In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes (The Queen’s Cove Series Book 3)
In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes: Chapter 37

“IT’S LOUD IN HERE,” I yelled over the thumping music.

Sadie beamed at me. The person at the door had painted a butterfly on each of her temples. Sadie had insisted I get the same. Under the black lights, her teeth flashed white.

“I know.” Her gaze snagged on a person walking by, covered in glowing paint. “Welcome to the Queen’s Cove art scene.”

I stared around the packed warehouse Sadie had navigated us to. On the dance floor, paint-covered people writhed to the beat. Along one wall, a bar served drinks. Paint pots and brushes sat near the entrance and giant canvases hung from the walls as people flung paint at them.

No wonder Sadie had told me to wear clothes I didn’t mind throwing out.

“Come on.” She slipped her hand into mine and pulled me toward the bar while I admired her ass in her mini-skirt.

Someone passed me, their face painted like a glow-in-the-dark lion. I cringed at Sadie. “I’m too old for this. Let’s go home and watch another Twilight movie.”

That made her laugh. “I knew you liked those.” She kept pulling me. “By the time I’m done with you, Holden, you’re going to be the king of fun.”

When Sadie had told me she was taking me on an adventure tonight, I never, ever would have expected this.

I frowned down at her, hiding a smile. “I’m going to ask them to turn the music down.”

Her outrage nearly made me break. “No. You’re being grumpy.”

I grinned at her.

“You’re kidding.” Her tone was flat but her mouth curled up.

I nodded, smiling at her, before I lifted her hand and spun her in a circle. “I’m having fun, only because I’m with you, though. You know this is a rave, right?”

Her mouth fell open. “What? It’s not a rave, it’s a party.”

A guy holding a dozen glowsticks appeared at our side. “Two for ten bucks.”

Sadie’s eyes lit up. She reached into her pocket for cash but I waved her off, handing the guy a bill.

“It’s a rave,” I told her with a little smile as I clipped it around her neck.

Her eyes danced as she laughed. “You might be right.” She lifted the second glowstick and fastened it around my neck. Her fingers brushed my skin and I had the urge to drop a kiss onto her cheek.

So I did.

She blinked at me as I leaned down and brushed my mouth along her jaw. “What was that for?”

I shrugged, holding her gaze. “Felt like it.”

Her hand rested on my chest. “Even if I dragged you to a rave?”

I nodded and shot her a wink.

She narrowed her eyes, grinning. “I knew you were having fun.” She turned to the bartender and ordered for us.

When I handed the bartender cash, she tried to bat my hand away. “We’re supposed to be equals. Fifty-fifty.”

I dropped the change in the tip jar and nodded my thanks to the bartender. “We are. You went to the trouble of replaceing this place.” I shrugged and slipped my arm around her shoulder. “And I like paying. Okay? It’s not my way of setting you up to owe me something.”

She studied me for a moment with a funny look in her eye. “I know.”

I frowned down at her. “What’s that look for?”

A smile pulled at her pretty mouth and she shrugged. “Just thinking about what a good person you are.”

I remembered her words from fifteen years ago and my stomach flipped. We were friends now, or something like friends, and I knew things were different from that summer, but a tiny part of me still believed what she had said.

This thing I had with Sadie? It was too good to be true.

Sadie moved in front of me with her back to my front and pulled out her phone to take a selfie of us. I wrapped my arms around her stomach and rested my chin on her shoulder for the photo. Paint covered our faces but we were smiling.

She admired the photo for a moment before grabbing my hand. “Let’s go look around.”

I pushed the thoughts away. Tonight, I’d just enjoy being with Sadie.

We wandered the warehouse, watching as people played with paint, danced, and drank. People made out in every dark corner, groping and tasting each other. The energy inside was chaotic, intense, and hedonistic.

“Are you okay?” Sadie asked, searching my eyes. “I know this is a lot for you.”

I smiled at her and my hand tightened on hers. “I’m okay. Stay close.”

It was dark in here, and I couldn’t risk something happening to her.

She finished her drink, tossed the cup in a nearby recycling bin, and looped her arms around my neck before she raised herself up on her toes and kissed me.

Fuck. My cock stiffened and my arm moved around her back, pulling her into my chest. Her tongue stroked mine and I groaned. She nipped my lip before she pulled back with a little grin.

“What was that for?” I asked, a little dazed.

She shrugged. “Come on, let’s play.” She grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the paints and paintbrushes. We found an area with fewer people and she grabbed the nearest brush before she dragged it through a tray with glowing green paint.

“Take your shirt off,” she told me.

When I hesitated, she skewered me with a hot look.

“Holden,” she warned, smiling a little. Her eyes were on fire and my erection ached. “I’m not going to ask you again.”

Fuck, I loved it when she got all bossy. I grinned and pulled my shirt over my head. She took a step forward, holding my gaze, before she painted a long line down my torso.

She took the shirt from me and tossed it against a wall. “You don’t need that anymore.”

She shot me a devilish smile and blood rushed to my cock. She studied my torso before dragging another stroke across my skin, her gaze flicking from my eyes to my body. I felt the electric contact of her brush everywhere, skittering across my skin and arcing through me.

More brushes lay on the table behind her. I reached for one and picked up some paint from the same tray before tilting my chin at her.

“Shirt.”

She licked her lips before pulling her tank top off. Underneath, she wore a black sports bra with straps criss-crossing over her back. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and I brushed the hair out of the way before I leaned down to press a kiss to her collarbone.

Her chest rose and fell fast under my mouth. I painted a line across where my lips had been.

Her throat worked as she watched me with a glazed grin. “How come we never go to your place?” she asked, studying me before she painted a line down my bicep.

My lungs tightened. I’d thought about having her over a thousand times. We’d get takeout, sit in the living room, cuddle under a blanket by the fire while a record played. I’d give her a tour of the place and watch her study the design and decor with interest.

It was too good, the idea of Sadie in my home. It was too sweet and she was leaving, and we couldn’t go there. If I had her over, I’d never let her leave.

Also, the paintings in my bedroom. I still hadn’t told her about those. I didn’t know how to bring it up without her seeing a part of me I wasn’t ready to share with her.

I couldn’t put it off forever.

“Soon,” I told her, turning her around and stroking a line of paint down her shoulder, careful to avoid the straps. She shivered under my touch.

I leaned down so my mouth was an inch from her ear. “Cold?”

She shivered again and shook her head, turning to me and studying my body with appreciation.

“God, Holden, you’re so gorgeous,” she breathed before she gathered more paint on her brush and drew a horizontal line across my abs. “So freaking gorgeous. You’re a masterpiece.”

Pleasure and warmth pulsed in my chest, and my length strained against my zipper. Around us, partygoers danced, painted, and made out, and we were left to our own intimate bubble.

I reached to add more paint to my brush before I dropped three dots down the delicate column of her neck. “Sadie, I didn’t even know what beautiful was until I met you.”

Her gaze lifted to mine and behind them, I saw something hopeful but terrified. Her throat worked and her gaze roamed my face. Beside one of the dots I had painted on her neck, her pulse fluttered. My arm wrapped around her back, pressing her warm skin against mine.

Want tore through me and I heaved for air, watching her bright eyes.

Her teeth scored her bottom lip and her forehead creased with worry. “Is this still friends with benefits?”

My chest strained and I dropped the paintbrush on a nearby table before threading my fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

This deal. This stupid, fucking deal. I hated myself for agreeing to let her replace someone for me.

It was always her, even if I couldn’t admit it.

Even if she was going home to a better life with a job and an apartment and all her friends, I wanted her.

Something passed between us as we watched each other. Desire flashed in her eyes but there was more. Something longing, sweet, and sad.

My lungs squeezed and I heaved for air.

“Holden, we shouldn’t.” Her gaze stayed locked on mine.

She wanted this. I wanted this. “Why not?”

Her brow wrinkled more. “Because you’re looking for more than I can give you.” She shook her head. “Or, you’re supposed to be.”

“I don’t care.” My thumb stroked the skin beneath her ear and she bit her lip again.

“You should,” she insisted, but her gaze turned unfocused as my thumb brushed back and forth.

“I want to be here with you. That’s all I want.”

Her throat worked as she watched me, vulnerability shining in her eyes. “Holden, you’re going to break my fucking heart.”

My pulse raced in my ears and I shook my head hard. “Never, Sadie. I’ll break my own before I break yours. I’d never hurt you.”

She rolled her mouth and her eyes dropped to my chest.

“Hey.” My other hand came to frame her jaw and I tilted her face up to mine. “Look at me, honey.”

Her eyes met mine, so full of worry. My Sadie, so scared to take the leap. A strobe light went off, shattering her image into a thousand flashes.

“Do you trust me?”

She nodded, wincing. “That’s the problem. I do trust you. I trust you more than anyone.”

My face broke into a smile, ear to ear. Something warm and full of energy and light burst open in my chest. “Let me prove it to you.”

She licked her lips before she nodded at me, offering me a tentative smile. “I love seeing you smile like that.” She bit her lip, shaking her head. “It takes over your whole face.”

“Mhm.” I leaned down to kiss her, taking the brush from her hand and setting it on the table. I coaxed her lips open with mine and tasted her. She moaned into my mouth and I wrapped her ponytail around my fist. Need coursed through my blood as her hands came around my neck, and I walked her to the nearest wall.

She let out a laugh against my mouth. “There’s paint on my back.”

I glanced behind her. I had backed her straight into a canvas. “Sorry.”

“’S’ok,” she murmured, hands coming to my hair and pulling my head back down to her mouth. Her lips seared me, so sweet and soft, and I couldn’t get enough of her. I stroked her tongue the way I wanted to fuck her. We still hadn’t done that because I didn’t want to rush her, but it still crept into my thoughts every twelve seconds for the past month.

Without realizing it, I shifted my hips against hers and pinned her to the canvas. She gasped as I rocked my rigid length against her center. Her gaze flared and through the fabric of her bra, her nipples pinched.

“Let’s go,” she murmured, eyes on me, dark and dazed. She grinned like a little devil.

I nodded, took her hand, and pulled her out of there.

When we got to the truck, she paused as I hauled the door open. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes had that adorable, sexy, unfocused look.

“We’ll get paint in your truck.”

“I don’t care,” I gritted out. “I want to get home so I can make you come.”

A light laugh escaped her but her gaze blazed. “God, you have a dirty mouth.”

I stepped forward to tower over her. “You love my mouth.”

She nodded, grin widening. “I do.”

I gave her ass a sharp slap. “Get in.”

She hopped up, I closed the door behind her, and the second I climbed into the driver’s side, she flipped the center console up and deposited herself in my lap, straddling me in the dark.

She stroked my bare chest and the need in her eyes made me even harder. My mouth fell open as she rocked against me, scattering my thoughts.

“Oh, fuck, baby,” I groaned as my balls ached. Her hand fumbled on my belt. “Are we doing this?” I gripped her thighs.

Her hands sunk into my hair and a shudder rolled through me. “Uh-huh.”

“Right here?” My voice was ragged.

She nodded, kissing me hard. “Right here.”