The Prince of New York (Book 4 of the Forbidden Series)

7

The VIP was packed wall to wall as it always was. It was the place to be while in New York. Anyone who was anyone patron the hot night spot. Anyone that wanted to be someone clambered at the doors to get in. Of course, Dane and his friends had an all-access pass to the club. The proprietor Ronny Creek had been a close personal friend of the family for decades and the drummer in his father’s band for over twenty years. When the Heathens had retired their instruments, Ronny had taken his vast wealth and gone into the club business, granting his old friends and their families’ unlimited access. First of all, because they were close and second because it was good for his business to have big-name stars frequenting his establishment to bring in the other patrons.

Dane leaned over the railing of the VIP section of the club that was often set aside for Ronny himself when he would observe the goings on and daily running of the business. There were patent leather sofas and small round tables with barstool style seats. There was a private pool table and a poker table. The area was separated from the rest of the club as it was up on a second balcony level overlooking the dancefloor and bar below.

His buddies Clyde and Jessy were shooting a game of pool behind him and chatting up some twins they had found on their way in that night. Clyde had made his apologies for blowing them off the night before saying he had gotten his hands on a hot little number he could not tear himself away from. Dane and Clyde had been friends since middle school, and with blond hair and Nordic features, Clyde had always been very popular with the ladies, almost as much as Dane. Their only deciding difference was Dane’s family name and the wealth that came with it. Clyde came from a well to do middle-upper-class family, but when put up against Dane for the favours of a lady he always lost. Money was always a stronger aphrodisiac then mere good looks and charm.

Jessy, on the other hand, had less trouble while competing with Dane since he too came from famous wealthy parents he often got the girl he chased. Luckily, he and Dane did not quite have the same taste in women. Jessy was into the wild and crazy punk rock gothic girl scene while Dane preferred a cleaner cut look.

The guys were busy hustling a game of pool with their twins for s****l favours and buying endless rounds of tequila shooters to hinder the ladies’ game. Dane, however, was a little preoccupied to bother with games. He stared out over the dancing people below through the bottom of his half-empty glass of vodka. As much as he tried to focus on having a good time Dane’s mind kept wandering back to last night. Back to Nadia’s lips on his. To her responsive body. The sheer memory of it made him uncomfortably stiff. She was innocent, inexperienced, not like the over-sexualized women he was used too. She reminded him so much of Eve it was maddening.

Eve had been the very embodiment of elegance and innocence mixed with fire and a fierce spirit. She had been the only woman to knock him on his butt head over heels. Dane groaned and looked out over the floor. He had to stop obsessing over Eve. It had been five years, and she was a married woman, but the sting of her betrayal hurt just as much now as it had all those years ago.

Perhaps it was why he didn’t let women close to him anymore. In truth, he felt a bit like Nadia, wounded and guarded afraid to be hurt again. There was a part of Dane that wanted to take Nadia in his arms and protect her. To teach her of all the pleasures her body could experience. He would have thought, at one point last night, that she had wanted the same, but then her reaction to their intimacy had been so extreme it had taken him completely by surprise. Her sudden intense rejection of him had wounded his pride. He had heard of women that suffered remorse after s*x but had never been so unlucky as to have been with one until now. It was a terrible feeling to have shared something so good only to be called down after the fact like a villain.

Dane knew the right thing to do was to make sure he kept his distance from Nadia. To make sure that last night did not happen again. She clearly couldn’t handle it, and after all, it wasn’t like he was looking for any relationship. There were hundreds of other women right here in this club that he could slake his lust with. So why couldn’t he stop thinking about Nadia?

Why did he obsess over a woman that rejected him? Perhaps he was just a glutton for punishment.

He needed a distraction, Dane thought, looking around for one. Something young and pretty. His eyes fell on an attractive blonde girl in the shortest little skirt he had ever seen. She was seated at the bar with what looked like a boyfriend and a group of others. She should have been happy, but instead, she seemed upset. Her boyfriend appeared to be oblivious to this fact as he blatantly ogled every woman that walked by.

He had found his distraction. Dane decided to go down and invite the young thing up to join the party. Dane headed down the stairs and over to the bar where his blonde beauty was seated. He came up behind her and drained his glass. Placing the empty glass on the bar, he signalled the bartender to pour him two more.

Dane then leaned into the pretty blonde and spoke into her ear so he could be heard above the music. “I’ve been watching you.” He said drawing her attention. She turned around to face him, and her eyes lit up as she recognized who he was. He could see the signs of a diehard fan in those blue eyes. “I’ve been standing up there watching everyone dying to get with me and then I saw you down here and lost all composer. A pretty thing like you looking sad. If I had it my way you would be going home with me tonight and I’d put a big smile on that pretty face.”

She giggled excitedly and hopped off her seat accepting his invitation. Dane picked up the two drinks the bartender had poured and handed one to the girl at his side. She accepted, and that was when her neglectful boyfriend noticed Dane moving in on his girlfriend. He rose from his seat and confronted them. “Alice, what the hell are you doing?” He snapped glaring at Dane. “What do you think you are doing buddy? That’s my girlfriend.”

“You don’t deserve her. I’m going to show her what it’s like to be with a real man.” Dane mocked.

The boyfriend stepped forward to start a fight when one of the larger bartenders put out his arm and intervened. “Don’t make me call security they will throw you out.” He said to the boyfriend. Dane grinned and placed his arm around the pretty blonde ushering her up to the VIP section leaving her lowlife boyfriend below to fume.

***

Nadia sat on the sectional, her legs curled up under her bottom with a bowl of popcorn and a fire burning in the fireplace. She had put on a move to past the night. An old classic Gone with the Wind. She loved these old movies, stories of when women were ladies and men were gentlemen. It was a romantic golden age. It was a shame that people did not behave like that anymore.

Nadia popped some more popcorn into her mouth and tried to focus on the movie. She had been fading in and out the whole show with thoughts of the previous night. Images of Dane touching her, kissing her flashed through her mind. The memory of how he felt against her causing her to grow warm and tingling at the apex of her thighs.

Nadia groaned frustrated with herself. She didn’t want to feel this way. She didn’t want to get intimately involved with Dane. It complicated things far too much. After all, the man was a scoundrel, and she knew it. There was no way the man meant her any honourable intention. He sought to slake his lust, and she was an available warm body. To believe she meant anything more to him was foolish.

Nadia sighed wistfully; it had felt incredible in his arms. To be kissed so passionately. To be wanted with such need, yet treated with so much care and tenderness. His kisses had been sweet, his touch soft and like fire against her skin. The memory invoked powerful cravings like a drug she had tasted and wanted more of. Before last night she would have never imagined that being desired by a man could feel so wonderful. Before last night the very thought of being touched by a man brought dread and fear to her heart.

Nadia stared at her popcorn thoughtfully. Would it be all that bad if she allowed things to continue between them? Sure, it would be meaningless and deprived of emotion, but it would be intoxicating. Then again only loose moral women carried on in such ways, men didn’t respect women like that or want to settle down with women like that. Then again, she never intended to settle down with anyone anyway. Why shouldn’t she find satisfaction in a temporary arraignment that suited them both? Surely, he would be discreet if she asked it of him, and she did feel more confident, almost braver around him. Exploring this new avenue with such a man could be fun.

However, it could be difficult to convince him after the irrational way she behaved last night. The whole thing had happened so suddenly, so unexpectedly, she had not known how to deal with it. She had not prepared herself for the emotional aftermath of such a drastic step. With time to reflect and consider Nadia decided she had overreacted as she so often did when men were involved.

Nadia heard the key in the door and sat up straight placing her feet on the floor. Dane was home, she looked at her wristwatch and realized it was far later then she had thought. Nadia took a nervous breath, and her hands straightened her wayward hair as she prepared for Dane to enter. She heard the door close, and her heart leapt into her throat. Then she heard it, a giddy female giggle.

He wasn’t alone.

Nadia picked up the remote and shut off the television making the room quiet and dark. The only light came from the dim low fire in the fireplace. She kept still hoping not to be noticed. Maybe they would go right past her, and she would not be embarrassed by having to face them. Just then Dane and some young blonde girl came around the corner fumbling in the dark at each other’s clothes and kissing frantically.

They staggered both had been drinking and bumped into the wall. The girl laughed, and Dane chuckled then lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms twined about his neck. Nadia watched as Dane carried her down the hall and out of sight. She heard the door slam, and the girl let out an excited squeal from down the hall.

Nadia felt a stabbing pain of jealousy knowing he was about to make love to that strange woman not fifty feet away. She had no right to feel this way. After all, it was his house. She had expressed to him that she wanted no more to do with him. Nadia reminded herself she was an employee in his home and deserved no loyalty. Nadia bit back her negative feelings and decided to go to bed. She took the bowl of popcorn to the kitchen and headed to her room.

She crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over her. She closed her eyes and then realized one terrible flaw in her choice of going to bed. She shared a wall with Dane’s room, and for the love of god, she could hear that bloody woman as clear as if she were right beside her. Her lusty cries were absolute torment. Nadia closed her eyes again trying to ignore the other woman, but her cries caused Nadia’s wishful mind to wonder what it must be like to be that woman at this moment. Frustrated Nadia pulled the pillows over her head trying to drown out the sounds.

***

The morning sun poured through the open window. Dane sat on the edge of the bed staring at the warm pool of sunlight on the floor. He had not slept all night. The girl beside him had been snoring for well over two hours. He had done his best to satisfy his desires with this beauty, and the end result left him frustrated and yearning. He had not found what he was seeking. He had a taste of innocence and craved more. The excitement of knowing he had a blank slate to work with, someone he could teach. A challenge to amuse himself with.

Unfortunately, that sort of amusements when it came to Nadia was out of the question. She could barely handle a compliment let alone an affair. He supposed he could attempt to find another novice, perhaps a virgin, someone he could teach and cultivate; but he was a realist, and his chances of finding another woman like that was slim unless he intended to date much younger women but then he was still unlikely to find any such girl and more likely to land himself in jail. No, he would have to accept that what he had a taste of would stay at that. Certainly, with time he would get over it and find himself interested in other amusements.

Dane looked back at the girl in his bed and sighed. What an unsatisfying evening. It had not been her fault; she simply was not the woman he had wanted. Dane rose and walked over to the cell phone that was on his dresser. He would call a car and send the girl home.