Promise to Love You (Wild to Love #5) - J. Saman

Prologue

HENRY

Blue. If I had to guess, that would be the color I would pick. They’re not iridescent enough to be green and so far from dark there is no way those beautiful irises are brown. The heavy house bass coats me in its never-ending torrent of sound, quickening my pulse and heating my blood.

Silently, I live for this.

The freedom of the room. The darkness of the shrouding anonymity. The static zing of sexual energy as it swells without restraint, filling the warm, sticky air with a spicy flavor and erotic texture. Down here is my escape. And not once have my bandmates, my lifelong best friends, ever questioned my flying solo as I do it. They might not understand it, but they do understand my need for it.

Even if they don’t, and never will, know the reason behind it.

But this woman… the one I’m staring at… the one I’ve been staring at since I stepped into this enormous, gyrating body-filled room five minutes ago and instantly spotted her… she ignites my blood. Makes me hard.

And best of all… she’s alone.

Like me.

Gorgeous. That’s not even a question. But she’s more than that.

She has an aura.

Something unique, exotic, and captivating as hell. I can’t even place what it is about her, but I haven’t been able to look away for a second.

I waited. I watched. She’s a slave to the music as it flows through her body, calling her muscles into action. Arms above her head, hips swiveling, eyes now closed. She’s not here for the men who have come up to her, demanding her attention and body.

And there have been plenty.

They see what I see. However, where they all failed, I already know I’ll succeed.

She’s here for me tonight, whether she knows it or not.

I don’t question my motives as I slide through the ménage of bodies.

I don’t hesitate as I lower my mouth to her ear and whisper, “Want to dance with a stranger in the dark?”

Her eyes flash open, ready to explain in explicit detail all the ways I can fuck off since my hands are now on her waist and my face is right before hers. Instead, her pithy retort dies on her tongue, her eyes filling with recognition as those deep blues cast about my face.

“How did you know?” she replies playfully, inadvertently drawing closer.

The high of the show we played tonight hasn’t abated. It still hums along my skin and spears my lips with its smile. And right now, I’m thankful for that. Otherwise, the smile she’s reflecting—the one I’ve seen on a thousand other women when they look into my eyes and see a world-famous rock star—would seriously turn me off.

Still, the disappointment that she clearly recognizes me doesn’t stop me from snaking my arms deeper around her back, guiding her gorgeous body into mine. Something foreign and heavy floods my chest when she’s finally seated against me, staring up into my eyes. I lick my suddenly dry lips, trying to ignore whatever this is, desperate for this brand-new sensation to remain unnamed.

I start to move us, grinding into her in sync with the beat of the music.

She sucks in a gasp of air, those heavy-lidded eyes growing wide with shock. Her head frantically snaps about, eyes scanning like she’s afraid we’re going to be caught by someone.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” I ask, because I don’t do that. I don’t share. Never and not even close.

“N-no,” she stutters and then shivers, reacting to the glide of my hands up her back and into her long, brown mane of hair. “It’s just that… I never thought… you… this. You’re touching me and looking at me and…” A self-deprecating laugh chokes past her full lips. “Never mind. I’m gonna shut up now.”

“Do you wish I wasn’t touching you?” My fingers descend, dragging down her neck and along the smooth, exposed skin of her arms that feels almost electric beneath my touch. “Looking at you?” My face drifts closer, our eyes locked and only inches away. My breath catches in a way it never has before. Goddamn…

She licks her lips, her eyes bouncing back and forth between mine. Like she’s trying to read me. See what my intentions are with her. I don’t hide my want and when she realizes it, her eyes come to life with a heat that makes my cock twitch.

“I like you touching me. I love the way you’re looking at me. I don’t want you to stop. I guess I just assumed you’d