Page 64 of Take The Risk

​“It’s fine, Ty.” It really wasn’t. I just couldn’t handle this right now.

​Even while he held my hand, my fingers tried to close as I wished I had a pen to roll between them.

​Ty adjusted his grip. “Squeeze my hand all you need. I don’t mind.”

​I reared back in surprise. I wasn’t aware he knew what I did when I was stressed. Suddenly, I wanted to be anywhere but on the dance floor.

​I can do this. I can do this. “Look, that night shouldn’t have happened. It was a mistake. Let’s just forget it.”

​Ty laughed, low and sensual. The sound rumbled through him, echoing in my chest where we were connected. “You want me to forget the way you felt in my arms? The way your skin tasted under my tongue?” He leaned down, his breath fanning the hair by my ear.

​My body clenched, remembering the pleasure he’d given me and wanting more.

​“Mind if I steal my date back?” Prescott chose that moment to show up, and I almost kissed him.

​“And if I do?” Ty’s grip tightened on me, pulling me tightly against him.

​“Then I’d point out that everyone, including your mother, is currently looking this way, and they don’t look too pleased,” Prescott pointed out.

​The pernicious bitch of reality made herself known, and I jerked out of Ty’s hold. “You should head back to Olivia.” To Prescott, I said, “Let’s dance.”

​Ty stood there, his lip curled at Prescott. “This isn’t over,” he warned me.

​Prescott twirled me away, and I looked back just in time to see Ty stomp off the dance floor.

​For the next several songs, I went through the motions of dancing. Alex spun me around at one point, whispering in my ear, “Give him a chance.” For the first time in a while, my mind wasn’t lost in a story. It was in a maze, trying to figure out what Ty meant and why Alex was suddenly “pro-Ty.”

​When I couldn’t take any more, I excused myself, heading for the bathroom in the back. I needed a few minutes to get myself together. As upset and confused as I was, my body was still humming. Not from too many cocktails but from being in Ty’s arms again. Having his hands touch me in any way made me feel alive in a way I knew I shouldn’t. It was all too much, and I was ready to call it a night.

​Washing my hands in the sink, I threw some cold water on my face for good measure. It was time to end this living nightmare.

​I was barely two steps out of the bathroom when a hand closed over my mouth and an arm banded around my waist, pulling me backwards.

​This hall was too deserted, curving so I was hidden from the main room. I yelped, thrashing as hard as I could.

​“Shhh!” Ty’s grip tightened on me, pulling me into the room I’d noticed at the end of the hall next to the emergency exit. “It’s just me.”

​That didn’t really make me feel better. My heart was still in my throat, and my head was spinning as lingering fear clawed at me. I was barely aware of the door closing behind us or that we were in a room that was little more than closet-sized with extra chairs, tables, and boxes covered in dust.

​No sooner had he released me than I found myself against a wall, Ty’s hard body pressing up against me, trapping me.

“Ty! What the hell—”

His lips swallowed my words. Strong fingers tangled in my hair, wrapping the strands around his palm. His other hand gripped my thigh, lifting it up and hooking it over his hip. His erection pressed into me, and I cursed the skirt Alex had forced me to wear. It gave me no protection.

I was lost in a torrent of lips and teeth. The powerful stroke of his tongue and the nip of his teeth on my lip were all lightning strikes that shot down my spine.

He growled into my mouth, his movements ravenous.

Outside the door, I could hear the faint sounds of music and voices filtering through the wall. He kept me pressed against the wall as his lips traveled down my neck, his teeth scraping my skin, making me shiver. I’d just been able to stop wearing a turtleneck yesterday, and my core tightened in excitement that I might need to wear one again. His grip on my hip was so hard, his fingers sinking into my flesh, that I knew I’d have bruises tomorrow, and I didn’t care. I was lost in the feel of him, his touch, his body against mine. My brain, the thing that should be screaming at me, reminding me of all the reasons this was wrong, was silent.

Ty ground his erection into me, and I choked back a gasp just as Louise’s voice sounded just outside the door. “Do you know where Phoebe went?”

“She had a call to take care of,” Alex lied, directing her back to the main room.

It was the bucket of cold water I needed to break through the sensual haze fogging my brain.

“Ty.” I bit off a moan when his hand slid up my thigh to cup my ass, pulling my hips forward. He rocked me against his erection, and I knew that if he didn’t stop, I’d be coming in no time.