Shifting Gears (29 page)

My “outfit” turns out to be a new
dress. Apparently, for some crazy reason, Cass went out and bought
brand new dresses and shoes for both of us. As I slip it over my
shoulders and slide it down, the fabric feels soft against my skin
as it hugs my hips and ass. That much I know even before looking in
the mirror.

Over the years, Cass has learned my
size and what works well with my shape. In front of the mirror, I
take a breath as I stare at my reflection. I look hot. The teal
color looks good up against my skin, and the way it fits shows off
every single curve I own. It’s dangerously short though. Not
something I’m used to. The thought of bending over in it makes me
nervous.

I feather my hands across the
crisscross pattern in the front, which is low cut and reveals a lot
of my cleavage. Another thing I don’t normally do. But the thought
of Holt seeing me look like this tempts me into keeping it
on.

As if the dress isn’t enough, Cass
pulls out the shoes she bought for me: a pair of black, strappy
stilettos. Just looking at them make my feet hurt. After strapping
them on, though, I decide the pain is going to be worth it to look
like this. God.

For the first time, I can see the glow
Cass was talking about. My skin almost looks like looks like beads
of sunlight are coming from it.

I look happy. Can’t help but think
about the festering monster though. The disease inside me that
unleashes itself at any sign of happiness. Shuts it down. Steals it
away from me. I push past it, refusing to allow it to control my
night.

“Girl, you look amazing in that
dress!” Cass says, coming to stand beside me.

“Thanks.” I can’t help twisting my
body back and forth, staring at my reflection.

I glance over at Cass, who looks
pretty smoking herself. She has on a fire-red dress even shorter
than mine. It’s the kind of dress you can’t wear a bra with, so
hers is just the opposite of mine. Everything left to the
imagination in the front but the back, whew, not so much. It scoops
down to a puddle of fabric that rests just above her ass,
undoubtedly teasing the eye. Her matching red stilettos and cherry
red lipstick make her look like she’s on a mission.

“Cass, is something up, sweetheart? I
mean, don’t get me wrong, I love getting dressed up, but I feel
like we’re going overboard here and can’t help but think you got
some kind of agenda going on.”

“Nope, no agenda,” she giggles, “just
want to look hot tonight, and I figure Holt won’t mind seeing you
in that dress either.”

I look at myself in the mirror again.
I think she’s right. Shit, I’m actually starting to get a little
turned on looking at myself.

Although our skills are not as great
as Lita’s, we manage, in a pinch, to do each other’s hair. I decide
on an up do, leaving some pieces hanging here and there, and Cass
goes all roaring twenties with a sleek side style, curling only the
ends. She is definitely going to turn heads tonight. We both spritz
ourselves with perfume and make our way out to Holt.

He’s sitting on the couch, watching
TV, with a beer in his hand. He must hear the sound of our heels
clacking on the hardwood floor, because he turns and looks in our
direction. As he locks eyes with me, he drops his beer, and it goes
crashing to the floor.

I hear him say, “Fuck,” as he gets up
and walks to the kitchen, I assume to clean up the mess he just
made.

Cass chuckles under her breath. “Yep,
I’m good. I knew he’d like that dress on you the minute I saw it on
the rack.”

I giggle at her, but I’m still a
little nervous about going out in public with barely anything
covering me. “I think you’re right.”

I follow Holt into the kitchen to help
him with the spilled beer, but I find him leaning up against the
wall, in a daze. He gives me a funny look as I walk toward
him.

“You okay?”

He rakes his eyes up and down and back
up again. I shiver at the intense look in his eyes. I know what
he’s thinking. “Babe, I don’t know what got my cock harder
first—that dress, that neck, or those fuck-me shoes. I had to get
away from you, because I was about ready to throw you on the floor,
and I didn’t fucking care if your girl got an eye full or
not.”

The opportunity is knocking, and I’m
going for it. Trying out my how-to-be-a-tease skills. Seeing this
as my first time trying, and I’m truly clueless about what the fuck
I’m doing, I still somehow manage to keep my composure, which is
hard as shit to do. He opens his mouth, I get wet.

I slowly make my way toward him,
looking at him like I’m ravenous, licking my lips as I keep my eyes
directly on him. As I reach him, I take his hand and slowly raise
it to my exposed neck. His hand feels so good. I instantly heat up
between my legs.

“So,” I purr at him. “You don’t know
if you like this part?” I guide his hand across my bare neck. “Or
this part?” Giggling, I move his hand to rest on my nearly exposed
breasts. “Or this?” I lift my leg and wrap it around him, digging
my heel into his thigh. I have not taken my gaze off his, and from
the hunger I see there, I have him exactly where I want
him.

Cass was right. This isn’t so hard
and, damn, I have him panting like a dog in less than a minute. As
I stand there, grinning seductively at him, relishing in what I did
to him and so quickly, he takes me off guard. While I still have my
leg around him, he reaches between my legs and discovers what I
already know. I’ve made myself hungry with my little
show.

“Seeing all of this has made me want
to eat this.” He pushes my panties aside and shoves a finger in me,
stroking my clit with his thumb. I moan, forgetting we’re in the
kitchen with Cass just outside in the hallway.

“Shh, baby. Now, see, I think you
deserve some punishment for that little game,” he whispers to me
with an evil laugh. “You know I can’t do what you just teased me
with, so now, my sweet Nicolette, I’m going to make you suffer. If
you’re a good girl, I might let you take this cock
later.”

I’m breathless, and my body is
scorching from his touch yet again, reminding me that my desire for
him will never subside.

How the hell did I just let my first
attempt at seducing him backfire? Shit. He totally turned the
tables on me. Yeah, I still have a lot to learn.

Holt slowly releases me and, as I
straighten, he licks his fingers clean of me. He guides me back
into the living room just as Ang walks through the door. Cass
must’ve spread the word to her too, as she’s also dressed up and
super sexy. I twist my neck to look behind her, only to see she’s
alone. No Clay.

“Oh my God, you girls look hot as
shit!” Ang glances back and forth from me to Cass.

“Thanks, honey, so do you.” I
smile.

I didn’t think a dress could get any
shorter, but Ang is proving me wrong with a black mini. Her hot
pink stilettos are definitely going to get her some attention
tonight too.

“Niki! You look different, girl.
Loving it! You are owning sexy, honey. What did you do to her skin,
Cass, I need some of that!”

“It wasn’t me.”

They both turn to look at Holt and
grin.

“Um, thanks.” I’m still unsure and a
bit uncomfortable in my dress, but with Holt’s reaction, there’s no
way I’m changing.

Holt must sense my insecurity, as he
bends down and whispers in my ear, “That dress was meant for that
body, babe, and I’m the only one who’s seeing what’s under
it.”

I catch my breath and giggle at the
same time as he wraps his arm around my waist, playing with the
soft fabric at my thigh. I look over at Ang and Cass and see the
smiles on their faces. My guess, they both know Holt just whispered
something naughty in my ears.

“So where’s Clay?” I ask
Ang.

“He had to head out for this last
minute photo shoot. He said he might try to join up with us
later.”

“Oh,” is all I get out before Cass
chimes in.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we
got Nik’s man to keep us safe tonight then. Getting to ride in that
sweet car of his is a bonus!”

I glare at Cass for calling Holt “my
man,” because we haven’t established that yet, and I really don’t
want Cass to be the one doing so. Great.

“Shit, yeah, Cass. His car is hot as
hell,” Ang says, as Holt holds the door open for them and they
climb into the backseat. He then walks over to my side and opens
the door for me, holding my hand to help me in.

“Makes you wonder how many—” Ang
abruptly stops as I get in. It must’ve hit that it isn’t the
greatest conversation to be having in front of me, as I imagine she
was about to say how many women had been in that
backseat.

As Holt walks around to his door, I
can’t stop myself from finishing Angie’s thought. Just how many
women has Holt had in this car? Damn.

Check it, Nik. In the
past. Don’t start dredging up shit in that head of
yours.

He slides in, turns to me, and offers
me that sexy mouthwatering smile of his. “Ready,
ladies?”

“Hell, yes,” the girls cry out from
the back, as I sit, pulling my dress down.

****

It’s crowded tonight, as I figured it
would be with word going out it’s Galaxy’s last night performing
before they hit it big. We head straight for our spot, which,
thankfully, isn’t taken. I was having visions of Holt getting into
an altercation with some assholes not wanting to move, knowing what
the end result would be. My sexy, lethal man.

I’m standing at the table, taking in
the crowd, when Holt comes up behind me and wraps his arms around
my body. He rests his chin on my shoulder and drops his lips to my
ear. “What do you want to drink, babe? Stella?”

“Yes, please.”

I raise my head to meet his eyes and
smile. I love how he remembers all the little things about me,
convincing me even more how he feels about me. He smiles then tilts
his head back to my ear and nibbles it before releasing me. Shit.
He’s going to keep to his word. Making me suffer for my little
show.

After asking the girls what they want
to drink, Holt walks to the bar. My eyes are on his perfectly
chiseled back and shoulders. The ridges and ripples of his muscles
moving. The heat of wanting those arms on my hips burns
me.

He looks hot as hell tonight too,
dressed in all black again—his favorite, it seems—a black slim-fit
V-neck t-shirt, along with a pair of black stone-washed jeans, and
his black biker boots. His hair, as usual, is in total disarray.
Hot as hell. From head to fucking toe, totally
mouthwatering.

Is he really mine? I still truly have
no clue. I know I want him to be, and right now, I want him to be
in me. He turns and looks back at me, catching my eyes on him, and
winks at me. He felt my stare, like I feel his.

I chuckle and wonder if he can read my
thoughts too. Damn what he brings out in me. So out of control,
thinking of what I want him to do to me every time he is near. My
hunger in overload, I look in the direction of the bathrooms and
can’t help but think of him shoving me up against the wall and
letting him do whatever he wants with me. A heat spikes through me
as I’m overcome by the thought.

“It’s crowded as hell in here,” Ang
says, taking me out of my fantasy.

Holt is back with our drinks and sets
them on the table in front of me.

“I think I’m going to go walk around
up front, see who’s here,” Ang says.

“I’ll come with,” Cass yells. “We’ll
be back, chicka.” She turns to me, winking.

Holt is grinning at me.

“What?”

“Just wondering what you were thinking
while you watched me walk away just then.”

I look at him, in my newly-learned
seductive way—I never said I was giving up trying—and I’m certain
he knows exactly what I was thinking, but I play along. “Hmm, guess
you’re just going to have to find out later.”

He stalks up to me with a look that
scares me, as I still don’t know what Holt’s capable of. “You keep
that shit up, babe, and you ain’t seeing a fucking band tonight,
because that ass of yours will be in bed, underneath me, screaming
out my fucking name.”

Hmm, seems I just took the reins back.
I like this game, I’m taking it full throttle.

I reach down and grab ahold of him,
between his legs. “Well, why don’t we just take it to the bathroom
right now, and I’ll show you what I was thinking.”

He doesn’t say a word, he just grabs
my wrist and tugs me toward the bathrooms.

Oh fuck.

He shoves me into the women’s bathroom
and follows me in, locking the door. I’m torn between shock and
desire. He’s going to give me exactly what I fantasized about, I
just didn’t think he would actually do it.

I should’ve known better.

He pushes me up against the wall. I
can’t breathe, I’m so turned on.

He whispers in my ear, “Is this what
you want, my little tease?” He rips my panties off in one forceful
tug. He unzips his jeans, releasing his already-hard cock, and
shoves it in me instantly, not giving me a second to
object.