Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(14)

Her eyes landed on the Patrick guy who Eric had pointed out to her. She had no interest in being with a football player and knew that she wouldn’t stoop to Stacia’s level, but he would do for dancing. He was hot enough.

She crooked her finger at him, and he lumbered over to her with a smirk on his face. He tried to engage her in conversation, but she ignored his attempts and danced up on him. She pressed her back to his chest and let her head drop backward.

He was all right but nothing compared to Damon. She figured it didn’t matter if she was just trying not to think anyway.

Trihn had downed her drink and was halfway through another one that Patrick had bought for her when someone interrupted her dance with Patrick.

“Mind if I cut in?” he asked in his posh British accent.

Her head snapped to the side, and her mouth dropped open.

“Fuck off,” Patrick said.

He eased his arm around Trihn’s waist and tried to pull her away, but she was rooted in one place.

“What do you want, Damon?” Trihn asked.

“A dance,” Damon said.

He had his hat in his hand and was twirling it between his fingers. She didn’t know if that was a show of confidence or nerves.

“I thought you made your position clear.”

“You know you’d rather be dancing with me.”

Patrick flexed like he was going to butt in, but Trihn just pushed him away.

“Save a dance for me later,” she said to Patrick.

“Man, whatever,” Patrick said. He glared at Damon before stomping off like a kid throwing a tantrum.

Damon tipped his hat back onto his head and smiled. “You’re way too good for him, you know?”

“We were just dancing. Last I checked, people could do that without having a relationship.”

He nodded and then pulled her close. Their hips effortlessly moved together. There was no thought to the motion. It was just a seamless perfection.

But it didn’t explain why he was down here or why he was dancing with her or why he was talking to her at all.

“What are you doing down here, Damon?”

“It’s my break.”

“I went up there and made a fool of myself. Now, you’re here, dancing with me?”

“You’re a good dancer.”

Trihn stilled and stared up at him. “What do you want?”

“Well, I wanted to dance with you,” he said, “but I also wanted to talk to you.”

“I think we’ve talked enough.”

“Later. After I get off work, wait for me.”

His hands landed on her hips again. It was so simple with him. Despite the embarrassment she still felt in his presence, dancing made total sense and made all the other emotions vanish. It was her favorite thing about dancing. Damon just made it that much easier because he was so good.

“Why should I?” she asked.

“Just wait for me, okay?”

He sealed their hips together, and they rolled in heart-stopping circles that pushed her body so tightly against his that she barely had room to breathe. She could feel the hard contours of his washboard abs under the dark T-shirt he wore. Her dress was so short that when he pressed a knee between her legs as they danced, her ass nearly hung out the back. If they wanted to, they could probably have sex right there on the dance floor. Their movements were so in tune together that it was basically foreplay. And when he finally pulled away at the end of his break, Trihn was breathing heavily, and his pupils were dilated.

“You’ll wait?” he asked.

“Against my better judgment,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Good.”

Then, he disappeared into the crowd to return to the DJ booth, leaving her more confused than ever.




“You sure you don’t want to ride home with us?” Eric asked.

He was holding up an extremely drunk Bryna, who was vacillating between giggles and rants.

When Bryna got drunk, she only had two modes—crazy and psychotic. It all depended on how happy Bryna was. Luckily, psychotic hadn’t been out in a while, but Trihn had seen her blow her fuse a few too many times not to always be a little wary of a drunk Bryna.

“Yeah. I’ll catch a ride with Maya if I have to,” Trihn reassured him.

When her friends finally cleared out of the bar, Trihn sat down on a barstool that was normally covered with people, and with jitters in her stomach, she looked up at Maya.

“I’m surprised you made it this long,” Maya said, wiping down the counter.

“I can’t believe I’m sitting here, waiting for a guy who rejected me when I offered him sex.”

Maya guffawed and then tossed her towel down. “You could have had sex with any guy in the place tonight, but you want him now because he said no.”

“I do not!”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Ugh! That’s not true. That makes it sound like I have issues.”

Maya leveled her with an accusatory stare.

“I don’t have issues. You all cooked up this idea together, so I’d forget about Neal.”

“And it’s working! Plus, you were into Damon last night,” Maya said with a wink. “But come on, tell me, you aren’t the least bit intrigued as to why he wants to talk to you after turning you down?”