and then drink the entire thing down. “That was gross.”

Amusement dances in his eyes.

“Fucking Jäger,” Jake whines holding his empty glass in the air.

Drew waves a demanding hand toward the bartender. “Another,”

“Oh, no!” Jake shouts.

Drew gives him a nod. “Absofuckinglutely.”

And so we let go. Drink. Have fun. Talk. And drink some more.

Jasper is watching me with those bedroom eyes that make lust whoosh in my lower belly.

Soon enough, I discover Jake and Jäger have a very tremulous relationship. That particular type of liquor not only turns him into a cuddling mess, it makes him put his dancing shoes on.

After three of those icky shots, my body is swaying, and I switch to a gin and tonic.
That sounds much safer.

The guys then order tequila, but I pass. I’m completely mesmerized when I watch Jasper shake some salt on his hand, lick it up, down the shot, and then suck on the lime.

It makes me want to suck on the lime with him.

Moving on to something that comes in a slightly larger glass, the guys toss back a few more drinks. Jasper is popping a cherry into his mouth and my own mouth waters. Once he’s swallowed it, he sticks the twizzle stick in his mouth and chews on it.

It’s so sexy.

I nurse the one in my hand, my body already more than feeling the effects of the alcohol. The music down here is techno. I don’t really know any of the songs, but find myself moving to the beat just the same.

Jake is moving too, in a much different way. Arms. Shoulders. Legs. He reminds me a little of Justin Timberlake right now with his moves.

There had been a moment when Jasper first told me we were going out tonight to celebrate the kick-off to the holiday weekend that I wondered if it was a good idea. Four wild guys and one tame girl—not the greatest of mixes. But then Jasper turned to look at me in a way he did when we were young, and right then I knew that even though the boy standing beside me had grown into a man, that protective boy was still in there—and he’d never do anything to hurt me.

Besides, if I had said no, I’m not sure any of them would have come, and they had been working seven days a week and needed to cut loose. In fact, they are taking off Friday and Monday. And I have plans for Jasper. He doesn’t know it yet, but we are heading to the Butterfly House on Mackinac Island Saturday for the night. I can do surprises too.

Drew is looking at something on his phone. Soon, he passes it to Jasper. I watch Jasper shake his head and seconds later pass the phone to Jake. Feeling a little tingly and a little giddy, I pull Jasper to me by his belt. One step away is all he’d been, but I wanted him closer. I catch him by surprise. I can tell by the look on his face. He catches me by surprise too. The heat of his palms seeps through the fabric of my skirt. I love when he touches me like this. And then that lean muscled frame of his leans down to kiss me softly, and suddenly I’m made of feathers. Floating through the air. Drifting.

“Hey, you two.” Drew’s booming voice interrupts our bliss.

Sheepishly, I turn to the massive body standing beside us.

“What do you think?”

Think?

I wasn’t thinking.

Jasper draws me into his side. “Yeah, sure, sounds like a plan.” How does he even know what Drew is talking about?

Jasper leans to whisper in my ear, “He wants to get a booth.”

“Screw sitting down!” Jake exclaims. “Let’s go upstairs and dance!” Jake points toward the staircase.

Jasper looks at me, and I nod. “Sounds fun.”

Will and Drew both begrudgingly agree as well.

The guys toss back the drinks in their hands and put the empty glasses on the bar.

Four sets of eyes are staring at me. Waiting for me to do the same. So I do. I chug the drink, the carbonation fizzing in my throat from the tonic, and try really hard not to burp.

That is something I’d never live down.

The colored lights from the ceiling flicker in an almost sensual way, and the five of us, all dressed in white, make our way to the third floor.

The crowd up here is different than that on the first floor.
Almost feral.
The music is different too. We stand on the edge of the dance floor, watching. Listening. I don’t know the song, but everyone seems to love it. People surge around us, bouncing, wiggling, moving to the beat, some even grinding. Groups of dancers join together and then break apart. Happy to touch their partners, if only for a moment.

When the song changes to the familiar opening strands of “Ice Ice Baby,” Jake looks toward Jasper.

Jasper gives him a nod and to my surprise Jake jumps on the dance floor.

At first he blends into the crowd and it’s hard to see him, but soon enough the crowd clears away and everyone circles the dance floor to watch him.

Jake is breakdancing. Really breakdancing. He’s moving in a circle, one leg extended in front of the other and then switching to the other leg as fast as he can, over and over. When the chorus changes, he switches to a push-up position and kicks his feet up in the air.

Flipping back onto his feet, he moves his body in sync to the beat and when he turns toward us, he points to Jasper. Much to my surprise, Jasper lets go of his hold on me. Taking a couple steps onto the dance floor, he widens his stance, and then drops to his hands and starts spinning with his legs intertwining in his arms in a way I would never be able to do.

Feeling giddy, I clap my hands together and bounce to the beat, my hair going wild as it bounces at the same speed.

Standing up again, along with Jake, they both drag their feet almost like they are doing the moonwalk.

Watching him out there, he couldn’t be more adorable and charming. I can’t stop myself from laughing, cheering, and maybe even crying a little. I love that he is having fun and enjoying himself. It makes my heart swell. I love that he’s not inhibited to be in front of people and do his own thing. It makes me proud. I love that he is here with me. I love him. I love him. I love him. I might not be able to tell him so, but I do.

As soon as the song ends, he’s striding toward me. He’s laughing and curling his finger. I have no more air left to laugh anymore. I can’t take my eyes off him. I think my heart forgot to beat.

The new song pumping through the speakers is a little slower. It starts just as Jasper’s lips connect with mine. A burning hot kiss and a furtive slip of the tip of his tongue that has me throwing my arms around him just to keep standing.

Pulling away, he mouths, “Dance with me.”

I’m out on the floor before I can say yes, and aligned thigh-to-thigh, belly-to-belly, before the next line of the song is sung.

“Did you like that?” he murmurs in my ear.

“Yes, I had no idea you could move in that way,” I answer, my pulse pounding in excitement.

Jasper splays his fingers against my spine, his thumb drifting back and forth in a slow seductive way. “I have all kinds of moves.”

Sliding my arms down to his chest, I look up into his hungry gaze. “I hope you show them all to me,” I breathe out.

His eyes stare into mine, hard, and his smile is a little less bemused. “I want to show you the world.”

People press against us, the dance floor filling back up. Somehow we ended up in the center of it all, and yet it feels like just the two of us. “I want that, too.”

His thigh slides between my legs. “Do you?”

The bass is thumping loud and I can feel it throughout my body, but most of all in my beating heart. All I can do is nod, and then because I can show him much better than I can tell him, I reach for his mouth.

He kisses me back with so much emotion that I get lost in the music, the beat, in him. Both his hands slide up just below my breasts and then glide back down to my hips. Soon enough, they’re resting on my behind, and he’s pressing me to his very hard body. It isn’t long before I feel his cock against my belly.

At first I’m startled. There are so many people around. But no one is paying any attention to us. Everyone is lost in the beat. My hands circle back around his neck and I toy with his hair, now a little wet from the exertion of dancing.

His hands aren’t idle either. They move up my back to tangle in my hair. And then he tugs a little, causing my head to tip back, and slides his lips along my throat.

I’m not sure who can hear me, but a small moan escapes my throat in delight as little tingles erupt beneath my skin from my head to my toes.

My little moan turns into a gasp, and I lean back to look at him. Low-lidded eyes. Lips parted. A man looking at me like I’m the only woman in a club that has to be filled with hundreds of hot, sexy bodies everywhere.

We move this way for a long time. The song changes. It doesn’t matter. Soon, we’re toward the back of the dance floor, the dancers surrounding us pushing us even closer.

This time, when his hand splays across my behind and presses me into his erection, I press back. Even through the denim, I can feel how hot and thick his cock is. Seemingly unbothered by his state of arousal, he reaches upward to the small of my back, my tattoo. He holds his hand there for a moment or two, and then caresses down again.

My intake of breath is sharp.

“It’s okay, just relax,” he assures me, his warm breath blowing across my neck and sending a shiver down my spine.

Breathless, aching, and pleasure building between my thighs, I do as he says, and relax into his hold.

This time when the song changes, he turns me around.

I’m facing the graffiti-inked wall, the mob of people on both sides of us lost in their own movements.

His hand slips inside the waistband of my skirt, and immediately moves to cup my sex.

To anyone else we look like a couple swaying to the beat. Hips moving slowly from side to side. Feet shifting ever so slightly. No one would know Jasper is pressing the heel of his palm against my clit, and no one would know it is sending a rush of tingles between my thighs.

The crowd moves around us; we move too. And for a moment, when there’s another shift in the crowd, I think he’s going to turn me back around. Instead, his fingers dip inside the lacey edge of my panties and find me wet.

There is no way to control my body’s reaction or the passion flooding my veins like hot lava.

His teeth graze my neck and his fingers dip inside my slick heat. Once. Twice. Three delicious times.

Biting my lip to stop my moan, I find myself leaning against him for support, my arms going over my head and around his neck. As soon as I am in this position, I am all his. Completely open for him. And he strikes fast. His fingers rubbing my clit and dipping inside me at such a pace that my entire lower body feels like it’s throbbing within moments.

Fun is fun, but I can’t have an orgasm on the dance floor. I turn my head. “What are you doing?”

“Turning it up,” he blows against my skin as he nuzzles my ear.

Before I can say another word, my body is shuttering and my clit pulsing around his fingers. I’m shattering in his arms—on the dance floor. Red, yellow, blue, and green lights coat my vision. A psychedelic spectrum of colors takes over my world as the earth shifts beneath my feet.

After a few seconds, he takes his hand out of my skirt.

When I first try to catch my breath, I can’t. It seems to still be running in circles. On my second attempt, I inhale and it’s the scent of Jasper that pulls me back down to earth. His nearness. The need to see his gorgeous face. Finally, I turn around. When I face him, I’m met with the most beautiful set of brown eyes.