I sank into a ballet curtsy as he bent forward at the waist. The clapping intensified.
And then I hurried off the dance floor, not bothering to check if Theo followed. I had to get away, just needed one goddamn minute to myself to recover from whatever the hellthathad been.
17
Tyler
Iwaved to the crowdand stalked after Stella, who was beelining for a side door. My lips tingled from the kiss, hands flexing with the need to have her in my grasp again. I knew she felt it, too, this inexplicable, infuriating attraction, because her eyes kept falling to my lips while we were dancing, and her pupils had been huge, even as she insulted me.
I pushed through the door and stopped short. Stella was standing with a group of about ten other people,youngpeople, or at least younger than most of the crowd in the ballroom, in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties.
“Nice moves,” an attractive man with dark, curly hair and full lips called out, his green eyes drinking me in.
“My parents forced us,” Stella explained. “Everyone, this is Theo. My boyfriend.” She was getting better at saying that word without tripping over it.
I smiled and joined them. “Please tell me there’s something stronger than wine and champagne in this house.”
A blond woman with large blue eyes and a pouty mouth motioned us down the hall. “This way. Cordelia keeps all the good stuff locked up when she has company. She doesn’t want anyone getting wasted and puking on one of her priceless rugs.”
“Again,” a brunette woman added, shooting a taunting glance at Stella.
“I’m sorry,” Stella said. “Who was it that set the lawn on fire at that same party?”
The brunette cackled. “Oh my god, I forgot about that.”
“Probably because you were blackout drunk,” a sandy-haired man told her.
Stella and I let the group precede us down the hall, and I tugged her elbow to slow her down enough that a gap opened between us and them.
“Who are my targets?” I asked, voice low.
“Everyone but AJ,” she said, pointing to the man who’d first greeted me. “The rest deserve you.”
“Now who’s being an ass—Ow!” She’d pinched my side.
The blond heard us and started to turn. I grabbed Stella around the waist, but she was already leaning toward me, and by the time the blond laid eyes on us, we were plastered together, my lips at Stella’s temple while she giggled softly like we hadn’t just been on the verge of fisticuffs.
The woman pivoted back around, and Stella immediately tried to put some space between us, but I held on. “Someone else might look.”
She made a disgruntled soundbut stayed where she was, and we fell farther behind.
“We need to add more items to the list of rules,” she said, her words barely above a whisper.
I dropped my voice, too. “Like what?” It was easy to guess where this conversation was headed.
“No more kissing.”
I chuckled. So predictable. “Scared you’ll get used to it and be sad when our time comes to an end?”
“Please. You kiss like a dead fish.”
“Is that why you just moaned into my mouth?”
“I didnot—” She took a deep breath. “I didn’t do that.”
I let out a quiet, high-pitched imitation of a porn moan, and Stella scrambled to clap her hands over my lips.
“Would you shutup?” she hissed.
