He sank in his seat, hands flat on the table. The corner of his mouth quirked. “Yeah.”
My face broke into a grin. “Oh my god.Why?”
“My brother dared me.”
“You did something because someone dared you to?”
“I did something because my brother dared me to.” Hetraced the rim of his glass again, his mouth tipping in a smile. “When we were kids, he figured out I’d do pretty much anything to make him laugh and I never knew peace again.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that,” I deadpanned. His smile widened briefly, but then he gulped down some of his drink, a complicated sort of emotion flickering in his eyes. I refused to let him put that wall back up, not tonight. “Did you get any phone numbers? After the class?”
“Seven.”
“Oh, you got me beat! I got five.” I sat back in my chair and shook my head solemnly. “I guess you look better naked than I do.”
He let his elbow rest on the back of his chair, eyes dark under the dim lights. “I can’t imagine that’s true.”
A hundred degrees in a Midwest summer couldn’t compare to this. An inferno spread through my body. I was half tempted to glance down and confirm my body remained intact rather than crumbling to ash around the legs of my chair.
I’d been under the impression we’d spend the rest of the trip aware of the mutual attraction and leave it at that, considering we were on our way to the woman he believed to be the love of his life. But Dex was throwing out the plan in favor of… what, exactly?
Fun?
A warm body until reuniting with the one he really wanted?
Blowing off steam after a shitty day? Week?Year?
Honestly, I should’ve been thrilled at the prospect; hot person, no strings, the best way to ease into the dating endeavor after being stagnant for so long. Dex would be good, too, if those hands were any indication. Low stakes, high reward.
But as Dex’s eyes pinned me across the table,low stakesseemed like the last term I’d use to describe us.
I blinked away, throat bobbing. We were the last ones left in the bar, and I had no idea when that happened.
“It’s late,” I said, pushing out of my chair. “It’s really late. Do hotel bars have last call? Because if so, we’re probably cutting it close.”
I reached for my margarita, dumping the rest down my throat in hopes it might dull the feeling of Dex’s eyes boring into the side of my head.
I couldn’t deny that I wanted him. Was sort of desperate for him, considering the amount of shirtless fantasies I’d indulged in, and all the staring at his hands. There were no consequences for admiring from a respectful distance. Making our way to the elevator with a handful of inches between us, I realized maybe the distance itself was a consequence. A necessary one, but it was so hard to remember why when Dex’s eyes were on me.
Our footsteps echoed up into the ceiling of the empty lobby. We paused at the elevators, Dex hitting the call button.
“When was the last time you did this?” he asked. I must’ve been gaping at him because he felt the need to clarify: “Went out.”
“Went out,” I repeated. “Like, with a person?”
“As opposed to…?”
I cleared my throat. “I don’t know. A while,” I mumbled, reaching up to rub my burning nose. “It’s not something I can do.”
“Because of Phoebe?”
I bit my lip as the doors opened up, shuffling inside, and when they slid shut, the air inside went with them. I leaned against the wall, dizzier than I had any right to be after two margaritas. Dex hit our floor number and leaned against the wall opposite, facing me, waiting for an answer.
“I mean, yeah. But also, I’m not exactly the ideal partner right now,” I said, earning a flat look in return.
“Come on,” he said. “Earlier, I listed a bunch of reasons why you’re awesome.”
I looked at him for a moment, feeling the weight of yet another compliment before tucking it away.
