Page 36 of Fastlander Fallen

Life was starting to make sense again.

At the end of the song, she spun Hallie out and back in, tried to dip her, and they nearly fell to the ground, only barely able to stay upright.

The first notes of a slow song she recognized came on, and one of the guys asked her something. She was laughing too hard to hear it properly, especially under this speaker, so she cupped her ear and asked, “Huh?”

“I asked, are you single?” Owen said.

She glanced at Ace. He was standing at the railing talking to Gunner, but had turned, and his gaze was trained on Owen’s back.

“Did my sick dance moves seduce you?” she joked.

“A little.”

“Boy, you could not handle me.”

“I could. Easily. Women are simple. Feed them and fuck them, and when they get an attitude, bring them flowers.”

“Ha,” she belted out. “I’m more complicated than that.”

“Complicated how?” he asked, approaching. “You don’t like flowers?”

“I would rather have bacon. Move along, I’m dancing with my cousin.” She did a little gesture with her fingers.

“One dance,” Owen said, but she didn’t miss it, he glanced over his shoulder at Ace.

He was trying to pick a fight.

“Owen, cut it out,” Hallie told him. “If you’re so smart about women, you would know that when we’re dancing together we don’t need a stupid boy to interrupt us. Let us have fun.”

Now Gunner was paying attention, sitting back on the railing, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Come on. You don’t have a ring on you,” Owen said. “One dance.”

“Fine,” Corey quipped. “One dance. With Ace.”

She offered out her hand and looked at Ace. A slow blink took him as he redirected his glare away from Owen’s back, and his eyes softened on her.

Without a word, he pushed off the railing and strode toward her to the stupid-boy, “Ooooohs,” that followed him.

He dipped his handsome gaze to the ground, and then up to her again as he slid his hand against hers.

“You’re going to dance with gas-station boy over me?” Owen scoffed. “Do you know who I am?”

“Currently you’re a douchebag,” Hallie pointed out. “And a fun-squasher.”

“Gas-station boy,” she murmured as Ace pulled her against him and smoothly swayed them side to side. Oh, so he knew how to do this. “If I come to your gas station, will you give me free orange soda?”

“I’ll buy you anything you are hungry for,” he said easily.

“Does your gas station have bacon?”

His smile stretched bigger. “No, but we have the best barbecue in the world.”

“Are you asking me out?” she wondered cheekily. God, she felt bold around this man.

He spun her out slowly, and then back, pulled her against him again, and was quiet. The others, including Owen, had gone back to hanging around the firepit and on the railing, and Hallie was snuggled against Gunner’s chest, looking up at him and talking. He had his arms completely wrapped around her cousin.

Ace really wasn’t answering her question, and now she felt awkward. “Sorry,” she murmured. “Let’s pretend I didn’t say that, and just have fun tonight. I didn’t mean to push you.”

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