“Wait,” Henry said, stopping me in my tracks. I looked up to see him checking the crowd to make sure the others weren't looking our way before he dropped his gaze back down to me again and stepped closer. So close, had it not been for the six bottles of beer between us, I was pretty sure he'd have pressed himself against me just to see if he could get away with it. “I meant what I said before, Phoebe. You look sensational. Fucking breathtaking, actually. I’m glad you showed up tonight. What I offered you at the beach... I wasn't sure if I'd scared you off.”
“You didn't. You haven't.”
“Not yet.” He smiled that smile of his. “Give me time.”
“You don’t scare me, Cohen.”
He leaned impossibly closer until his mouth was only an inch away from my ear, his warm breaths washing over my neck. “I'm not trying to scare you, Phoebe. I'm trying to keep that smile on your face I've come to crave far too much. And don’t call me Cohen again. You know what I prefer.”
“Okay… Cohen.” I blew out another breath.
Henry shook his head, his amusement alive. “I’ll make you pay for that later,” he said, making it sound like a gift ratherthan a threat as he chucked his chin and gestured to our friends across the room. “Are you ready?”
“Wait, what’s the plan?”
“There is no plan. Just follow my lead.”
“Well, that’s reassuring.”
“Have faith, angel eyes. I want this to go smoothly as much as you do. If not more.” Henry's responding wink shouldn't have had as much power over me as it did, but then again, I wasn't even sure if it was him and the wink at all anymore.
Part of me wondered if all of this was just the thrill of the forbidden tearing through me, waking me up after feeling half asleep for so long. For once, I was doing something solely for me. Not for my family, not for Rob, and not for my beloved friends.
Whatever happened or didn't happen next, a certain rush came from going after the one thing I knew I shouldn't have more than anything else.Him.
So, I followed Henry as though I'd known him my whole life, putting my trust in to the promises he'd made.
Even if he broke them.
Even if everything went to hell in one night.
At least after ten days I'd never see the man again, right?
“You know, I hate to admit it, but they do look cute together,” Rhea said as we all focused on the way Andy and Bailey held each other, their eyes locked as they slow danced to a dance tune meant for far more enthusiastic movements than they were performing.
Jace sighed. “I’m guessing tonight’s the night he finally gets lucky.”
Rhea’s side-eye made Jace’s cheeky grin light up, but instead of elbowing him or scolding him in some way, she rolled her eyes, making her look like the wife of an old, married couple.
Meanwhile, trying to keep myself involved in conversation proved almost impossible, considering Henry’s close proximity and him ‘accidentally’ bumping into me from behind whenever someone pushed through the crowd, making his body brush against mine. At first, I’d panicked, thinking Rhea and Jace would notice, but they were too focused on each other to pay any attention to us. To them, we were just two people who were supposed to despise each other.
“Wanna dance?” Jace asked Rhea, tilting his head towards the makeshift dance floor, where Bailey and Andy were currently gyrating against one another.
“You want a dance partner, Jace? Why don’t you ask Phoebe. She’s the professional,” Rhea hit back.
Jace’s head snapped my way. “A professional, huh? I swear, it’s always the quiet ones. Want to show me how it’s done?”
I didn’t have to see Henry to know he’d tensed behind me.
“I’d hardly call myself a professional,” I said with a small laugh.
“Can you do the splits?”
“Jace!” Rhea wasted no time in nudging him.
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Rhea.” He laughed. “I just admire a dancer’s… flexibility, that’s all. Call it a special interest of mine.”
“I bet you do,” she grumbled, but even she knew her faux grumpiness towards him grew weaker and weaker by the second.
