Page 78 of A Castle in the Sky: Fern & Connor
"You are going to dance, aren't you?" he said, waggling his thick eyebrows. "Looks like I will be carrying you home."
"You've never had to carry me home," Fern replied primly.
Daurte's smile curved slowly—deep, warm, and teasing. "But I want to."
She couldn't help but blush.
There had been a time, brief and flickering, when she and Daurte might've become something.
It was before Connor had crashed into her life and made her whole world tilt.
They'd stayed friends, warm and a little mischievous, but kept their distance.
Which was exactly why Connor walked into the bar.
He unobtrusively took the empty seat in the corner while he watched them. Fern had finally given in and was on her second glass of wine.
The moment the music started, Daurte offered Fern his hand.
And she went because it had been ages since she had danced.
Daurte's hand settled on the bare skin of her back. At that very moment, she could feel eyes focused on her like twin suns.
She didn't even have to turn to know it was Connor, watching like a man skating the knife-edge of his control.
Before the song was over, Connor descended on them with all the finesse of a jealous thunderstorm. "Dance is done," he said in a flat voice.
"Mate, chill—" Daurte began.
"No," Connor said, not even looking at him. "Not with her."
He took Fern's hand and steered her out of the bar, all while Chiara was shouting at him for being a 'complete wet blanket'.
His hand on her arm was firm as he walked her to his car, and then he buckled her into the passenger seat like she might run if he didn't.
"If you try anything," he warned in a gravelly murmur, leaning close enough that she felt the heat of him everywhere, "I will tie you up."
She just blinked at him before her eyes sparked with temper.
“Maybe if you had kept your eyes on me and not on your ex, I wouldn’t have to look for a new dance partner,” she spat.
Connor gave her a long look, “Fern, I have made mistakes and the worst one is making you feel that you are not the centre of my universe. You are the only one I dream about. You are the first person I want to see in the morning and the last person at night. I love Coral, I do but my life is empty without you.”
He took a deep breath reaching and holding on to her limp hands, “I would rather wank with a rusty razor than go anywhere near my ex. I don’t even want to say her name.”
“That’s… oddly specific and sounds brutal.” replied Fern, wide-eyed, “Let’s not do that.”
“Naaah, you’re not into that. But you read a lot of threesomes and shit… I don’t know what to do with that” he said with a secret smile. “Would you like to call me Daddy?”
That had Fern’s eyes go wider and a hot flush spread all over her face and neck.
“You’ve been looking into my kindle library,” she accused, unable to hold his eyes.
“Yeah,” he admitted easily, starting the engine “It’s been an eye-opener.”
The wine had mellowed her sharp edges. She snuggled in her seat as she watched him drive. A naughty thought entered her mind and unobtrusively, she pulled her dress to expose bare thighs and a hint of a lacy thong. She watched as he kept stealing glances her way and his white knuckles gripped the wheel. His jaw was like hewn from rock, and he kept sneaking glances at her legs. She obliged by parting them, then slowly pulled the hem up to her waist before hooking her thumbs on the straps of her thong and pulling it down slowly. His eyes keptflicking back and forth. They had never done something like this before.
"Keep your eyes on the road," she muttered. "We don't want get into an accident."
