Page 11 of Demon's Desire

I blinked as he reached out and took the shot. He cocked his head and looked at me. “Something wrong, gorgeous?”

“Oh! Um… No! No!” I shook my head and smiled. “Sorry. Maybe I’ve had too much to drink.”

“Don’t stop now.” He smirked. “I was just about to join you.”

I wasn’t sure if I was blushing, but I felt like I was. “No, I’m sure I can handle a little more.”

“Oh, I bet you could handle a lot.” He winked, moving over beside me, holding his shot. “Ready?”

“Yes!” I said quickly, picking up my own shot. “One, two, three.”

I tapped my shot on the counter before taking it. He just took his, but that wasn’t a big deal. I knew not everyone did it the same way. I shuddered again as the warm feeling spread through my upper body, and I set the plastic cup down. I watched him, but he didn’t seem affected by the whisky at all. Damn. He was probably way more used to this than I was. Oh, I must have looked so inexperienced! Dammit!

“Oh, hold on,” he said quickly, gently raising his hand.

I paused as he moved his fingers under my chin, then ran his thumb along the edge of my bottom lip. Okay, I was definitely blushing now. My cheeks were on fire. I watched him closely as he finally pulled his thumb away from me and put it between his lips.

“Mmm,” he muttered. “You had a bit of whisky there.”

“Oh… Thank you,” I said softly, smiling at him. Fuck, what were you even supposed to say to something like that?

I couldn’t quit staring at his mouth now. He had a very gorgeous mouth. Was it too obvious that I was staring? I forced myself to look up at his eyes. He had this lazy, confident look in them. I really liked that.

“What was your name?” he asked, leaning against the counter.

“I’m Mia.” I hoped my voice didn’t sound as breathy and excited as it did in my head. “And you are?”

“Elias.” He nodded at me. “I saw you dancing earlier. You looked really good.”

“Oh!” I glanced back at the living room where everyone was dancing and smiled slightly. “Not really. I mean, I was mostly just swaying. That’s not that impressive.”

“Really?” He smirked. “I thought it was hot.”

If I weren’t already blushing, I would have blushed at that. Instead, I just smiled at him. “Are you always this much of a flirt?”

“Never, actually.” He chuckled and pushed his hand through his curls. He looked very handsome when he did that. “I’m usually much more of a wallflower. But… I wanted to know if you wanted to dance?”

“You want to dance… with me?” I glanced back at the living room before smiling at him. “Sure. That sounds fun.”

“Great.” He winked and took my hand, pulling me back over to the makeshift dance floor. We moved to the middle, completely surrounded by people. I smiled under the lights and started swaying my hips like I had before. After a moment, he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling my hips against his. I could feel myself blushing again. We were so close, but I didn’t really mind. This was why I’d come to Chicago, right? I wanted new experiences, I wanted to meet new people and enjoy myself.

And I was definitely enjoying this.

He took my hand and suddenly spun me around. I laughed as I returned to my position against him. “You’re not bad at this.”

“I have a great partner.” He smirked.

“Hm. I don’t know if I believe you when you say you aren’t always this flirty.” I grinned. “I think you probably do this all the time.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised, Mia,” he whispered in my ear. I shivered slightly as the music changed to a slower song with a deep bass. He kept his hips firmly against mine. “I suppose I should ask if you have a boyfriend? Someone that would be jealous to see me so close to you right now?”

I swallowed hard to keep from shivering again. “Ah… N-no. No boyfriend or… anything. What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Nope,” he purred. “But if I did, I would have broken up with her the second I laid eyes on you.”

Okay, that was pretty hot. It sounded a bit like something a douchebag would say, but when he said it like that, it was really, really hot.

I had told myself the entire drive up here to Chicago that things were going to be different. I was going to be different. I was going to be bolder and take more risks. And I told myself that now, too, right before I wrapped my arms around Elias’ neck, closed my eyes, and leaned in to kiss him. Just another thing I never felt like I had the freedom to do until now.