Aggressive Attraction

Kyren

"Who?"

"The bartender. The one with the dark hair."

Leo followed my gaze and raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I want another drink, and I want him to make it."

It was a lie, and we both knew it. But Leo was paid to follow orders, not question them. He raised his hand and caught the bartender's attention.

The bartender looked up, his eyes finding mine across the crowded bar. For a moment, neither of us moved. Then he was walking toward us, weaving between the other patrons with that same easy confidence I'd been watching all night.

Up close, he was even more devastating. His eyes were hazel, I realized, with flecks of gold that caught the bar's ambient lighting. His hair was slightly mussed from the heat of the crowd, and there was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead that made me want to do things I couldn't name.

"What can I get you?" he asked, and his voice was exactly what I'd imagined, low, smooth, with just a hint of roughness around the edges.

I opened my mouth to order another whiskey, but the words wouldn't come. I was too busy memorizing the curve of his lips, the way his shirt stretched across his chest, the small scar just below his left ear that I wanted to trace with my tongue.

"Whiskey," I finally managed, my voice rougher than I'd intended. "Whatever you think is best."

He nodded and reached for a bottle on the top shelf. I watched his hands as he poured, noting the way his fingers curled around the glass, imagining what those hands might feel like on my skin.

"Here you go," he said, sliding the drink across the bar. Our fingers brushed as I took it, and I felt a jolt of electricity that had nothing to do with the club's lighting.

He didn't move away immediately, which meant he felt it too. We stood there for a moment, the air between us closing in.

The club's music seemed to fade into background noise, the crowd disappearing until there was nothing but him and me and the space between us that felt both too much and not nearly enough.

"Thanks," I said, because I had to say something.

"No problem." His smile was different now, "Celebrating something?"

The engagement ring felt like a weight in my pocket. "You could say that."

He waited for me to elaborate, but I didn't. Couldn't. How could I explain that I'd just promised to marry one person while being consumed by thoughts of another? How could I tell him that every rational thought in my head was telling me to walk away, but my body was rooted to this spot like I'd found something I didn't even know I was looking for?

"Well," he said finally, "whatever it is, congratulations."

He started to turn away, and panic flared in my chest. I wasn't ready for this moment to end, wasn't ready to go back to my empty VIP booth and pretend I wasn't falling apart from the inside out.

"What's your name?" I asked, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.

He paused, looking back at me with those hazel eyes that seemed to see right through me. "Alastair."

"Alastair," I repeated, tasting the name on my tongue. It suited him. "I'm Kyren."

"Nice to meet you, Kyren." The way he said my name made something clench low in my stomach. "I should get back to work."

I nodded, but neither of us moved. I could feel Leo's eyes on me, could sense his growing concern, but I couldn't bring myself to care. All that mattered was the man in front of me and the way he was looking at me like I was something worth seeing.

Finally, reluctantly, Alastair stepped back. "Enjoy your drink."

I watched him return to his work, but he kept glancing back at me, and every time our eyes met, I felt that same electric jolt. I was playing with fire, and I knew it. I lost track of how many drinks I'd had, how many times I'd caught Alastair looking at me, how many times Leo had tried to convince me to leave.

The club spun around me in a haze of music and lights, but all I could focus on was the man behind the bar who'd somehow managed to crack something open inside me that I'd spent years keeping locked away. All the training my father gave me had been washed away.

"Kyren." Leo's voice seemed to come from underwater. "We need to go. You're done."

I looked down at my glass, surprised to find it empty. When had that happened? The bottle on our table was empty too, I realized, though I couldn't remember drinking it all.

"I'm fine," I said, but the words came out slurred. The club was spinning now, the lights leaving trails across my vision. "Just need to use the restroom."

I stood up too quickly, and the world tilted sideways. Leo reached out to steady me, but I pushed him away with more force than necessary.

"I said I'm fine."

But I wasn't fine. I was drunk and confused and burning with want for someone I barely knew. The intense part of me that I had kept locked up was bubbling to the surface.

I found myself in the restroom, holding the walls to get a grip. I cursed myself for drinking so much. It's like my hormonal teenage years all over again. I grabbed my head for it to stop spinning so I could get my balance.

I made it three steps before my legs gave out.

The last thing I remembered was the feeling of falling into a darkness that welcomed me like an old friend.