Chapter 2

Daniel

There's a certain kind of satisfaction in watching your prey from afar. The feeling of a Panther when it's fixated on a target and unwilling to let to it go. Usually, they go straight for the kill. But sometimes, when they find something that they really like, they can be really patient stalk it for days on end. Relentless. Always keeping their eyes on the prey but staying in the shadows. Not letting anyone guess at their intention until it’s time to pounce.

For me, that time was tonight.

I've noticed her for days. She's a regular on Friday nights and she's always with those two women. Occasionally, a man would join them, but he seems to be into the auburn haired friend.

Grace is always alone.

I'd learned her name only a few days ago when her friends had celebrated her birthday here. But I'd planned to pursue her a month before that. But now, two and a half months later, it's finally time for the kill. Her friends had noticed me tonight. I'd purposely stood in the limelight, trying to grab her attention. Grace had noticed me. And for the short instant that her wild green eyes had met mine, I'd wanted nothing more than to bend her over the bar and take her with the fury of a predator on the hunt, the club and its people be damned.

But I held on to my sanity for a little while longer.

"Bella Signora," I came up behind her as I found her alone on the dance floor for the first time; saw an involuntary shudder pass through her. "May I have a dance?"

Her wide eyes reminded me of a childhood story. Like little Red riding hood finally realizing that the big bad wolf has taken over her territory and now it's about to eat her. Oh, I intend to do a lot more than just that and I'm very sure a lot of them could get me behind bars. But the rest can wait. Tonight, I want to take a slow, delicious bite that would make her scream for more.

Grace

I looked up at the mountain of a man with the sexy Italian accent. This close, I could smell the scent of his cologne and it was the most intoxicating thing I'd ever smelled. Cinnamon and other spices with a fresh burst of lime, along with an undertone of something dark and sexy.

"Surreee...." I slurred. And it had little to do with the alcohol and everything to do with the man mountain standing in front of me, drugging my senses.

But he didn't dance with me. "You're drunk." He frowned, narrowing those deep blue eyes at me, making me feel like a misbehaving school girl.

"I'm sorrryy..." I must be really drunk if I'm apologizing for being drunk.

"Come with me." He took a hold of my arm and for an agonizing second, it felt like electricity sizzled when our skin connected. But he must not have felt it because I was being dragged to the bar behind him while I admired his fine toned ass through his dress pants. Oddly, I had a sudden urge to slap it.

I raised my arms a fraction, my target the taunt mound of his butt cheeks, but found myself facing him the next instant, both my arms held tightly behind my back. "Later Caro. You'll get all the time you want to do whatever you please, but I need you functional for that. I want you to remember everything that happens tonight."

Gods! Can his accent get any sexier? I grinned up at him, completely forgetting what he'd just said.

He let go of my hands with a smirk and with a firm grip on my waist, set me up on a bar stool. He then motioned to the bartender, who set a glass in front of me with a whitish kinda liquid with three lemon slices at the bottom and one on the rim of the whiskey glass.

"What's this?" I frowned, leaning in closer to inspect the liquid. When I couldn't figure it out, I sniffed the glass. Nope, still no clue. All I could smell was the lime.

A few giggles drew my attention to a couple of girls on the dance floor who were giving my man mountain some serious come hither looks. "Hey!" I yelled over the blaring music, making their heads snap towards me...along with a couple others. "Find your own hook up, he's mine!" For some reason, I did something completely antithetical of my character.

Next to me, my hook-up chuckled, the sound deep and throaty.

"Drink." The fishy white glass was held in front of my face.

"Is it drugs?" I ask him.

"No, it's something to make you feel better." He whirled the liquid in the glass, the lemon slices sloshing around with the liquid. "Bottoms up."

"Okay." I finally took the glass from him and without hesitating, gulped it down in one go. And then I was coughing up my intoxication.

"Lemon and ginger juice." I heard him say as he rubbed my back. "It'll help you sober up."

Too bad I already felt plenty sober with his hands on my bare skin. I'd worn a short green dress tonight that reached just above my knees and it had a plunging back, so most of my skin was already exposed to his touch. It was as if he deliberately moved his hands in slow circles to get a better feel.

"Now, how about that dance?" I asked; my voice less slurry.

He didn't answer, just slipped his hand down my arm and entwined his fingers with mine. Tugging me down the stool, he spun me into his chest, all hard muscles and intoxicating heat.

He dipped me so suddenly, I had no choice but to clutch his biceps, nails digging painfully into bulging muscles. He didn't complain. Eyes half shadowed by the dark hair that fell over his forehead, he brought me up, spun me for a half circle before pulling me closer and setting his hands on my hips. The music was loud, pop-metal or something, but somehow, he kept pace with the tune without going too fast or too slow.

I slid my arms up to his shoulders and locked my fingers at his nape. Our faces were so close that I could smell the slight scent of whiskey in his breath. He pulled me even closer to his body so there wasn't even room for air between us.

Everything about him was intriguing. The dark hair that fell on his forehead was like liquid silk, so soft and smooth that I couldn't help but tangle my fingers through them. His lashes cast light shadows on his cheek and his lips were so full and plum that before I realized what I was doing, I had crashed my lips to his, tugging his head down with a firm grip on his hair. My mind went completely blank.

He didn't waste any time in taking control of the kiss. He devoured my lips with his and then he sucked my lower lip into his mouth only to release it with a sweet, wet sound that sent blood gushing straight down to my core. One of his hands slid to my butt, squeezing the soft mound of my cheeks, while the other lifted one legs off the ground and wrapped it around his waist. Then he rode his hands up my thigh, taking my dress along with him and stopped short of my hips.

I threw my head back, breaking the kiss as his palms molded my butt cheeks and he took advantage of it by traversing a short, wet path from the valley between my breast and back to my mouth...with his tongue. I gasped, which led him to thrust his tongue into my mouth, tasting every nook and cranny and entwining his tongue with mine.

Dance floor sex! I wonder what that would feel like? To be taken in the midst of all these people?

As if reading my thoughts, he lifted his face from mine, his eyes now a smoldering electric blue, drowned in passion. "As much as I like the idea, tonight, you belong only to me."

His words sent a shiver down my spine, my body already feeling the lack as he let go of me. I was about to complain, but the slow smirk playing on his lips told me he wasn't teasing. "It's time to head upstairs." He said in his heavily accented English.

One thing I was sure of, I'd never forget this night for my entire lifetime.