Hunks Pulled Over (8 page)

“I don’t want to dance with you. Let go of me,” she hissed, struggling against him bringing his cock to life making it grow harder against the front of his slacks.

“Stop moving around so much,” he whispered in her ear as he pulled her even closer to his body. “Do you want people to start staring at us and notice what your struggles are doing to my body? You have to feel it.”

Emerald’s eyes widened as he brushed his cock against her stomach. She instantly stopped moving her body. “I can’t believe you. You probably get that way with any woman who’s this close to you.”

“No, I haven’t gotten this hard in a long time. Darling, it’s all for you, but if you’re really intent on leaving I can let you go and show everyone here what I was willing to offer you.”

“Fine, I’ll dance with you, but only for this one song,” Emerald snapped.

Chance hid his smile as he twirled Emerald around on the dance floor slowly leading her to a more secluded spot over by the wall away from prying eyes. He wasn’t about to miss out on this opportunity of finally having her alone. He’d never gotten so much pleasure from dancing with a woman as much as he was at this moment with her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, staring down into her upturned face.

Her light brown eyes met his blue ones as she frowned up at him. “I’m here celebrating Shauntie’s engagement to Nash,” Emerald answered. “She’s one of my best friends along with Sapphire. Why wouldn’t I be here tonight?”

Chance almost stepped on Emerald’s feet after hearing her answer. Damn Brian and Nash. Both of them knew who Emerald was all along, but decided to keep the truth from him.

But why
?

“Officer Cutter, why are
you
here? Are you someone’s date?”

He pushed his buddies’ lies to the back of his mind and gave Emerald his full attention. “Chance,” he correctly instantly. He wanted to hear her say his name. He wasn’t at work. This was his down time with a beautiful woman and he wanted his name on her lips.

Emerald shook her head. “No, I’d rather not,” she told him as their song ended. “Alright, thanks for the dance, but I’m leaving now.”

She tried to move out of his arms, but Chance wasn’t having it. He was going to continue to dance with her until he got the answers that he wanted from her. Another slow song came on by Marvin Gaye and he eased Emerald right back against his chest.

“Hey, I told you that I was done dancing with you.”

“Why are you always trying to run away from me?” he questioned. “I want to get to know you better. I find you very attractive, but you keep finding ways to avoid me. I want you to tell me why you dislike me so much. Is it because I don’t remember how we first met? Don’t lie to me again about us not knowing each other. We do. So, why don’t you let me in on it?”

Sliding his hand down Emerald’s back, Chance gently pushed Emerald back into the position he liked the best with her breasts pressed against his chest.

Chapter Eleven

Emerald couldn’t resist breathing in the warm scent of Chance’s cologne when he pressed her body back against his for the second dance he tricked her into giving him. The moment she overheard Chance asking to cut in on her dance with Albert brought back memories of how they first met each other.

Back then, Chance was the only guy she thought about or even wanted in her life, but sadly he never stayed around in her radar long enough to remember her or their short time together. She’d known better than to say yes that night, but he just looked so good standing there and she wasn’t about to resist him.

How could she make someone remember her when they couldn’t recall knowing her in the first place? It would be ridiculous for her to even try to jog Chance’s memory of their past together.

She really should move out of his arms before this dance led her down a road she didn’t want to revisit; however, Chance’s body felt too good. Better than it should have for a man she hadn’t laid eyes on since her freshman year in college.

How did she let herself get sucked back into this
?

Something about Chance always made her forget who she was and it wasn’t fair to her. She couldn’t—no, she wouldn’t—allow this to happen to her again when it came to him.

“You’re awful quiet. Care to tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours,” Chance whispered in her ear as his nose brushed against the side of her neck.

“It’s nothing,” she lied, easing her body back from Chance’s.

“You’re lying. I can feel the tension in your body. You were thinking about my question, weren’t you?” Chance pushed. “Let me know about you. What are you keeping from me? Did I do something to hurt your feelings that I don’t remember?”

Anger set in at the way Chance was pushing her. Emerald didn’t ask for this or him to come back into her life. How dare he demand anything of her? She owed him absolutely
nothing
. Hell, he was lucky that she even danced with him tonight at all. If this didn’t bring back the memory of who she was than nothing would.

“I’m not keeping anything from you,” Emerald said, backing out of Chance’s arms for a second time that night. “Now, I really need to go. Thank you for the two dances, Officer Cutter.” She turned away, but before she could walk off the dance floor Chance grabbed her by the hand.

“Emerald, I want you. I never give up on things I want in my life. So, you can run now, but in the end I will get you beautiful.”

Sighing, she removed Chance’s hand from hers. He was as smug as ever. He wasn’t ever going to change. “Chance, you are so sad. You can’t even recall how we know each other. I know it might not have been the most important time in your life, but it was in mine.”

“You do remember. Tell me,” he insisted. “I want to know.”

“Can you please just let it go?” she asked. “Anyways, I’m not running from you because we don’t have anything for me to run from.”

Taking one last look at Chance, Emerald left him standing on the dance floor like she should have done the first time he asked her to dance all of those years ago.

Chapter Twelve

Emerald hurried out of Sapphire’s house, got in her car and drove off. She would apologize to her girls tomorrow for leaving without telling them goodbye, but she had to get out of there before anything got any hotter between her and Chance.

She was positive that she had grown from a young girl into a successful business woman, but anytime Chance was within touching distance of her it seemed like she couldn’t keep a thought in her mind or her body from betraying her.

Reaching over, Emerald turned on the radio hoping the music would keep her mind off of Chance, yet it didn’t work. All she could still think about was how mind-blowing it felt to be back in his embrace again.

Why now
?
Why her
?

Everything in her life was going pretty good with the exception of a sexy hunky man like Sapphire and Shauntie had now.

You were dancing with a hunky guy less than twenty minutes ago
, her mind taunted
. If Chance Cutter isn’t a hunky guy than what is he?

Go away.

Emerald put the brakes on her inner thoughts as she stopped at a red light. She only had two more blocks and she would be at home. She already had plans to take a long, hot shower. Afterward she would hopefully crawl into bed without thoughts of Chance dancing around in her head.

The light turned green and Emerald continued on home. Ten minutes later, she was pulling into her driveway when her cell phone went off. Emerald parked her car and dug her phone out of the side of her purse.

Checking the caller ID, she noticed Sapphire’s number. She was probably calling her wanting to know why she left the party without so much as a ‘see you later’.

“Hello,” she answered.

“What happened?” Sapphire questioned, concern in her voice. “We saw you out on the dance floor with Chance and then a few minutes later you were gone. Did that idiot say something to you? He has really been sticking his big ass foot in his mouth lately.”

“No,” Emerald replied. “Chance didn’t say anything to me. I just started to feel bad, so I left.” She knew it was a lie, but it was better than telling Sapphire the truth right now.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. “Are you sure? Brian told me Chance asked him and Nash about you. Is there something going on between the two of you? I didn’t think you knew each other.”

Getting out of her car, Emerald slammed it shut and then locked it before heading towards her front door. “We don’t know each other...well, we didn’t until a few days ago. I ran into him at work. Chance did ask me out on a date and I turned him down.”

She unlocked her door, walked inside, closed it and then locked it behind her. Turning on the lights, Emerald walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

“Emerald, what aren’t you telling me?” Sapphire asked, surprising her. “I can tell from the sound of your voice that you’re hiding something from me. If you don’t want to tell me I can get Shauntie to call you instead. I’m just worried and want to know what’s going on. You haven’t been yourself in a while.

“I’m fine. I don’t need to talk to Shauntie either. Why do you think I’m hiding something from you?” Emerald kicked off her shoes before falling down on her queen size bed.

“As long as I’ve known you, I never remember you running from an attractive man. Chance can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, but he’s still a good-looking guy. Tell me the truth.”

For a split second, Emerald almost told Sapphire her past connection with Chance then changed her mind. Why keep dwelling in the past? Nothing was going to change it.

“Sapphire, I’m telling you the truth,” she lied again. “I wasn’t running from Chance. I did start to feel a little sick and I decided to leave. Okay, I need to get off the phone. I’m going to take a shower and then go to bed. I have to be at work early tomorrow.”

“Emerald, I’m not done with this,” Sapphire warned her. “Have a good night, but expect to be hearing from me or Shauntie again.”

“I will. Goodbye.” Emerald hung up the phone and tossed it down on the bed.

Darn it! Even Sapphire had noticed the underlying currents between her and Chance. She wouldn’t be able to hold off everyone’s questions forever because she wasn’t doing a good job of keeping her own scattered emotions at bay.

Tonight had taught her something very important. Chance wasn’t going to stop pursuing her and she wouldn’t be able to handle him in the present unless she dealt with her feelings left over from the past.

Sighing, Emerald got up off the bed and made her way across the room towards her walk-in closet. Going inside, she went to the very back and grabbed a small green hope chest with butterflies scattered across it off the shelf. She went back to her bed.

Sitting in the middle yoga style, Emerald placed the chest in front of her. Running her fingers across the top, she remembered how many times she thought about opening this but always found a way to put it back up, but tonight would be the night she went through with it.

Flipping it open, she picked out several things glancing at them briefly before placing them to the side until she reached what she was looking for at the very bottom. Emerald pulled out a beautiful purple and silver masquerade ball mask.

She had worn it to her first and only fraternity party during her freshman year of college. It was the night she got to dance with her crush Chance Cutter. Emerald would never forget that night as long as she lived. The memory was burned in her mind like a tattoo.

Chapter Thirteen

Emerald tugged the mask further down on her face as she walked through the crowd of college kids dancing to the music while they basked in the glow of the spiked punch someone had been passing around earlier.

She didn’t usually come to these parties because she never got invited since she wasn’t a part of this crowd. However, she was here tonight because her roommate Daisy was dating one of the older guys at the fraternity and she got dragged along to be the sober driver back to the house they shared off campus. Daisy thought she was making Emerald’s night by allowing her to tag along.

Truthfully, Emerald knew she wouldn’t have been able to sign the lease without Daisy Tersely since her father was the one who paid the deposit and first month’s rent for the place. Daisy had wanted to have the place by herself, but her father wouldn’t let her stay there alone.

So, since Emerald had wanted the same place but got denied by the landlord they ended up sharing the place together after word got around campus she had looked into the house first.

But, secretly, Emerald agreed to attend this party tonight for one reason only. She hoped to catch a glimpse of her crush, Chance Cutter. They only had one class together, but she looked forward to that psychology class every day.

Chance sat in the row next to her but two seats in front of her. She lost count how many times she would stare at the back of his head and dream about him noticing her again. She fell hard for Chance the second he sauntered into class on the first day of college.

His powerful well-muscled body moved with an easy grace as he found his seat and sat down. For a split second, Chance turned, looked in her direction and his bright, clear blue eyes were direct and unwavering as he searched her face before he spun back around.

Emerald knew Chance wouldn’t look at her twice because he had girls throwing themselves at him from every direction, but she couldn’t resist coming tonight since she was more than positive he would be here. He was a senior so he wouldn’t miss this party for anything.

Looking around, Emerald didn’t see Daisy anywhere in sight and wasn’t surprise by her roommate leaving her. Daisy only stayed around her when she needed something and after that she was gone like the wind.

Rolling her eyes in disgust, Emerald continued moving around the party noticing how much more revealing the other girls’ dresses were than hers. She knew she was over-dressed for the theme of a masquerade ball, but she considered herself more of a full-figured girl and showing a lot of skin wasn’t her style, not even to attract Chance’s attention.