Distraction (Club Destiny #8)(10)

“Excuse me,” he muttered to those at his table, though no one seemed to be paying any attention to him.

Without stopping to chat with anyone else, Dylan wound his way through the tables and toward the narrow hall that led to the restrooms. He caught a glimpse of cream as Sarah disappeared inside the ladies’ room. Rather than go in after her—though rather tempting—he leaned against the wall a few feet from the door and waited for her.

Several minutes later, after two other women slipped by him, Sarah emerged. She was smiling … right up until her gaze met his.

“Dating car salesmen?” he said by way of greeting, unable to hold back the bite of jealousy that had ripped through him the instant he’d seen Sarah with another man. He knew it wasn’t fair to her that he’d been disappointed to see that she had a boyfriend, but he couldn’t help but speak his mind.

Her blond eyebrows darted downward. “Do you know him?”

Well, hell. It had been a joke. “No.” Dylan pushed up from the wall. “Is he really a car salesman?”

Sarah watched him warily, nodding. She circled him, as though trying to keep from getting cornered. Dylan pretended not to notice.

“You been dating him long?”

“We’re not really dating,” she blurted, but her lips slammed closed as though she hadn’t meant to say that. The words that tumbled out next confirmed it. “Actually, yes. Yes, I have. We’re dating. Officially. For a few months. Many dates.”

When she glanced toward the ceiling, he wondered if she worried that lightning was going to strike her where she stood because that had been one whopper of a lie if he’d ever heard one.

Dylan stared at her for several seconds, their eyes locked. Memories of that night so long ago flashed through his mind. So many emotions he’d suppressed since then flooded back, stirring things up inside him. A mixture of anger and jealousy, longing and desire settled deep in his gut.

He had known this woman for what felt like forever, and at one point they’d even been friends. Of course, he’d gone and ruined that by introducing sex into the mix. That night, so long ago yet still fresh in his memories, was probably his biggest mistake. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed it, because he had. Immensely. However, it had drawn more emotion from him in the few short minutes he’d been with her than he’d expressed in years before that. Quite frankly, his reaction to Sarah had scared the shit out of him. Not since his wife had Dylan ever felt something like this. Hell, not since Meghan had Dylan felt much of anything at all.

Until Sarah.

And here she was again, a beautiful temptation that he couldn’t seem to resist.

There was some sort of magnetic force that drew Dylan closer to the sensual being still eyeing him cautiously, causing him to close the distance as he backed her up against the wall. To his surprise, she was watching him the same way she’d watched him the night he’d come over to her house and…

He smiled at the memory of how her body had clasped his so perfectly. Damn, what he wouldn’t give to bury himself in her heat once more. Right here. Right now. To feel that bone-jarring intensity one more fucking time.

If the woman only knew all the devious thoughts he’d had where she was concerned.

Sarah Davis had an innocence about her that she would never be able to shake. No amount of tattoos would be able to dim that na?ve glow that lit her pretty eyes. From her heart-shaped face to her plump, cupid’s-bow lips and the look of wide-eyed wonder in her dark blue eyes, the woman was purity reincarnate. Red lipstick, smoky eyes, and jet-black eyeliner did nothing to disguise that. He could still remember all the things he’d wanted to do to her, all the ways he’d hoped to have her. It had been about sex at the time. Pure, untainted lust.

And he knew his lust ran deep and hot. If he was alone with this woman for any amount of time, he’d strip her of her innocence and ruin her for eternity.

She deserved so much better than him. Both then and now.

“What do you want, Dylan?” Sarah’s sweet, raspy voice was barely a whisper. “I really need to get back to my date.”

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t looking at him exactly the same way as she had all those years ago.

He lifted his hand, and before he knew what he was doing, he slid his knuckles over the smooth line of her jaw. For the past 1,156 days, Dylan had thought about this woman. Hell, even before then. Ever since that night … the night that had changed him in so many ways. The night he’d fucked her up against the wall, giving a piece of himself to her without even realizing it.

Although she probably didn’t know, that night had been a turning point for him. He’d spent a few more days spiraling completely out of control before he hit rock bottom. But it had been what he’d done to her—the way he’d used her—that had made him wake up and realize the shit storm that had become his life.

“Dylan … don’t.”

Pulling back, he realized what he was doing and saw the anger etched into the soft, smooth lines of Sarah’s face. Apparently what they’d shared that night hadn’t lingered with her the way it had with him. Then again, he wouldn’t know because he had walked away and never looked back. He wanted to believe he would have, had it not been for the fact she’d said he was a distraction, but he wasn’t sure. Maybe that was just his excuse.

Without another word, Sarah moved around him, still watching him closely before turning and disappearing from his life once again.