I let the music flow through my veins as I swung my hips to the beat of the song. My arms swayed above my head and I truly let myself go for the first time on this trip.

I closed my eyes and the glowing lights glittered behind my eyelids.

One song blended into many and my body grew damp with sweat as my heart beat like a drum.

A smile touched my lips when I felt arms wind around me from behind.

I’d recognize the feel of that body anywhere.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been watching you?” He growled lowly in my ear, his teeth grazing my lobe. “You’re so fucking sexy it was killing me that I could only look and not touch. It was like having my favorite candy dangled in front of me and saying one bite would kill me.”

“And yet,” I panted, leaning my back against his front as I opened my eyes, “you’re here touching me.”

“I decided it was worth the risk.”

“They might see us,” I warned.

I waited for him to say he didn’t care, that he wanted me and it didn’t matter anymore—that this arrangement was futile and he wanted me forever, as his future and not just his temporary pleasure.

But he didn’t say that.

Instead he whispered, “Then we’ll just have to make sure they don’t see us.”

I squished my eyes closed once more, silently reminding myself that I was being silly. He was sticking to our agreement and I couldn’t fault him for that. But my heart was breaking a little more every day and the sex—as amazing as it was—wasn’t enough to keep me whole. I couldn’t keep doing this to myself, and I vowed in that moment that once we got home I’d find my own place. This needed to end before I broke completely, but for now I would let myself enjoy the feel of his body wrapped around mine for just a little bit longer. Selfish? Maybe so. But if I was going to be forced to go the rest of my life without him then I wanted to make the most of every second we had left.

“Sadie.” He prompted when I’d been silent too long.

“Just dance with me.”

He obliged.

I never knew Ezra was such a good dancer, but the way he moved his body against mine should’ve been a crime. It was one of the most erotic things I’d ever experienced, and he wasn’t even being sexual about it. Not at all, actually. He felt the music and it pulsed through him and into me. It was like the beat of the song made us one.

His hands roamed down my hips to my thighs, and back up again. His fingers edged underneath the bottom of my dress and I hissed between my teeth as my core clenched. But he didn’t move his hands up any further. He kept them right where they were, every once in a while his fingers would lightly stroke my skin and I would clench again.

I wound my arms behind me and around his neck. He burrowed his head against mine, nipping at the spot where my neck met my shoulders, and then smoothed the spot with a slow flick of his tongue before pressing his lips to the spot.

I let out a long moan.

Jesus Christ, the way the man could affect me was entirely unfair. He knew how to stroke and play all the right strings on my body.

“Sadie.” The way he breathed my name made me shiver.

“Please,” I begged. I didn’t even know what I was begging him for.

To say my name again.

To touch me.

To love me.

I felt his fingers flex against my thighs, the pressure increasing as he pulled me more fully against him.

I rolled my hips and smiled in satisfaction when he hissed between his teeth.

“Fuck, Sadie.”

“Yes,” I purred, “fuck Sadie, please.”

I didn’t care that we were in the middle of a dance floor surrounded by people. I needed him to touch me in all the ways I needed to be felt.

“We can’t.” He breathed, sounding like those two words pained him.

“Ezra,” I panted his name and I felt him growl in approval at the sound, “I need you. Here. The bathroom. The wall. The fucking car. I don’t care. Take me, I’m yours.”

His fingers tightened against my skin even more and I wouldn’t be surprised if I found bruises in the morning, but I didn’t mind. I wanted him to brand me physically the way he was already branded on my heart and soul.

I turned around so that we were now facing each other and let him see the desperate want in my eyes.

“Sadie, you’ve been drinking…” He trailed off.

My palms landed on his hard chest and slid up around his neck, where I curled my fingers into the silky strands of his hair. Despite our conversation we both kept moving to the beat of the song.

“You know two drinks will hardly get me drunk,” I argued.

“Fucking hell.” He muttered, and kissed me right there on the dance floor.

For the moment, at least, he didn’t seem concerned about getting caught.

He nipped my bottom lip and I moaned into his mouth.

He tasted like cool lemonade on a warm summer’s day.

“Touch me,” I begged, “I need you to touch me.”

I needed to get my fill of him before I was forced to say goodbye, but something told me I’d never feel satisfied.

His hands roamed up my sides, the pads of his thumbs grazing the undersides of my breasts concealed by my dress.

“More,” I pleaded.

“Fuck being good,” he growled, taking my hand and pulling me through the crowd. He barreled past people, making sure they didn’t ram into me.

I didn’t look around to see if our friends saw. My head was too clouded with lust to care.

He found a hallway and dragged me down it.

I had no idea where we were going, but Ezra seemed to be navigating the space with no problem.

He reached out and pushed a door open and we stepped into a back alley. It was littered with trash and there was a dumpster nearby.

He led me away from the mess and before I could blink he had my back pinned to the brick wall and his lips devoured mine. His kiss was nothing like the one inside. This was rough, and tinged with desperation, like he too felt that time was running out for us and wanted to make the most of it.

I started pulling at his shirt, but he grabbed my hands and pinned them above my head.

“No.” He glared at me.

“But—” I protested.

“No,” he said again, “I want you. God, believe me I do,” he ground his hips into mine so that I could feel how much, “but not here. This, right now, is about your pleasure. Not mine.”

I opened my mouth to argue that his pleasure was mine, but he silenced me with a breath-stealing kiss.

He broke the kiss when my brain grew foggy from lack of oxygen and his lips trailed down my neck and over my collarbone before he sunk to his knees in front of me.

He glanced up at me and his dark eyes were hooded with lust.

“Do you trust me?” He asked.

“I think I proved that today,” I panted.

He let out a husky chuckle. “That you did.”

His hands skimmed up my calves and thighs, disappearing beneath the dress. He grabbed the sides of my underwear and pulled it down roughly until it stopped at my ankles.

“Step out of them,” he commanded.

I did as he asked and watched as he stuffed my underwear into his pocket.

He looked up at me again and licked his lips in anticipation. “Hold on.”

“Huh?”

I let out a small squeal of fright when he grabbed my legs and placed them on his shoulders. He pushed the bottom of my dress out of his way and looked at me one more time. “Ride my face like you mean it, sweetheart.”

And then his mouth was on me and I lost all trace of coherent thought.

Pleasure hummed in my veins and my limbs grew weak. He seemed to sense this and grabbed my ass to hold me steady.

“Ezra.” I panted his name over and over again in the darkened alleyway.

I leaned my head back against the wall, looking at all the stars that shimmered above us. They were the only witness to the sublime pleasure Ezra was giving me. The stars saw everything. Oh, the secrets they could tell.