Page 44 of Pressure Point

“Err, well, since I moved.”

“Oh, gotcha. What about the younger ones?”

“As I mentioned, Ronan is the party guy. And Connor is the grouch. He’s a good guy and is always one of the first to help if need be, but he has this permanent scowl on his face and has this very dry sense of humor, so he can be hard to get to know. They are both defenders.”

“It must have been so hard to leave them all behind.”

“It was and it wasn’t,” he admitted, trying not to say too much. He wanted them to enjoy tonight, not have it become about the drama back in Ireland.

“Why’d you do it?”

“Leave?” Avery nodded. “It was a chance to do something new. Find myself. All that. But enough about my family, what about yours?”

“Russ is a dentist back in Wilmington, and Gabe works for a big, fancy advertising agency in New York. We’re not as exciting as y’all,” she said with a giggle that lit him up inside. Forget holding her hand. He wanted to kiss her all over again.

No, bad idea. We’ve been over this. She wants Dash, not you. You were just there in the moment…

Maybe tonight wasn’t such a good idea. What made him think that the two of them going dancing was a good idea? This week had been tough enough as it was, fighting the urge to hold her again. Now they were about to spend the night in a crowded club, in the dark, potentially rubbing up against each other. There was no way he wasn’t going to have a raging hard-on by the end of the night—he was already fighting one now at just the thought of her against him. He had no idea why he’d agreed to this.

Oh, that’s right, it’s what Avery wanted. And there was no way in hell he wasn’t going to give her what she wanted.

The car pulled up to the curb, signaling that they had arrived at the club. Liam glanced out the window at the freestanding building, wondering if they were in the right place. From the outside it was fairly nondescript, looking far more like a warehouse than a club, with a bunch of stores one lot over and a petrol station across the street. But there was no mistaking the large neon sign at the edge of the lot that read “Club 404” in bright neon red and orange. Or the line of people waiting to get in.

“Look at all those people! We’ll never get in,” Avery said, stumbling over her shoes as she got out of the car. Instinctively, Liam reached out, catching her before she fell on her face. He’d known the shoes were a bad idea that day they went shopping, and now all he could do was hope that they were not the cause for disaster tonight.

“We’re on a list.”

“We’re what?”

“On a list,” he repeated, trying to be nonchalant about it. Link had put in a call, dropping the team’s name and that it would be one of the players showing up, getting them access to the VIP entrance. The guy had tried to offer up bottle service, excited that a professional athlete was coming and no doubt wanting to make an event out of it, but Liam had declined. He didn’t think either of them would drink enough to make it worth the effort. Not to mention, this was about getting to spend the night with her, not some clown show of a publicity stunt. “Link knows the DJ or something, so he called in a favor so we wouldn’t have to wait.”

Avery’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly in surprise as she looked at him. Liam let out a laugh, his heart squeezing at her obvious excitement. Had he known that he was going to get this kind of reaction, well, he wasn’t sure what he would have done. The smile on her face was worth whatever potential heartbreak there would be later. And there would be heartbreak later. But tonight was about them. Tonight, he had her attention. And he wasn’t going to waste a second of that.

“Shall we?” he asked, nodding toward the VIP door.

“Yes!”

He held out his arm, and Avery slipped hers through it, letting him lead her to the door. Despite her earlier stumble, she was actually walking fairly well in the shoes. Maybe he’d been wrong about them.

The bouncer recognized Liam before he even had a chance to open his mouth. For a second, Liam felt pretty special, until the guy wanted to talk about the loss last weekend rather than the team’s four-nothing shutout over Vancouver on Thursday. Thankfully Avery had come to the rescue, asking about a bathroom, forcing the bouncer to stop talking and let them inside. A hostess greeted them and led them over to a small, high-top table with a reserved sign on it.

“Courtesy of the manager,” the hostess said, before walking away.

“OMG, Liam, this is amazing!” Avery gushed, looking around them, soaking in the atmosphere.

Bright pink leather couches were strategically placed around the large, open dance floor that sat between the two bars, one on either end of the club. A few of the high-top tables like they were at were scattered throughout. In the middle of the dance floor was a raised platform that the DJ stood on, like he was playing a concert in the round. Loud music surrounded them, drowning out most of the conversation from everyone nearby.

“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” she shouted, trying to be heard over the music.

“I didn’t,” he told her, shouting back. “I told you, Link made a call. I just wanted to make sure we’d be able to get in.”

Avery stepped in closer to him, until there were only a few inches of space between them. The heels she wore made her taller than normal, bringing the top of her head to the top of his breastbone instead of the bottom. She placed her hands on his waist, and Liam felt his whole body come alive at the touch. It was like every nerve had suddenly switched on, and he was on high alert in a good way.

“You did. You asked him for a recommendation and thought enough about it to make sure we’d have a spot,” she said, tightening her grip on him. Liam’s dick surged, and part of him wanted to fight it, while another part wanted nothing more than to pull her to him the rest of the way and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. “I don’t deserve you, Liam Daley.”

Oh, but you do…

“Do you want a drink?” he asked, swallowing hard. She was still hanging on to him, and if she didn’t let go soon, he wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to control himself.