Francesca, the looming shadow, and Katie, the glowing starlet, were glued to my side trying to overwhelm me with drinks at the bar. The living room was big enough for the parade of drunken dancers, me being one of them only a moment ago. This hellscape wasn't big enough to fit both myself and my ex in one room. It's like throwing two blood-lusting predators in a cage and tossing in one measly bone. One of us was coming out, maybe neither, just a pile of bones for broth, but never both.

Zan's only intention was to spoil my night, and he did for shits and giggles to laugh about how crazy women are with his pig-headed friends. Zan had a way of making me come out screaming in hysterics. I was sick of being snuffed out. I was never going to play into any man's trap ever again. No matter how good-looking.

'Lyra, you okay girl? I don't like that look in your eye,' Katie said.

'I do,' Francesca said. The devil on my shoulder while Katie was, well, she was a demon too. 'He pushed her off the table.'

Katie reeled. 'He what?'

My ankle was still throbbing. I needed to elevate it, or I'd have to cancel the dance class I was instructing tomorrow night.

I turned to the cute bartender and asked for some ice and a towel. The instant I turned my back on the party warm oil spilled along my back again. I tilted my head to the direction of the heat where a watchful man poised at the opposite wall played with a flash of fire in his hands. I did a double-take before I saw the lighter between his fingers. I felt the flame catch alight with the oil on my skin.

Enflamed with a sudden primal wanting, I locked eyes with the mysterious gentleman staring so unabashedly. The lighter flickering on and off in his hand.

'Lyra?' Katie said. She was a distant echo in the background.

The room dimmed but the thawing spotlight caught the gold tone in his dark olive skin. I devoured the sight of him whilst he devoured me like he'd caught his breath. I leaned off the bar, bearing the wait painlessly on my both my ankles. I handed the cloth-wrapped ice to Katie and slipped through scantily bodies rubbing against each other.

Halfway through he was gone in a blink. Bewildered, I scoured the bopping heads while a fever stirred just beneath my skin. I shouldn't be this disappointed. The thought of him seeing someone more enticing didn't just crush my self-esteem but seared at the threat of my soul to his.

I stiffened. That was unwelcomingly intense.

Lust, I thought. It was just lust, and I can be a bit vapid. I must have looked foolish to the girls so I spun on my heels to make my way back to them.

I felt the balmy sensation before his body pressed into my back, hands fitting perfectly around my hips. I dipped my head back and caught the caramel glaze on those dark eyes, lush with thick lashes, I could feel the sculpted muscle through the flimsy fabric of my dress as he moved with the rhythm of my hips. Not grinding into me but not leaving room for the holy spirit either.

'Hi,' I said. He had the advantage of an imposing height, and I couldn't help but believe that I fitted perfectly in the nook of his body. He smelt like rose petals and Manuka honey, there was a spicy scent to him too. He was all earth and warmth and I was glad to be enveloped by him. Like standing at the base of an erupting volcano, grateful to be scorched to ash by the molten lava.

Fingers gently stroked down my arm, brushing my hand and twirling me around, so my chest fell into his. It was like smacking into a brick wall. A golden-toned wall with luscious curly locks running past his strong shoulders. Jeez. I wanted this man to lay me down and just take me here and now and I wasn't in the habit of making statements like that casually—or taking them lightly. His mouth quirked up in a wolfish grin, almost like he'd read my thoughts.

I'm not subtle, I bet my intentions were clear on my face and if not, in my body practically riding his in a vertical fashion.

'Hello,' he said. He threw me in a few spins, keeping it slow-paced. I was a giddy mess, giggling like a teenager. When I was back at his chest, hot, and flustered, his hand scoped up my thigh and lifted it to his hip to dip me.

I licked my lips as he held me. 'Do we bother learning each other's names?'

The slow perusal up my chest to my darkened gaze caused a finger-biting reaction in his shoulder. No one had ever looked at me like that like I was a hot meal to be ravished. Not even Zan.

I hoisted myself back up, his hand setting fire across the skin of my thigh as I lowered it back down. That ankle injury long gone, like it never happened.

He caught me off-guard and brushed his soft lips over mine. Feather-like touch that left a scorching mark.

'I intend on saying it a lot tonight,' he said. The accent was indiscernible. Melted from his mouth like divine liquid chocolate.

The touch seemed to take effect on us both, he breathed me in like I was an intoxicating perfume, and I was worth capturing every note. I should have been creeped out. Ardently uneasy. Common sense had barricaded herself at home tonight. I was left with no willpower.

'Lyra,' I whispered as we swayed. I could feel my hand going clammy with nerves in his. His concentration was enough to melt me into a helpless puddle of desire. I didn't know how I was sticking to that false confidence.

'Lyra,' he said in a way that was delightful on his tongue. He rolled the r and my heart rate increased as a dark shiver ran through me.

'What do I call you?'

I bet he has some kind of exotic name like Lucius or Ma—

'Matisse,' he said quickly.

'Beautiful,' I said earnestly.

His caramel eyes perused over my face, lingering longer on my mouth before meeting me in the eye. 'Very.'

This alone made me feel powerful, I couldn't explain it, only feel it, the strength in my muscles piqued as did my desire for Matisse.

Desire for myself.

My eyes caught Zan's across the room, his expression was guarded, hand white-knuckled around the beer can. Matisse's muscles tensed and he spun us around fixing his gaze darkly on me, that darkness shifted quickly and that slip of concern flitted away.

I smiled either very seductively or rather stupidly, they could be one and the same on my face.

'What are you meant to be tonight?' I said taking in the onyx black suit with a thick red silk sash tied around his waist like a belt. On his shoulder, I noticed the II symbol catching the light in a metallic red. His fingers teased the hem of my dress and the point of my fairy wings, my finger flicked at his one gold hoop earring.

'This is a traditional costume where I'm from,' he said as if the topic bored him.

'And where are you from?'

'You wouldn't have heard of it.'

'I'm excellent at geography.' I hesitated as his mouth hovered near mine, he swung me into another dip and brought me back. I tilted my head with playful suspicion. 'Sore spot?'

He arched his brow in surprise. Then he smiled wickedly. 'Tender.'

Every time I thought he was going to kiss me, he seemed to know, the knowing flashed in the corner of his mouth. I was building up an internal knot, pulsating with heat and passion. Every touch sizzled, I was my own bomb ready to blow. I wasn't even concerned about who was watching us. I've only ever longed this much for a kiss once and that was back in time when I was fifteen and ready to get it over with.

I rooted my heels between his shiny boots and snaked my arms around his neck bringing myself close to his ear. 'Since you're not much of a talker...'

He slunk his arm lazily around my waist, he finished my sentence. 'Let's go upstairs.'

I poised my finger up asking for one second. I slinked through the crowd and gave my car keys to Francesca who took them with a thin eyebrow high in her hairline. It was a gesture meant to keep me from backing out, and a clear sign that said, don't wait for me.

Francesca snatched my arm. 'You scored yourself the hottest guy here and I couldn't be prouder... I mean I could if it was a woman but still. Know that as a reward I'm using your keys to scratch into Zan's car later.'

'My reward, or your pleasure?'

We gave each other air kisses on the cheek and I sashayed back to Matisse who was posed by a water feature with another woman dressed as a provocative nun. A dark satisfaction pulsed through me as his caramel eyes brightened upon my return and he snaked his hold around me before taking me deeper into the house.

~:*:~

The corridors upstairs were dim without the skylights and the occasional neon light burning streaks of red across the floor. It was the kind of thing I should have found unsettling. Deep down I did but it was like nothing mattered but that pulsing feeling in my blood. A need to be speared open, to be groped and feel the weight of a lover over me.

Matisse again didn't say much. With a face like that you didn't need to, women fawned for a godly face like that and he knew it.

He gave me a side eye like he was reading me now.

Lyra.

I flinched. His grin broadened. He abruptly pressed me into the wall, his strong leg pinning between my thighs. My heart flew to the base of my throat. I was hazy from all the lust baking in my skin and completely buckled under his kiss.

He was gentle, I was not.

I tugged at his lip eagerly, and he responded with more roughness. His smooth-shaven face rubbed silkily on my chin. He tasted like Champaign and sweetened berries. My nipples hardened under the friction of the fabric as our tongues toyed with each other deliciously.

I could feel the presence of others strolling past and didn't give a damn. I was absorbed in this electrifying connection and succumbed to his sweet tongue.

I reeled my head back and arched my body into his tender kisses down my chest. The dress had slipped displaying a nipple to the air—to his delicious tongue teasing and flicking as little breathy moans escaped me. Jolts of pleasure coursed through to the knot. If his leg wasn't holding me steady, I would have dissolved to the floor.

His smile on my breast was tantalising, I locked my fingers into his hair and keened softly as his mouth suckled me. His arms arching me further into his touch, so I was off the wall, and the floor, my stilettos dangling haphazardly off my big toes. He cupped my arse under the dress hoisting my thigh up his side and I embarrassingly gasped as I felt his bulge press into the junction between my thighs.

Someone's laughter made us freeze. We both rolled our heads and glowered at the drunken group unaware of their surroundings as they passed down another corridor.

My heels met the floor, and my leg flopped back down. Matisse went to fix the strap of my dress but I grabbed his bulge through the pants and started teasing his length. His eyes lit up in the darkness like an animal and he leaned his weight with his hands caging my head.

'No one's ever had this effect—' he groaned. Hands balling into fists on the wall. 'On me before.'

I had doubts, but by the frenzy in his expression, in the quaking of his body, I knew that in this moment he meant it. His length was long and hard, I willed myself not to make a comparison until he was thrusting inside of me. Zan needed to not be in my thoughts when I had this demigod in the palm of my hand. Literally.

His hand cupped my exposed breast, thumb rubbing the nub relishing in my heated response to his touch.

'Say you're mine,' he said.

Things were past the point of primal. Maybe a little ridiculous for a one-night stand, but I was more than eager to play.

I hovered my smirk over his parted lips. 'You're mine.'

He grinned and then groaned, buckling his hips into my grip. 'You're going to have to stop there unless you want me to take you here in this hallway.'

'Hmm.' A tempting proposition. He growled at my ear. I let him go, albeit reluctantly. He hooked one finger on the strap and adjusted my dress in place. The most startling action was the loving kiss on my forehead before he took me by the hand to lead us to a private room.