Unfortunately for me, I’m so lost in my own pity party that I miss it. I walk away without knowing that the second my back was turned, he had silently moved, jumping to his feet. One arm started to reach out to me, only to drop heavily at his side after I moved out of his reach. I was so blinded by my own heart breaking that I missed the visible pain on his face as he felt the same pain with each step I took away from him.

Had I looked back, even stopped for just one second, maybe I would have heard his whisper, but instead, his words just floated away with my dying hope.

“I love you, too, Ember.”

I PRESS MY FOREHEAD AGAINST the wall, ignoring the bite against my fevered skin. My lips dance across the shoulder held captive between the hard surface and my body, as my head spins faster from the amount of alcohol I consumed tonight. With each pass my hands make over the silky smooth skin underneath my fingertips, I trail more wet kisses and bites across her neck. The rasped breath that escapes from the mouth pressed close to my ear only fuels the desire raging through my body.

Fuck. Have I ever been this powerless against the need to take someone?

Blindly moving my hands down the slim torso, my fingers dig in when I hit her hips, giving her a firm squeeze in warning before I pull her body closer to mine. Her legs wrap around my hips easily as her dress rides up and my dick instantly finds a home. Or the warm home he wants to go inside of, that is.

Fuck. I can feel how wet she is, the thin barrier of her underwear doing nothing to shield that from me.

I’m drunk enough to know I should stop, but even though the rational thought keeps crossing over the intoxicated waves rolling in my head, I would never be able to step away from this feeling. I justify that decision with the mental reminder that I’m not that drunk.

Drunk or not, even I have a few reservations about taking her when I don’t even know her name. I might have been fucking my way through life the last few years, but even I have some morals.

The smell, taste, and feel of her are like nothing I’ve ever felt before. If I weren’t already flying on a beer high, I would swear it was this little firecracker doing it to me.

Firecracker.

Even with another woman warm and willingly wrapped around my body, the vision of Emberlyn Locke hits me hard with just that one word. It’s been years, years of fantasies and forbidden desire, and it never changes. I try my hardest to shake the image that is holding my mind hostage, using my body’s desires for the willing woman in my arms to try to replace it as I move against her.

“Take me,” she whispers on a moan when I thrust my hips harder against her pliant body.

I know from experience that now that I see her in my mind, I’ll never be able to see the reality in front of me, so I’m not sure why I’m even trying so hard. This chick is just another faceless woman who will wear the mask of Ember’s face. Like many before her have.

I push my cock rougher against her while reaching behind me for my wallet, hoping I remembered to stuff a condom in there earlier. She loosens her grip on my hips as I struggle to free the damn thing, and I feel one of her legs drop from my body. The sounds of music and people enjoying themselves float in the air around us, reminding me that I need to hurry this along before someone finds us. The last thing I need to get caught doing at my sister’s wedding reception is fucking some chick.

Her hands roam all over my body as I make quick work of protecting myself, touching every inch she can reach. I go to lift my mouth from her neck, but she just tightens her grip on my neck, not allowing me to leave the spot I’ve been feasting on for the last ten minutes. If she’s so dead set on me not looking at her, that’s all the green light I need to hurry this along.