Illicit Affairs by Holly Dixon

Twenty-Nine

“Let’s go dance, yeah?”Ava said, grabbing hold of Sam’s arm and yanking her.

“But this isn’t ‘Proud Mary’!” Sam protested, already dragged onto the dance floor as Ava steered them far away from the asteroid heading towards them.

The energy of the music flooded the crowded dance floor as the bass kicked Ava in her chest and fuelled her feet to the tempo of the song. If it wasn’t for the grand evening gowns and tuxedos, with her eyes closed she could imagine being in a club, the colourful lasers dancing behind her eyelids as the music and atmosphere made her synapses jump and sparkle with life.

Sam hooked an arm around Ava’s petite waist, yelling the lyrics of the song into her face as the pair laughed and moshed their heads to the song. For just a few blissful moments, Ava wasn’t at a work function, her hormones and heart weren’t at war, and everything in life made perfect sense. She would have complete control over everything again—well, other than her inebriated brain as she danced with her best friend.

However, that moment came crumbling down when Sam pulled her close and yelled into her ear, “Prince Charming is staring at your arse…wanna show him what he’s missing?” Nate.

Ava didn’t know what possessed her, whether it was the lies Nate told her or seeing him move on to another woman so quickly after confessing his false feelings for her, but suddenly her inner freak let loose as she pushed Sam back just enough to flick her sunny hair and sumptuous hips in unison.

“Snoop Doggy Dogg it!” Sam cheered.

“You what?” Ava squinted and momentarily paused.

“Drop it like it’s hotttt…” Sam sang, making Ava scrunch up her nose further before Sam hollered, “Will you just bloody slut drop already!”

Tipping her head back and laughing, Ava parted her knees as much as her tight dress would allow and did Snoop Dogg proud by dropping into the provocative dance pose. She pushed her peach out, rolling her body in a sensual wave as she straightened and stood back up.

“Mission accomplished, lass—six o’clock incoming!” Sam slowly backed away from her with a sniggering expression.

The moment Ava felt strong hands grip her hips from behind, her stomach flip-flopped. His hands pulled her bum up against his hard front, encouraging her movements to grind against his hipbones as her arms laced their way up and around his neck.

Intoxicated or not, as his fingertips brushed down the sides of her thighs, her legs couldn’t wait to hear what his hands had to say.

“Taylor, get your damn hands off of her!” Nate’s voice boomed across the dance floor, shattering the moment like a rock being tossed at a window as people gasped and turned towards the commotion.

Ava’s stomach tightened into a ball of nerves as she snapped around to the origin of his voice—not behind her as she had expected but next to her. It wasn’t a second later that Peter was ripped off her as she spun around to see Nate growling at him like a territorial wolf.

“What the bloody hell, mate?” Peter gawked at Nate like he had lost his mind.

“You touch her again—”

“What are you doing?!” Ava interrupted Nate with little blue dots for eyes. She watched as his stare cut to hers, a fleeting look slicing across his honey orbs before he reluctantly looked away.

“Uh…can someone explain to me what is going on?” Sam chimed in, swaying slightly on her feet in her drunken state.

“This is a work event. I won’t have my employees conducting themselves in such a debased way.” Although Nate’s words were professional, his heavy breathing and that wild look in his eyes was anything but. He looked animalistic.

“Oh, but it’s okay for you to flirt with little miss red over there?” Ava snapped, her hand flying off to the side and nearly slapping someone in the face.

“What?” Nate squinted, his head snapping around him to try to locate whoever she was talking about. “Ava, I wasn’t flirting with—”

“Err…is there something going between you two?” Peter cut in, his face creased in confusion, making Ava’s and Sam’s eyes widen in sync at the accusation.

Ava tried to make her tongue connect behind her teeth, to push the vocalisation out of her lips, but it felt like her tongue had turned to sandpaper and was stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“Don’t be absurd!” Nate cut across the silence, his voice the epitome of authority as it shut down any of Peter’s speculations.

However, if there was one person who could see right through Ava, it was her friend. Sam was squinting at Ava’s guilty face before her jaw dropped, realisation causing her hand to clamp over her gasping mouth.

Ava stared at that look in Sam’s eyes, that betrayed look furrowing across her brows that made Ava’s stomach sink low. She didn’t feel sick because she had been caught, but rather that she had lied to her best friend.

“Sam…” she began, but her friend shook her head and parted her lips in shock. Ava peered around her between the confused expression on Peter’s face and some of the bystanders around her before the naked shame finally snapped inside of her.

If ever she wanted her Cinderella moment, it was now.

Ava bolted from the dance floor, bumping shoulders with people who hollered offence at her as she did. She had to get out of here, her world spinning out of control as her terrible sin likely spread like wildfire and would soon reach her father. It felt like her life was crumbling—her career, the networks she had built, her reputation, her womanhood, the trust she had with her father, and her friendship with Sam.

Panting after running out of the ballroom and down the hallway, she reached the elevators and jabbed the button. She was grateful to hold the key to her quick escape—the hotel room Peter had given her access to. At least no one would find her there, drowning herself in the minibar before all hell broke loose the next day and she’d have to face the horrible reality.

Stepping into the elevator, she peered up at hearing feet pounding against the carpeted flooring.

“Ava, wait!” Nate boomed, his voice echoing down the hallway as he pumped his legs faster into an all-out sprint.

Panic tightened Ava’s stomach as she punched at the button and sighed in relief as the doors pinged closed and the elevator began ascending. She slumped her back against the wall, ready to burst into angry floods of tears when suddenly the doors sprung open at the next floor and a hand slammed against the metal to keep them open.

Her mouth fell open with a gasp as Nate stood hunched over, his shoulders rising and falling heavily as he huffed for breath and the curls of his hair dangled in front of his eyes.