“I just wanted to see what it was like,” she says, biting her bottom lip.
I feel my lips twitch. “You like it?”
Her pupils are blown as she nods. “I think I get it.”
“Get what?”
She leans in close, her lips to my ear, our bodies completely flushed together. God help me, I think I’m going to be boneless if she’s close to me for any longer. “What it’s like to enjoy another person’s company.”
She pulls back completely, and I’m cold. My legs don’t feel like they’re working, and somehow the movement of the crowd makes me realize how much heat the two of us generated. I motion that I’m going to grab another drink.
She nods, turning back around, her hips shaking. Her shapely ass looks almost like a damn shelf as she’s enjoying herself.
I’m parched.
Holy fuck, I don’t think any vodka is going to help me.
As I get a glass of water, I can’t help but stare at her. Even the burlesque dancer—in red string bikini bottoms and nipple tassels now—can’t hold my attention as I feel my jaw drop.
What it’s like to enjoy another person’s company.
What a wild thought.
She was with her fiancé for years, right? Did she…? There’s no way.
Maybe there’s more to her than meets the eye.
There has to be.
I wish I had kissed her, felt her lips on mine, tasted the salty skin beneath my lips. But there’s no reason for me to have tried that. She vehemently told usthat she was straight.
Does she not trust us?
Does she not trust herself?
I down the water quickly, and ask for another. There’s no way. I have to be dreaming.
A body shoves into me, and Kenz is there, hair mussed and lips swollen into a satisfied smile that makes her look like the cat who got the cream. “You good?” she asks and I nod, barely looking at her before turning my attention back to Taylor, who looks like she’s on cloud nine.
“El,” she says in a disappointed tone.
I shrug off her arm on my side; suddenly everything feels too hot. “I think I’m ready to go,” I say hoarsely. “Is there someplace to grab food?”
She nods. “There’s a taco place just down the road.”
“Great. I’ll grab Taylor and let’s go.”
“Are you sure?“
I place a hand on her arm, meeting her eyes. She takes one look at me, the tenseness in my body, the way my hand feels sweaty and trembling, and I wonder if she thinks that Taylor did something to me.
She’d be right, but she’d assume the worst, when really, there’s nothing to say other than Taylor has unknowingly ripped the rug out from underneath my feet.
Worming my way back into the crowd to Taylor,I take a steadying breath as I reach out for her. But she’s bumped or pushed and suddenly she’s crashing into me. I can smell her sweat mixing with her perfume; I can nearly taste the salt. My lips are centimetres from her skin as she wraps her arms around my neck.
We’re together again, and every thought I had over the years as this crush waxed and waned is crashing into me with full force, the loudest beingthis feels right.
She tilts her head up, and every second feels drawn out for my pleasure, my delight, as she smiles. “You’re back!” she shouts.
