Page 95 of On the Breakaway

“Yeah, stop being so boring, Grayson,” Avery says, already backing toward the dance floor,

Her eyes drag over me deliberately. A silent challenge.

“Don’t let Avery win,” Wesley piles on from somewhere behind me. “She already has too big of an ego.”

I should stay exactly where I am. Normally, I would. I don’t dance.

Avery glances over her shoulder one last time before disappearing into the crowd, and somehow my feet are already moving before my brain catches up.

Wyatt mumbles only loud enough for me to hear. “Like a fucking dog.”

I flip him off, eyes still trained on the dance floor while I hope like hell no one else picks up on what’s going on here the way Wyatt did.

When I step into the crowd, heat closes around me from every direction. Bodies are packed beneath flashing lights while the music pounds hard enough to rattle my ribs.

Liam and Becca are already drunk on attention in the middle of the crowd, bodies moving to the beat.

But Avery…

Holy fuck.

She’s a few feet away with her back turned to me, moving as if she belongs to the music itself. Her curls spill down her shoulders while the tiny black dress shifts higher against her thighs every time her hips roll with the beat.

I move to the beat and try not to let myself feel like a fucking idiot for coming out here, which isn’t as hard as I expect it to be with Avery only a few feet away from me. Maybe it’s the lighting or the fact that I haven’t seen her in weeks, but I can’t take my eyes off of her.

She glances over her shoulder and catches me staring. Her eyes still glint with challenge when she turns away again, hands trailing the sides of her body as she raises them above her head.

Jealousy crawls up my spine when I notice every guy in our vicinity watching her. Their focus only intensifies when the song changes and Avery’s movements become more sensual, one hand sliding into her hair.

Becca pulls Liam against her, but I barely notice because Avery spins with the beat, closing the distance between us until her dress brushes my jeans.

It could’ve been accidental, except two seconds later, she turns again, her back brushing lightly against my stomach. My entire body heats, and I step back, giving myself enough distance to pretend I have any self-control when it comes to her.

I glance away to watch Liam pull Becca to the exit, and I already know we’ll all be giving them shit for it tomorrow.

My phone buzzes a moment later.

Chaos: You keep looking at me like you want to eat me.

A laugh escapes me, and my cock twitches in my pants as it gets all sorts of ideas.

Weeks of avoiding me and then walking in here tonight toying with me is par for the course with Avery. It’s the same dance we’ve been doing since we met. This time, though, her hostility seems playful, her insults more teasing, and I’d be a liar if I said it wasn’t making me want a repeat of our last hookup.

I don’t know when it happened.

After weeks apart, I’d hoped the attraction would be gone. It’d been a fool’s hope. Not only is the attraction still there, but it’s become impossible to ignore.

Me: Maybe that’s because I already know how good you taste.

Across the dance floor, Avery freezes mid-movement, and even beneath the flashing lights, I catch the flush spreading across her cheeks.

“You shouldn’t be on your phone all alone out here,” a woman whispers into my ear just as her hand lands on my abs, sliding across me.

She’s tall with black hair cascading down her back. Her red top leaves little to the imagination, which I assume is the point, given the way she leans forward in front of me, pushing her breasts further into my sight line. Normally, the way she’s moving would have me rock hard and reconsidering months of celibacy.

And I am reconsidering it. Just not with her.

After all, I swore off relationships, not sex itself. And Avery obviously has no interest in anything other than sex. I can’t help but wonder if she was right; maybe we could act on the attraction without risking feelings. Can I separate the two?