Blissful Surrender (Bliss #3)(25)
Author: B.J. Harvey

“Y-Yes. Hi, Sean. Fancy seeing you here …” she says, leaving her comment open ended in anticipation of an answer.

“Yes, a funny coincidence, wouldn’t you say? Fortunately, my boss called in a favor late this afternoon and I’m attending the dinner in his place.”

“I see.” She fidgets in her seat and curls her hair back behind her ear repeatedly. Her apparent nervousness is very becoming.

“Babe, who’s this?” The dickhead to her left asks, unapologetic as he turns toward me, obviously sizing me up. His words are clipped, his tone aggressive at best.

“Tanner, this is Sean Miller. He’s an old friend of mine,” Sam says, emphasizing the word friend. Her eyes sparkle with amusement as I hold my hand out to Tanner who just looks at it before slowly shaking. A firm but inconspicuous squeeze gives his true thoughts away, making the smile on my face morph into a knowing grin.

“Great to meet you, Tanner. I wasn’t aware Samantha was seeing anyone—”

“I’m not!” she interjects harshly, not realizing how much she has just given away. She looks at him quickly with guilt written all over her face before turning back toward me. “I mean, Tanner and I are just friends and colleagues.”

My grin gets bigger at her unintentional admission. “Great, then you won’t mind me stealing Samantha away for a dance. We have a lot of catching up to do, don’t we, friend?”

Her lips twitch as she tries to hold back a smile, recognizing a pissing contest when she sees one. “Yes, we do. You don’t mind, do you, Tanner?”

“Nope, go ahead,” he grumbles as he picks up his glass and knocks it back quickly. “I’m going to get another drink.”

“Fantastic,” I boast before holding out my hand to my dance partner, and wrapping my fingers around hers as she places it in mine. She pushes her chair out before standing radiantly in front of me.

“After you …” I offer, gesturing for her to lead the way. I’m not used to doing the following and I know she realizes that this is not the norm. To her credit, she doesn’t hesitate as she walks toward the dance floor, pulling me behind her.

She stops in the middle of the crowd of swaying couples, turning to look at me. I swear if that woman cocks her hip and glares at me expectantly, I won’t be able to stop myself from doing something highly inappropriate for a police charity dinner. Instead, she bites her lip and steps into my arms as I hold them out in front of me. Pulling her in close against me, I gently place my right hand on her left hip. Lacing her other hand’s fingers with mine, I hold our hands up as I start to sway side to side in time to I Hate The Way I Love You by Rihanna and Ne-Yo.

She leans into me, her body relaxing into mine as if it’s the most natural thing in the world for us to be dancing together. Taking her lead, I glide my hand up her back until it rests across her shoulders. A contented sigh escapes her lips and I will my body to control itself as I feel an all too familiar tightness in my groin. Something about this woman obliterates all semblance of the control I pride myself on. It should worry me, but then again it was always like this with Sammy. Everything felt right, natural, like we belonged.

“What are we doing, Sean?” she whispers quietly. She looks up at me and her big jade eyes hit me like a sucker punch. “Because I’m not sure I can resist for much longer …” she murmurs, her voice tapering off as if she’s unsure of what she’s saying.

“Why resist?” I murmur as I rest my cheek against her hair.

“You know why. We don’t work.”

“Hmm …” I say, continuing to move against her, not stopping as the song ends and the lead singer starts playing Coldplay’s I Ran Away.

She drops her head to my shoulder, and the contentment I feel from holding her in my arms consumes me. Her arm strokes my back, making my muscles flex at the sensation. I can feel the heat from her touch through my suit jacket, and I can’t focus on anything other than the beautiful woman in my arms. This is so damn right. I don’t know how she can keep me at arm’s length but she’s worth the wait. Everything in me wants to whisk her away, show her how good we were, how good we can be.

After a few minutes, the song comes to an end and the MC announces that the band will be taking a short break. As if waking from a trance, I move my arms away from her and gently push her away from my body.

“Sean, what’s wrong?”

Her eyes dart around the room, looking over my shoulder toward her table where I know her dickhead date will be watching her like a hawk. Friends with benefits my ass! One look at him with her and I knew he wanted more than just benefits; he wants the whole damn package. Pity I can’t let that happen. Ever. “Thank you for the dance, Samantha. I got carried away there for a minute and forgot myself.”

She looks up at me, her eyebrows furrow in confusion at my sudden change. “Did I … Did I do something wrong?” she stutters.

“No, it was all me. I must be going, I’ve got to go check in at the club.” I grab her hand and lift it to my mouth, gently kissing the back of it before letting it go. “Nice seeing you again, Sammy.”

I muster all the restraint I have and turn around, walking away from the one woman I never want to leave, the one who needs to make a decision about what and who she truly wants. And soon.

Sam

I stand in the middle of the dance floor watching Sean’s back as he walks away from me, again. I feel embarrassed, turned on and frustrated as hell, and I have to lock my knees to stay upright.

Being in Sean’s arms again felt better than I remembered. It was like the world around us disappeared and we were the only two people left. I can still feel where Sean’s hands touched my hip, up my back, across my shoulders, my cheek where I laid my head on his shoulder, my chest where it was pressed snugly against his …

I stumble to the bar and order a vodka tonic—more vodka, less tonic—then down it in one gulp before ordering another one, seeking anything that will clear my head.

When I reach my table again, Tanner and Zander are deep in conversation.

“Sam!” Kate calls as I sit down in my seat. “We were just saying how we should head out to a club. It’s only nine o’clock, way too early to be calling it a night. You up for it?”

Tanner looks over at me and raises a brow, anticipating my normal polite decline. Bolstered by the alcohol coursing through me, I suddenly feel full of energy and ready to dance.