Page 55 of That Kiss

“Has she ever done shots before?” I laugh and he shakes his head.

“I’m confident she hasn’t, so tonight should be fun.”

I grab the shot and lime, licking the salt off the back of my hand and downing it. I bite down on the lime, the tequila burning as it spreads through my chest.

“Shots? Now we’re talking,” Jackson says, rejoining our group. He hands one to Matty, who downs it, shaking his head back and forth at the taste.

“Shit!” He scrunches up his face. “I should warn you guys, tequila kind of turns me into a dancing machine.” He busts a few moves, dropping down into the splits before coming up, causing all of us to ooh and ahh.

“Hell, let’s keep them coming if this is the performance we’re getting!” Tyler orders another round and we gather in a giant circle as Matty and Jackson take turns battling it out on the dance floor.

“Wait, wait, wait . . .” Dolly steps into the circle with her hands held out. “Are we about to have a dance-off?”

Suddenly it feels like there are 300 people in the bar. At the mention of a dance battle, someone jumps up on a table, cupping their hands around their mouth: “Dance battle!”

Another circle forms as people pair up, some calling out others to battle them. One girl pushes her friend into the center of the circle, but she darts out, too shy to compete. Then Carl jumps in, doing the worm. It’s a blast, the music pumping, drinks flowing, and everyone dancing.

I’ve completely lost track of time. My hair is stuck to my neck with sweat, my cheeks sore from laughing and smiling with my friends, who one by one have slowly started to head out. Finally, I leave the dance floor and grab my purse. I pull my phone out to check the time when I see several missed texts and two missed calls from Decker.

“Shit.”

I walk to the dark hallway by the bathrooms and give him a call. It rings twice before he picks up.

“Hey, I’m so sorry. I completely lost track of time and didn’t have my phone on me. Where are you?”

“In the parking lot.”

“Oh, I’ll be right out!” I hang up the phone and run to say goodbye to my friends, successfully dodging Brooklyn and Dolly’s slurred questions about if I got Jackson or Matty’s phone number. “I’ll see you girls later. Make sure you drink a lot of water!” I say after them as I head outside. Decker is already waiting for me, leaning against the passenger-side door.

“Hey, I hope you weren’t waiting long.” He doesn’t respond—just opens the door and helps me inside. “Did you get everything done?”

“We did,” he says, pulling the truck out of the parking lot. “Did you have fun?”

“I did, but I think I need a shower. That Matty guy turned out to be hilarious. I thought he was really shy or something at first, but man, he was the life of the party. He did a banana split.” Decker looks over at me like he has no idea what I’m talking about. “You know, the dance move where you go up like this and then come down?” I gesture with my fingers. “Anyway, everyone started dancing and it was crazy hot in there.”

“Any more trouble with the other young man?” His tone feels clipped, and I chalk it up to the fact that he’s probably exhausted. Plus I wouldn’t blame him for being annoyed at having to wait for me.

“No. Although Dolly and Brooklyn were still trying to get me to ask for their numbers when I left.” He doesn’t say anything. “I obviously did not get them or want them.”

His gaze stays forward, one hand resting casually atop the steering wheel, the other sitting on his thigh. I continue telling him about the rest of the night until we finally make it back to his house.

“I should really take a shower before bed,” I say when we make it to his bedroom.

“Sit,” he commands, pointing to the bed. I’m about to respond with a cheeky comment when he says it louder this time: “Sit.”

My knees buckle and I drop down on the edge of the bed.

“It ends tonight, Juniper.” He steps closer to me, looking down with fire in his eyes. “The games. The secrecy. It’s all over. You’re mine and everyone is going to know it.”

Chapter 21

Decker

She’s perched on the edge of my bed, her eyes round and wide as she stares up at me. I turn her chin so I can expose her neck.

“I can see your pulse in your throat. You nervous, baby?”

“No.” She almost chokes on the word, and it makes me smile.

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