The bass in Club Eclipse hit like a drug, low and throbbing, crawling up through the soles of my heels and into my bones. The air was thick with sweat, perfume, spilled liquor, and pure lust. Purple and crimson lights pulsed across the writhing crowd, catching on glittered skin and short hemlines. It was my twenty-first birthday, and I’d promised myself one night of zero rules. No good-girl Lila. No overthinking. Just feeling.

I was already buzzing from three strong tequila sunrises when I felt him watching me.

He wasn’t on the dance floor like everyone else. He stood at the far end of the bar, tall and broad, dominating...