"As much as I would love to take you in the back and have my way with you, you deserve better than a quickie up against the wall."
My voice was rather hoarse when I replied, "On the contrary, I'm thinking that sounds just about perfect."
He leaned over so his mouth was just over mine. "I'll take you home and we can do it any way you want: up against the wall, on the kitchen counter, in the shower..." his mouth covered mine as he bit my lower lip and sucked it into his mouth before he added, "... or all of the above."
"Oh, dear god."
He was laughing as we started from the dance floor.
"This seems to be turning into a habit, Trace. Are you purposely trying to seduce me every time we're out? I need to go splash my face with cold water, again."
He grinned and I had my answer, yes, he was doing it on purpose. "I'll settle our bill. Don't take long, Ember."
The look in his eyes almost had me wanting to take too long just to see what he would do.
I was making my way through the crowd when suddenly a hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me back.
"Don't make a scene, Ember." Dane's silky-soft voice purred in my ear as my heart started beating frantically in my chest. I was terrified but I was about to make the biggest fucking scene ever until he added, "We're going to walk out of here and if you bring any attention to us my next stop will be Westchester. Am I clear?"
Chelsea. All the fight drained from me as I shook my head.
"Smart girl. Give me your purse."
My hand was shaking as I passed it over. He pocketed my identification before dropping the purse and the rest of its contents on the floor.
"We will be long gone before any one finds it."
His grip on my arm tightened as he pulled me toward the back exit. He was calm and completely in control and I knew that everything Lucien had said about him was right. He was a sociopath, he'd done this before and he was really fucking smart. If something happened to me would Trace ever recover from it? He was finally happy, putting the nightmare of a past behind him, and to have it shoved right back into his face by this bastard almost had me biting, kicking and clawing at Dane. He pulled me into the dark alley behind the club where a car was waiting.
"Not feeling very chatty are we, Ember?"
Fear or not I wanted to ram my fist into his face.
My face must have been showing my revulsion because he leaned closer and sneered, "Considering your background, Ember, you really do think an awful lot of yourself."
My temper spiked and I spoke without thinking. "And considering yours, you're quite a piece of shit."
We were just reaching the car when Dane slammed me up against it and followed with an open-handed slap across my face. Holy hell that hurt.
"You've got some sass but I'll break you. I must thank Lena for bringing you to my attention and telling me about her quiet roommate who was far from home and spent her weekends reading. She even told me in passing conversation that you were a virgin. I do believe her intent was to make herself look better by listing all the areas where you were lacking. She wants me, you see -- even offered herself to me one night while Todd was busy gambling. She actually pulled me into the men's room in the club where her boyfriend was playing poker, dropped to her knees and, well -- I'm a gentleman so I won't detail what followed but I will say that the woman has no gag reflex. Sadly, as far as I can see that's about all she's got going for her. I was expecting a mouse that night at dinner after the way she described you so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw you." He pressed himself against me and his voice turned hard when he added, "You're not a virgin anymore are you, Ember? You let that Neanderthal touch you, fuck you. He never should have threatened me at Sapphire, humiliated me, because he turned my mild interest in you into payback and hurting you is the perfect way to pay Trace Montgomery back."
I just stared at him because I was truly in the presence of a madman so believing anything that came out of his mouth was naive. Chelsea was still in danger. I had to get away from him. The years of self-defense that I was taught by my dad and uncle ran through my head as I worked to psych myself up. After a few moments, I sucked in a breath and brought my knee up hard into Dane's balls. I didn't get full contact but it was enough to get him to release me. I tried to run from him but Dane was fast as his hand shot out, grabbed my hair and yanked me back. I screamed bloody murder before his hand closed over my mouth. I threw my head back and nailed him in the nose. He howled in pain but he didn't release me and then I felt the blinding pain as his fist connected a solid punch to my kidney. All the air left my lungs as he started dragging me back to the car.