Page 163 of Friends Don't Kiss

Chris wraps an arm around Alex and leans in for a kiss. “I’m fine,” she assures him under her breath. “Just need a comfy seat.”

“Ready?”

I whip my head around, startled by the voice at my ear. Noah is extending his arm to me. Of course he is. We swapped places in the line. Now I’m paired with him.

“Let’s go!” I quip, falling into step, but avoiding his touch.

He takes my arm and laces it with his. As he sets us at a regal pace behind Chris and Alex, I try to forget his touch and focus on my friends’ happiness.

Which I manage to do during cocktail hour, until dinner when Luke prompts the wedding party to join Colton and Kiara on the dance floor.

Chris declares he’s staying with Alex, Justin dances with Chloe, Ethan with Grace, and I’m left staring across the table at Noah.

He’s frowning, looking at his phone, then looks across the room to his siblings, having fun at another table. Something passes through his gaze, and in an instant I feel selfish for only thinking about the silly little feelings I’ve had for him when he’s dealing with a lot at home.

But I’m already up and standing in front of him, so when he looks up at me, I say, “We don’t have to do this.”

“Do what?” he asks, looking genuinely puzzled. Then he glances beyond me to our friends dancing around the newlyweds. “Oh, sorry.” He springs to his feet and once on the dance floor, takes me in a firm hold, his gaze not exactly on my eyes but not exactly off me either.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

Framed by those familiar glasses, his gaze registers surprise as it falls on me, stirring something deeply nostalgic inside me. “You notice everything, don’t you?” he asks.

I’m not sure what he means by that, and I sure as hell am not having a conversation with Noah while dancing with him. This would require eye contact and other dangerous things. I need to snap out of the feeling of Noah’s arms, his inebriating scent, and the burn of his gaze.

So I just shrug lightly at his question and focus my attention on the married couple looking at each other, then let my gaze drift to the wedding cake while Noah sways us to the music. It’s displayed in a corner of the dance floor, on a rotating table that Lucas made especially, as a surprise. I’ll have to check it out later, as Kiara insisted on making it entirely on her own.

“Everything good with you?” Noah asks, without having answered my question.

Well, let’s see. Mom’s cancer is back, the insurance is denying her claims, and I'm considering moving back in with her so she’d accept money disguised as rent.“Everything good,” I lie, looking him in the eye, my mouth tight in a fake smile.

He frowns slightly. “That’s good to hear.”

I try to pull my gaze from his, but I feel tethered to him. Pretty sure there’s something he wants to say but doesn’t know how to. So I jump in. “Anything I can help with?”

“Maybe,” he answers right away.

My stupid heart babooms. “What is it?”

He looks around and leans dangerously close to me. “I can’t tell you here.”

I giggle. “Is it illegal?”

He tilts his head. “Some people might object to it.”

That can’t be. Noah is a color-inside-the-lines person. A rule stickler. Hell, he’s a rule setter. Now I’m definitely hooked. “Then I’m your girl,” I say a little too fast.

He twirls me in an underarm pass. “You should wait until you know what it is,” he says as he brings me back into his fold.

“I trust you,” I answer. “Besides, how bad can it be?”

Famous last words.