Dance For Me (Strip in the City, Book 2)

38 • Hot Lift

Tan

Driving across the Brooklyn Bridge on the back of Dominick's motorcycle was an experience I'd never forget. I rarely left Manhattan, and when I did, it wasn't toward Brooklyn. It was on a train back to Jersey.

I was sitting with the fact that I couldn't fix everything for him, no matter how hard I tried, and it caused a strange feeling of ineptitude to settle in my gut. It mixed like cement with all the other feelings I had stirring inside me and the small amount of alcohol I'd drank.

I tried to focus on the wind across my face, and the way my body felt pressed against his. I couldn't fix his hurt, but maybe if I tried hard enough, I could hold us together. Keep us just the way we were before tonight happened. Living in our new-relationship bliss. I squeezed him tighter, snaking my hands around his waist and lacing my fingers together.

But no matter how hard I squeezed him, I couldn't get those thoughts to leave me alone.

For whatever reason, whether it was the move or how he reacted to the changes at the club, it felt like I was losing him. Bit by bit. Like the time we had together was slipping between my fingers, and I was helpless to hold on to him.

He might've said that he wanted to do this for me, so that he could be the man that I deserved, but he still hadn't told me that he loved me. And moving all the way across town didn't seem like the way to keep us together.

We pulled up to a cute brick building in a part of Brooklyn I'd never been before. It was quieter and more residential, but there was a bagel shop and a pizza place across the street, which I'm sure he'd make good use of.

The thought caused my stomach to roil once again.

It was past three in the morning, and even though most of New York City was raging on, this part of town was fast asleep. This wasn't a neighborhood for parties, but for...families.

He helped me off the bike and took my hand as he led us inside. The foyer was clean, and it looked like there was a gym in the basement, but the place was vacant and cold. In fact, it was the furthest thing from Blanche's I could've imagined.

Dominick gestured to the elevator, and after he swiped a keycard, he punched the button for the tenth floor, and the doors closed.

I didn't know what to say, and by the looks of it, neither did he, which was driving me crazy.

Impulsively, I eyed the emergency stop button, and without putting too much thought into it, I pressed the button, and the elevator came to a grinding halt.

Dominick stumbled forward, and as he did, he wrapped an arm around my middle, pulling me against him as he braced one hand on the mirrored wall.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, as soon as the lift stopped shaking.

I turned in his arms to find him staring at me in wide-eyed shock.

His blond hair was perfectly mussed, and his white t-shirt was tight underneath a black leather jacket. His bright green eyes stared back at me through thick-rimmed glasses.

Those glasses would be the death of me, I swore to all that was holy.

I needed him. Now. Before anything else changed.

I dropped my helmet on the ground, and it landed with a thud.

We stared at each other for another tense second before I leaped into his arms. Dom was ready to catch me. Like he needed this just as much as I needed him. An excuse to stop our out-of-control lives and just be with each other, for however long we could.