Page 54 of The Devil Wears Tartan

“You know, I totally forgot we were wearing Crocs through all of this.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, we both burst out laughing so hard we have to break apart and clutch the lockers for support.

Now that I’ve had a moment to process, I can see the hilarity in how surreal this whole scene is: the Crocs, the poofy swaths of tartan and lace we’re both draped in, the fact that this is all happening in an abandoned high school hallway against some poor kid’s locker while a highland dance competition wraps up downstairs.

It’s one of the least sexy setups I can think of, and somehow, it’s still incredibly hot.

She’s incredibly hot. Half her hair has slipped out of her bun, the rest of it sitting a little lopsided on her head. Her bodice is all crooked, and her eyes are still shining with need even as she lets out an adorable snort as she tries to get her laughter under control.

I want to pat her on the cheek and tell her she’s cute almost as badly as I want to push her up against the wall again.

As new as this is, it all feels easy.

Way too easy.

I’m completely out of control.

I turn away and straighten my outfit. I smooth what’s left of my bun down before facing her again.

“Moira, I don’t know if this was a good idea. I think—”

“I know what you’re going to say,” she interrupts.

I pause, waiting to see if she’ll tell me, since I’m not totally sure myself.

With the taste of her still on my tongue, I’m not sure of anything.

“You’re going to say we can’t do this again, that we should just totally ignore each other for the rest of the competition season and focus on what we each need to do to win the scholarship.”

I don’t agree, but I don’t have to; she nods like my silence confirms what we both know is true.

“Which would be smart,” she adds.

“Yeah,” I answer, “it would be.”

“It would also be boring as hell.”

A surprised laugh slips out of me, and the gleam comes back to her eyes. Her voice gets low again, dripping with a danger that makes my thighs twitch.

“I am not a boring person, Kenzie.”

I can’t take my eyes off her. “Never said you were.”

She goes still, and her face softens for a moment.

“Yeah,” she murmurs. “You never did say that.”

Then she’s all seduction again.

“If you want to take the boring route, fine. I won’t judge you. It’s the smartest thing to do, but I bet...” Her lips curl up at the corners, and a familiar thrill shoots through me. Even now, I can’t resist a challenge from her. Even now, I want to win. “I bet you can’t make it through a date without begging me to kiss you.”

I blink. “A date? You want to go on a date?”

She shrugs and glances down at the floor before looking back up at me. “For the purposes of this bet, yes.”

“Huh.” I pretend to think about it, even though the word ‘date’ is doing weird things to my stomach.

I am quite possibly getting butterflies at the thought of going on a date with Moira Murray.

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