Page 47 of Tongue-Tied

“Yep, lead the way,” Dex replies, and we follow them back inside.

“I see you’re both wearing red too,” Kael says to me. “Enjoying your date night?”

I swallow. “Yep.” Or at least now I will be.

For the first time all night, I feel safer…freer, so when Dex pulls on my hand to join them on the dance floor, I don’t exactly protest.

We find an open spot, and Dex turns to face me, Kael and Angelica already getting their groove on, oblivious to everyone but each other.

“Just follow my lead,” he says, much like he did at the bonfire, except the music in the club is more frenetic and up-tempo. Dex’s fingers tentatively grasp my hip, and when he starts to sway to the music, I shuffle my feet in an attempt to keep up.

“Don’t make fun,” I warn because I’m woefully bad at it.

“Never.” His other hand finds my waist, and after a few awkward moments of getting my feet to work, I finally find the rhythm, surprising myself.

Soon enough, I lose most of my self-consciousness as the crowd tightens around us and it feels like it’s just Dex and me in our little cocoon. We’re dancing and smiling and sweating our butts off, but I’m enjoying myself.

Dex gets more daring with his dancing, and I find his moves sexy as he shuffles closer and our bodies line up. He gives me his back but grasps my hand to stay put on his hip as we move flush together. He gets down real low, and I try to follow, but I’m afraid I’m gonna fall on my ass. Instead, I close the distance between us, hanging on for dear life, and when he rocks his ass backward against my thigh, a tingling feeling starts in my belly and moves to my groin. It feels so rousingly electric that it takes my brain a moment to register that I’m getting turned on.

By my best friend grinding against me. And damn, if it doesn’t feel confusing but also amazingly good. But my rational side is competing with my libido for attention. No way he doesn’t feel how hard I am, and when my brain finally catches up, I’m so fucking mortified that I push away from him and take a step back.

“Hey,” he says as he swings around to face me again. “Everything all right?”

“Yeah, I…I’m just gonna find the restroom.”

And then I flee the dance floor.

19

DEX

Damn it! I probably shouldn’t have done the dirty dancing with Austin, but I wanted him to…I don’t even know. I saw him letting go, and I wanted that for him, so I just went with it. I knew he was getting hard, and I was feeling a chub forming too because Austin moving that way was sexy as hell. I was losing myself in all of it, but I figured it was only a physical reaction, at least on his part.

I should’ve known better. This stuff is not casual for him.

My feelings are getting way too muddled, but it’s not something that needs unpacking right now, not when Austin’s upset. But I’ll admit when he reached for that green sticker without much forethought, my stomach dropped. I understand where the confusion came in, though, so I just went with it and followed his lead despite having no desire to be with anyone tonight but him.

I follow him to the restroom, where he’s standing in front of a sink and washing his hands.

I meet his reflection in the mirror. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I almost—” His gaze springs to the others in the restroom.

I lower my voice. “I mean, I am irresistible.”

I watch as a line of red flushes his cheeks. “Stop making jokes.”

Once his hands are dry, I latch on to one of them. “Follow me.”

As I lead him to the very end of the row of stalls, he stiffens when we hear someone moaning behind one of them. I’ve hooked up in a restroom before, and in some clubs, it’s just a known thing that happens.

I pull open the last stall and step inside, tugging him along. As soon as the door is shut and locked, I meet his eyes. “Okay, now we’re alone and can talk freely.”

His head tilts toward the moaning sounds. “Are they…?”

“Uh-huh. Suppose it’s better than on the dance floor.”

“About that… It’s been forever since I’ve been that close to another guy, and?—”

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