Free HeroRising by Anna Alexander Page B

floor and felt the press
of bodies all against her and the thump of the bass beating inside her chest.
    Yes. This was exactly what she needed. Complete mindlessness
as she rode the wave of humanity, gyrating in syncopated beats as flesh rubbed
against flesh and her heart beat in an accelerated rhythm. Her head tipped back
and she lifted her arms in the air and closed her eyes. Hands came from nowhere
and everywhere to brush across her shoulder, the small of her back or the curve
of her ass in touches that ranged from gentle caresses to full-on groping. If a
hand strayed too close to her breast or her crotch she gently moved it away and
was delighted when her silent request was obeyed. This moment was only about
her and dancing.
    After a few songs went by someone became bold enough to
snake a hand around her waist and pull her close against a leanly muscled body.
    “Need a partner?” a husky voice asked in her ear to be heard
over the music.
    She opened her eyes and saw a cute cowboy-type guiding her
hips into a bump and grind. “A partner for what?”
    “Whatever you want, sweetness.”
    “I just want to dance.”
    He pulled her in tighter. “I can oblige. I like how you
move.”
    “Thanks.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and fell into
the rhythm of his hips. “Keep your hands above the waist.”
    “How about this?” His fingers curved around her ass.
    “I will walk away.”
    “Okay, okay. How about one hand? To keep us synchronized.”
    Oh, the man was smooth. But his dimples were so cute she
couldn’t resist. Plus, if he became too fresh her scream in this crowd would
end his advances immediately. “One hand only. If you squeeze, I will take you
out at the balls.”
    “Understood.” He laughed with a wink.
    Another song went by and her partner stayed true to his word
and kept his hands in the authorized areas. But it wasn’t much longer until she
felt the ridge of his arousal pressing into her belly and his lips began to
travel in gentle brushes along her cheek.
    She really should stop him and end the tease immediately,
but it felt so good to be held, to feel the heartbeat of another against her
sternum. To be wanted.
    The entire altercation with Anthony had battered her psyche.
He made her afraid to enjoy something as simple as flirting. To always be on
her guard was exhausting. Would she forevermore be anxious and wary to trust
another, to love again? For how long would she meet a potential partner and
count the minutes until he broke her heart? She didn’t want to approach every
relationship with a filter over her emotions. She wanted to be free to live for
the day and say to hell with the rest.
    Maybe the need to dance was about more than burning off
steam. Maybe it was a tiny step toward reconnecting to another human being. Was
it wrong to allude that she might be willing for more? Absolutely. Did she have
the strength to walk away? Nope. In this she was a complete wuss. A weakling
who was a slave to the desire to matter to someone, anyone, even if for the
three and a half minutes it took to play the latest dance track.
    Geez, she was such a—such a girl. And a needy teenage girl
at that. She needed to run away from this stranger’s arms, especially when she
kept wishing the one holding her was a certain giant with stunted emotions and
not the cute cowboy with the killer dimples.
    As she tightened her fingers in preparation for pulling
away, her partner stepped back as if she had kicked him in the nuts.
    “What…” she began to ask and the words died on her lips as
she noticed the terror in his wide eyes.
    His chin rose up and up as he stared over her shoulder.
Actually, all the dancers in the nearby vicinity had taken several steps
backward and were looking behind her as if being stared down by the Terminator.
    Despite the heat caused by the collective mass of bodies, a
cold chill brushed over the exposed skin of her back and the tiny hairs on her
neck raised in alarm. Something big and