“Thanks.” I laughed a little. “I didn’t think you’d come to this. Are you here with anyone?”
She pointed to Derek over her shoulder. He was talking to a group of women, all of which seemed to hang on his every word.
“Convinced me to be his wing-woman for the night.” Claire shrugged and took a sip of her beer. “But as you can see, he doesn’t need my help.”
I smiled. “He just enjoys the company. Derek never needs help.”
“I’ll say.” She glanced in his direction one more time before asking, “Hey, did you see the deadline extension to the end of the summer for the writing mentorship?”
The lightness on my muscles vanished. “Yeah, I’m getting my stuff together.”
“Perfect.” She beamed. “I could look at your picks if you want an extra eye?”
“Sure. I need a few more days to put the finishing touches on one of my scripts.” I scratched the back of my neck. Lying always made me feel like I’d been bitten by a mosquito in the same spot about twenty times over.
“You’re going to love the program,” Claire promised with a wide grin. “The connections you make are worth the move and the industry mentors are the best of the best.”
My stomach twisted at the mentions of moves and mentors. So many variables. My list of research seemed to get longer and longer. As Claire rambled on about the opportunity, I scanned the crowd of strangers, looking for an escape route.
Across the fire, I spotted Leo talking with Nate. Both of them wore smiles. When I traced their line of sight, I realized they were watching two pretty girls in white bikinis. I could feel heat in my cheeks when Leo’s eyes broke away from the girls for a second and met mine. Without thinking, I gave him a casual wave and turned back to Claire to hide my wince.
She was still rambling about the writing program, only to be interrupted a minute later by the devil himself. Leo greeted us both, even though his eyes stayed on me.
“Glad you didn’t change your mind about coming,” he said, voice raised over the music and loud conversation surrounding us.
“That makes one of us.” It was supposed to be a joke. The teasing got caught up in the wind so it sounded more like disappointment.
“You just need to relax. Why don’t you try dancing?” Leo suggested. “And don’t think about it. Just go.”
“With you?” My eyes widened at the thought. Half of me wanted nothing more, but the other half desperately hunted for an excuse amongst my layers and layers of bullshit.
“Uh, sure.”
Leo hadn’t meant to dance with me at all. His eyes strayed over to where he left Nate like he was on lookout duty. Claire took another sip of beer, watching us like she knew what was up.
“Alright, fine.” She sighed like we were on our knees, begging. “I’ll take one for the team.”
Before either of us could respond, she started towards Nate. We watched as she approached him. She only had to say one thing, and his attention was hers. He looked at her like he’d just found the last known survivor in a desolate world. Claire didn’t smile as she talked. Her frown didn’t matter because my brother was doing enough smiling for the both of them.
“Do you know what happened between them?” Leo asked. “He won’t tell me.”
I shrugged. “And she won’t tell me.”
“Well…” He offered me his hand. “Whatever it is, we shouldn’t put her sacrifice to waste.”
“We don’t really have to dance,” I said. “I know you weren’t suggesting I do it with you.”
“Who said that?” He raised a brow, still holding out an empty hand in my direction.
“You,” I told him. “Not in so many words, of course”
He laughed. “Kira, stop thinking about it and take my hand, okay?”
When I hesitated, he stepped closer. He smelt sweet and familiar.
“Dance with me. Please?” His lips were near my ears, so he didn’t have to yell over the noise this time. “One song and I’ll let you get back to whatever calculations going on in that head of yours.”
My mouth felt dry when I felt the soft air from his words against my skin. He pulled back a little to look me in the eye. One of his hands found mine and our fingers entangled like it was something we casually did on a daily basis. He leaned forward a bit like he was going to press his forehead against mine but stopped midway.
