“I went and had duck afterward, I craved it so bad,” he chuckled, dipping me again. He held me there, staring down at me. Right as I scented Ezra close by, his lips landed on mine. The way he had me positioned, I couldn’t exactly break free of him unless I wanted to fall on my head, so I held on tight as he firmly kissed my lips, careful not to slip his tongue inside my mouth, which I didn’t miss, but he damn near took my breath away. It wasn’t a bad kiss, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it made me think of him a little differently — much less as a teacher, and a bit more as a possible lover, but…he still wasn’t Ezra.
Gradually, as the beat changed to the next song, he lifted me, his mouth not leaving mine until I was fully upright. I heard a few catcalls around us, and I blinked open my eyes to raise questioning eyebrows at him. His grin was pure mischief, reminding me very much of the animal he had inside him. I scented the air, and realized Ezra’s scent was no longer close. My head cocked. “What game are you playing?”
That grin didn’t change. “The only one worth a damn.”
“Elder Merrick, you’re a strange one.” I thumped his chest, stepping back from him as the Shifters began to descend on us, wanting to be close to the alphas. “I can’t quite figure you out.”
He followed me, quickly evading the Shifters’ clinging hands. “It’s part of my mystery.”
“Hmm.” I eyed him as we left the dance floor. “And most women fall over themselves for it, don’t they?”
He chuckled, nodding. “You caught me.”
My eyes ran over his face. “No, I don’t think I have.” I paused, my grin slow. “Yet.” I kissed his cheek, and moved through the crowd, grabbing my glass from King Nelson’s table and barely keeping from rolling my eyes when King Kincaid gave me that smile meaning, seriously nice pick. The man was going to drive me up the wall.
After weaving my way through the crowd, I ducked behind the bar when the bartender looked the other way, and snuck through the back door, heading for their supply closet. That one time Finn and I had been in there, I had seen a collection of wines that were dusty with age, the bottles so old they had discolored, which meant…I was going to nab one and fill my glass tall with it. And hoard it the rest of the evening while everyone else drank regular beer.
Sneaking on quiet feet, I crept in a hunched position below the bar level, since the place where the hard liquor was stored was only open shelving, seeing plainly into the back room, and then slipped into the store closet, shutting the door swiftly behind me. It blocked some of the noise of the bar, but it was still pretty loud back here. I moved into the depths of the long, thin room, going straight for the section I had seen.
Humming quietly to myself, singing along to the music with my god-awful voice, I perused the different wines, sneezing a few times as dust blew up at me when I set one down too hard. Having finally decided, using the age of the bottle since the labels were no longer readable, I plucked the oldest looking one from the back and turned to leave. And squeaked, utterly startled, and shot straight up into the air, the bottle falling from my hand to crash open all over the floor. Red wine, appearing almost like blood, splashed all over my legs, pooling at my feet where I had landed from my Shifter-induced jump.
I rubbed my nose, dislodging any dust, and his scent invaded my senses. “What the hell?”
Ezra stood inside the supply closet, his back against the door, the hood of his robe up and creating a shadow across the top half of his face, but his green eyes were slightly glowing, peering out of the darkness straight at me. His hands were behind his back and his ankles crossed, so nothing about his position was really frightening, but he had snuck in here without me even hearing the difference in the noise levels or scenting him or making a sound himself. That, in itself, freaked me a bit. Well, not to mention his eyes, which weren’t blinking.
When he stayed silent, I asked again, “Ezra?”
He pushed off the door, and began a deliberately slow stalk toward me. “You and Merrick?”
My arms crossed. “Not that it’s any of your business, but we were only dancing.”
His arms spread wide, fingers brushing the metal shelves on either side of the thin room. “I didn’t realize dancing involved dry humping, his hands all over your ass, and his mouth on your breasts and lips.” That was his angry voice. I didn’t need his grin full of fang to tell me he was pissed off. “You won’t lack for partners if that’s your version of dancing.”
I almost took a step back, but instead locked my legs, holding my ground. “Who I choose to dance with, and how I choose to dance, is none of your fucking business.” My nostrils flared in indignant anger. “And besides, at least I don’t walk around smelling like fucking roses.” My nose crinkled. “Seriously, what kind of woman smells like that? What does she do, roll around in them?”
He stopped, toe to toe with me. “She sprinkles her bed with rose petals.”
I’d stuck my foot right into that one, but it didn’t stop my anger from flaring that much higher, picturing this ‘Rose’ and Ezra rolling around on a bed full of red rose petals.