James coughs, choking on his drink, as Dani grabs Kennedy and pulls her away. I step into the space that has opened up between them out of habit. We do this whenever we’re out with Kennedy because we know she’ll eventually cross the line. We take turns on who gets to babysit and who gets to dance with the guy she’d made very uncomfortable. I guess it’s my turn to have fun.
“Do you want to dance?” I yell over the noise as he stares at me with wide eyes, wiping his drink off his chin. He points to himself and looks shocked, like no one has ever asked him that before. “Yes. Do you dance? Or you could just stay here; I don’t really care.”
“He’s busy,” Kennedy blurts out, trying to push her way back in, having somehow escaped from Dani. “Besides, isn’t dancing like, against your religion or something?”
“Kennedy, shut your fucking face before I rearrange it. Don’t think I won’t tell Sam exactly how you’re representing his company. Now sit the fuck down and drink some damn water.” Dani’s voice is stern, and Kennedy responds instantly by pouting and throwing herself into a nearby chair.
“So, do you?” I ask him again, ignoring the situation nearby.
“Fuck yes,” he grins, and I grab his hand, pulling him away from the table and Kennedy, who sneers as we walk away. I hear her say something about leaving room for Jesus, but I ignore her. It’s Dani’s turn to deal with her.
When we finally stop on the other side of the crowd, he offers me a sad smile. “Thanks for the rescue.”
“Yeah, no problem.” I shrug and lean against a nearby pillar. “We don’t have to dance if you don’t want to. It was more of an escape plan than anything. Give her five minutes and she’ll forget about you and move on, then you can go back. Otherwise, the exit is a straight shot from here.”
“Oh, yeah. Uhm, okay.” He looks around, confused. I’m close to believing this guy’s standard state of living is confused. When he looks back at me, he’s got that smirk from the bar again. It’s like I can watch his confidence turning on and off again like a switch. “What about a third option?”
“Third option? What’s that?”
“What if?—”
A man steps between us, cutting James off. “Hey! Happy un-birthday, uhh,” he looks at the slip of paper he’s holding with two shot glasses. It gives me enough time to recognize that he’s working the party, not a drunk asshole trying to hit on me. “Lexi! Your friend sent you some shots to celebrate. Cool, un-birthday, huh? Fuck yeah.”
“Uhm, yeah. Thanks!” I feign surprise and excitement. James and I take the shots and stare at each other awkwardly. “Don’t worry. It’s a cue that the storm known as Kennedy has been spoken to sternly and promises to be on her best behavior.” I scoff at the thought. “Dani’s just?—”
“Being Dani,” he laughs.
“Bottoms up?” He nods, and we both knock back the shots. I close my eyes and embrace the full body shiver I get from the alcohol slithering through me. “So, you should be good to go back now. She’ll stop acting like a cunt for at least ten minutes.”
“Is she always like this?”
“We like to call her an acquired taste at the office, and then we hope no one has actually acquired a taste for her.” I’m mortified when I giggle, and a snort sneaks out.
“Fuck, you’re adorable.” I expect to see panic at what he’s said, but there isn’t any. We might be drunk. He takes the shot glass from me and puts them both on a tray as it passes by. “Sorry, I forgot to tell you the third option I came up with.”
“Oh yeah? What was it?”
“It’s the option where I don’t go back to the table, and I don’t leave.” He grins, and if I believed in the devil, I’d be reasonably certain this was him. “We dance.”
“You actually wanna dance?” I ask. Maybe the devil isn’t so bad. My mother would hate him, and that makes me want him more.
CHAPTER10
ARMS TONIGHT
??? MOTHER MOTHER
Where the helldid that come from? What did I just do? It’s not that I hate dancing, it’s fun. But what surprises me is that almost sounded like a smooth line. Almost.
This entire night has been chaos. First, Kennedy’s drunk ass steamrolled over every opportunity I had with Lexi. Then Kennedy tried to grope me, finally succeeding while making my skin crawl. If that wasn’t awful enough, some other guy danced with the girl of my dreams. I was so sure Lexi already hated me I was ready to leave this stupid party. But fuck, I can’t take my eyes off her, and now she wants to dance?!
While I follow her deeper into the crowd and closer to the DJ, I remind myself she’s not some random chick I picked up, I have to work with her. If I can keep my head screwed on straight and my dick in my damn pants tonight, this might end up being enjoyable. The problem is that at some point, I won’t be able to hide the fact that staring at her all night has made me rock hard. I hope she knows it has fuck all to do with Kennedy.
She stops and steps toward me, putting her hand on my chest, and I think I am going to implode. I watch longingly as she tucks her bottom lip between her teeth, biting down the way I want to. She gradually drags her teeth over her lips and I’m suddenly dizzy. Does she have any idea what she is doing to me? I’m drunk. I must be. Normally I would tuck tail and run, but I can’t move away from her.
Because we’re both a little unsure of ourselves or each other, we’re clumsy at first. But we find a groove and I’m lost in the way her body moves. Her hips are rolling, her arms brushing against me, the way her head rolls back and exposes her neck—fuck, I want to lick the hell out of that damn neck.
Every song is background noise, and I don’t care how many people are dancing. Nothing in the world has the power to pull me out of this moment, or make me see anything but her. But I can tell you every single way her body moves. I can paint each and every curve of her with my eyes closed. The room is empty except for her and I.
