Perhaps this would be easier and less of a big deal if I wasn’t stone-cold sober. But since I was driving, I’d had one beer with dinner and nothing but Pepsi since.
Strobe lights lit the dance floor, moving in time with a dance track I didn’t know. Occasional spurts of fog rolled over the area, and there were just enough gyrating bodies to make me not feel like I was on show, but not so many I felt like a canned sardine.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Jayden all but launched himself at Sutton, latching on to the man, grabbing him and dancing provocatively against him.
A wide grin stretched his face, and Sutton laughed loudly at something he said. Jayden then latched on to the arm of the woman he’d been dancing with, making himself the center of a pretty interesting sandwich.
Meanwhile, I stood there like an idiot, watching the show before casting a wary glance around me. No one paid them any mind. Well, no one other than me and Nate, who smirked at them before his gaze traveled to mine.
The asshole tilted his head in invitation, and I wondered how much he’d had to drink. Since I’d had my hand on his dick and I’d shut us down, there’d been a not-so-subtle shift between us. We’d both been trying to ensure we were in the friend zone, but Nate’s teasing smile had trouble written all over it.
Jayden’s holler caught my attention. “Nate, show our boy how to be a filling in a hot sandwich.”
There was no fight in me as a pretty brunette was latched on to my front and Nate’s warm body pressed against my back in the next breath.
The likelihood of me surviving on the dance floor intact, or at least without getting a stiffy, was not something I’d bet money on. When Nate’s hand gripped my waist, I focused intently on the woman, forcing a smile and winking.
The three of us danced, up close and indecently personal. When I was spun around, my gaze lowering and latching on to Nate, I knew gut deep this was what I wanted, who I wanted, and how I wanted to be.
Nothing was ever going to be the same again.
CHAPTER13
NATE
It didn’t takeme long to recognize I was fooling myself and doing a shit job at it.
Beneath the strobe lighting and heavy beats of the music, pressing against Ryan destroyed all levels of pretense. The connection, his body against mine, and the intensity in his eyes when ours finally connected eviscerated my sense of self-preservation.
I needed Ryan so badly and would take him however I could get him. With his stiffy brushing against mine as we moved to the beat, the rough denim rubbing in a not-so-soft caress, I was willing to play dirty to get him.
“Did you have anything else to drink, or are you good to drive?” I asked, leaning in closer to speak into his ear.
The shudder that rippled through him had me gripping his waist even tighter. He angled his head away and peered the few inches down to make eye contact. “I’m good to drive now.”
I bobbed my head, not looking away from the intensity directed my way. “I think we should leave.” A flick of my chin to his shoulder reminded me we weren’t dancing alone. When I returned my attention to Ryan, understanding registered as he peered back at me. “You tell Jayden; I’ll deal here.”
Our gazes lingered, and my heart flipped when a small smile tilted his lips. It was hard to pull away, difficult to lose sight of the man, but with a wave of certainty, I knew this was where I was meant to be—with Ryan.
We’d missed out on too many years already. There wasn’t a chance I could continue to ignore our connection.
Turning to Lizzie, the woman I’d been happily dancing with, I smiled and leaned in. “Thanks for keeping me company. I have an early start tomorrow, so I need to get out of here.”
She simply nodded, planted a kiss on my cheek, and kept on dancing. Grateful that she was so chill, I winked, telling her to have fun before I searched for Ryan. I didn’t have to look far. Jayden was saying something to him, while Sutton’s stare was on the two of them. With a deep exhale, needing to keep myself together, I headed on over.
“…ass back here,” Jayden said, his focus turning to me. “And you, you Aussie fucker, get your ass over here and say goodbye properly.”
A bubble of emotion formed in my chest, taking me by surprise. I barely knew these blokes, yet they’d been nothing but great. Plus they’d had Ryan’s back the last few years. Knowing that made it feel like more than a few days since meeting them. I was tugged into Jayden’s arms with an “oomph.”
“You keep an eye on my Aussie friend, you hear me?”
I patted Jayden’s back. “There’s no worries about that. He’ll be all good.”
Sutton appeared at my side and grabbed me up in a firm hug. “You be patient with him, okay?”
I angled away to see his face and swallowed hard at the intensity of his stare. The question died on my lips. I knew exactly what he was talking about. Nerves burst to life in my gut, and I shot a glance at Ryan. He was caught up in whatever Jayden was saying.
Whether Sutton suspected or not, I wouldn’t be confirming anything, certainly not with words. Instead, I gave a barely there nod, saying, “He’s still my best friend….” I trailed off, knowing if I said more, the emotion in my voice would make it clear that Ryan Broadwater was so much more to me than that.
