Page 31 of Choose the Bears

“So do you always have a dance party when doing the dishes?” I asked.

Asher emerged from the bathroom, obviously having left a box in there.

“This is your housewarming,” Kyle replied, and when his eyes met mine, I took a step backwards. That smile, that intent gaze told me something I really didn’t want to deal with.

“No…” He shimmied on over to me. “No…” I waved my hands in the air, but he grabbed them and pulled me forward, his palms damp from the sink water. “No housewarming. No dancing.” He paid me no mind, spinning me out effortlessly before pulling me back in.

I was reminded then of why I never went to school dances, because I could never just relax. His hands landed on my hips, helping them swivel along with his, but it felt like my body didn’t know how. I was stiff, awkward, weird, feeling like every eye was on me as he slid in behind me, wrapped my arms around his neck and took over.

As Lucas and Asher watched.

There was something so perfectly still about the two of them. They reminded me of the way big cats watched their prey, right before they struck. I was no spindle-legged antelope out on the plains, instead lumbering around the lounge room like a baby elephant, right until Kyle spun me out and into Lucas.

“Oh god, sorry!” I yelped as I collided with the other man. “I suck at this. I’m?—”

“Not sorry.”

Lucas pulled me close, his body shifting from side to side, like this was a slow dance, not some bouncy pop song on the radio. He stared down at me, and my eyes couldn’t help but fall to his lips, remembering the way they’d felt. He was right and I was wrong, it was too soon, so why did it take everything I had not to go back for more? As if sensing that, Asher cut in, grabbing my hand and pulling me free, but what I didn’t expect was this. For him to cradle me against his chest, his mouth going to my ear.

“Do you want this to stop?” His tone was quiet and tense at the same time, as if asking me this cost him something. “You don’t look like you’re super comfortable.”

For a moment, my mind fought to formulate an answer. His size, his presence, the feel of a strange man’s body against mine all competed for my attention. No, not just a man. It would take me 2.5 seconds to push myself away from Phil if he grabbed me. I was pressed against a strange, attractive man’s body. I sucked in a breath of his piney scent and then pushed myself away with a smile.

“Not much of a dancer,” I said. “Two left feet, but my hands work just fine. Thanks for upgrading the door and installing the security system, but I better get a start on unpacking.”

This was an invitation for him to leave, for all of them, but they didn’t, not even when I scurried off into the bathroom, putting make-up and toiletries away in the drawers. Instead, they took the boxes I emptied, breaking them down with all the ones the security equipment came in until they formed a neat pile by the door. We all moved now to the beat of the songs played on Kyle’s phone, but this dance was far more productive than the one from before, and it was one I knew how to do well. I emerged with the last box to find the kitchen sparkling, all my groceries put away along with the bags, and all the rubbishremoved. I was done and that had me blinking at the three of them.

“That’s everything,” I announced, something that was redundant because they could all see that.

“We’ll dispose of the boxes and rubbish,” Asher told me. “And one of us will be just downstairs.”

“I’m on Imogen-watch duty tonight,” Kyle said with the kind of impish grin that made me think it wasn’t such a chore.

“You’re going to sleep in your car?”Shut up, a small voice inside my head said.Shut the hell up. “There’s a perfectly good bed in the spare room. I mean it’s got some weird stains on the mattress but…”

Yeah, I should’ve taken my own advice and stayed quiet.

“Are you comfortable with that?” Suddenly Kyle was a lot more serious.

“I mean, yeah. Giving you a bed to sleep in if you’re determined to keep an eye on my place, keep me safe, seems like the least I can do.” I was talking too much, explaining stuff that didn’t need explaining, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “I’ll grab some sheets.”

“Kyle will keep an eye on things tonight,” Asher informed me. “Do you have work tomorrow?” I nodded. “We’ll be there at the end of your shift. Share your schedule with Kyle in the morning before you leave.”

“Right. Right.”

They weren’t friends, they weren’t really guests, so I wasn’t sure what to do with them, walking Lucas and Asher to the door as they hoisted the flattened boxes into their arms with little effort.

“Sweet dreams.”

I felt skittish around Lucas, that kiss an almost tangible presence between us, but he pushed it aside as he came closer. My eyes widened as he leaned in, my tongue flicking over mybottom lip as if readying myself for what was to come, but instead of another searing kiss, I got a small one pressed to my cheek. The skin flamed bright red at my misread of the situation, but his shy smile helped alleviate my fears.

Instead, I was grinning like a goddamn idiot as he was dragged out the door by a dour Asher. When I turned around, it was to find Kyle waiting there for me to organise his bedding, so I dove into the linen cupboard, pulling out blankets and pillows. I shoved them into his arms, as if this would make things less awkward, but he just smiled.

“So how’re we feeling, Imogen? I’m happy to sleep downstairs in the car if that’ll make you feel more comfortable.”

No, I wanted to snap, grabbing his arm and holding him right where he was. Anything other than being left alone in an unfamiliar place. Instead, I kept things light.

“Me?” I looked around, the clash of familiar belongings in an unfamiliar place still a little jarring, but that would ease, I was sure of it. “I’m feeling… hopeful. Yeah, hopeful. Good night.”

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