Wrapping my fingers around her wrist, I lead her towards an exit I saw earlier. I don’t want to kiss her in a dirty alley but it is better than here. Here it’s too loud to hear her whimpers, too crowded to feel intimate. There is also the worry that a fan might snap a picture. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if Ellis found herself on gossip sites because I couldn’t get a grip of myself.

Not paying any attention to the Staff Only sign on the door, I swing it open to see an alley filled with trash and cigarette butts. But if it means I can get Ellis’s lips against mine, I can make do. I wish I could get her to a bedroom or somewhere that smells a little better. Maybe next time.

My lips are on hers with a complete fever, making up for lost time. One of my hands stays on her waist, the other buries itself in her curls. Ellis kisses me back with everything she has. The pressure of her body against mine, the sting as she nips at my lip wanting more. Once my tongue meets hers all bets are off. We wipe away the last decade as my body remembers the feeling of her body under my hands, commanding her.

I pull back, but Ellis’s whines turn to moans as my lips travel over her jaw and down her throat just the way she used to like it. Based on the way her fingers tighten against my shirt I would hedge she still does. My brain says that we should stop before anyone takes pictures but my body doesn’t listen. Instead I push myself tighter against her knowing she will feel my bulge trying to push against my zipper.

“Sunshine, come home with me.” It isn’t a question, a demand that I whisper against her jaw. There is only one way I want this night to end: Ellis laid out on my bed until the sun rises.

“Just tonight. I can only give you tonight,” she pants. I thought a year was going to be enough in college, but it wasn’t. I’m not sure if one more night will satiate my fire. But I’m willing to find out.

Chapter Two

Ellis

This is a terrible idea.

But how can I say no? I told myself I was imagining Liam when I saw him across the room, it was a flash of him in the crowd and I convinced myself I was imagining him. Why would he be interested in approaching me? We were in a bar full of other beautiful women who weren’t his ex, so he had no reason to notice me. But there was no mistaking it: the way he walked, the sound of his voice. It was Liam.