Page 129 of Just This Once

“Right?” He jerked up his eyebrows and asked, “So you ready for that dip, then?”

My eyes widened. “What? No! I?—”

“Here we go,” he warned, not listening to me, and I went swooping back until I thought I was going to fall flat on my ass.

“Keene!” I screeched in alarm, only to be pulled up against him again. Then I shouted out my delight with a laugh that exploded from the pit of my stomach.

But what a rush.

“Okay, I want to do that again.”

“Again?” he nodded at me in encouragement.

“Yes,” I gasped.

And away we went, spinning and dipping until I was dizzy and the song was ending.

“Holy shit,” I panted, leaning against him heavily and glistening with sweat as the song wound down to the end. “Where did you learn to do that?”

Keene winked, grinning wickedly. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

With a chuckle, I rolled my eyes and patted his arm. “Well, I better get out of the way. It looks as if you have a growing audience just chomping at the bit for their turn with you.”

Keene glanced over, and his eyebrows shot up when he saw his admirers actually standing at the edge of the dance floor, waiting for us to finish.

“Ladies,” he greeted cheerfully, and his arms immediately dropped from me, so I could take a step back to watch three girls streak forward to intercept him. “Who’s next?”

With a delighted smile, I turned away, only to catch sight of Alec finishing a dance with Raina.

“Hey!” I greeted. “I didn’t know you were out here too.” Gripping his arm, I swung him back to me when he started to veer toward our table as if to return to his chair. But I shook my head. “Nuh-uh. I want to dance with my brother.”

Alec rolled his eyes and groaned but ruined the pout with a smile as he lifted his arms and began to dance with me while Faith, Hudson, Raina, and Xander left the dance floor together.

“So how’m I doing?” I asked almost immediately.

Alec shook his head in confusion. “With what?”

“Dopey,” I scolded, slugging his arm. “With Xander. She looks happier already, doesn’t she?”

“Oh!” His gaze immediately sought her as if he knew exactly where she was. And then his expression softened. “Yeah,” he murmured in contentment. “She looks a lot happier. Thank you.”

When he gave my cheek a grateful kiss, I bloomed.

“Anything for you,” I repeated and hugged him close, resting my face on his shoulder. But when I glanced past him, I could see our group’s table.

Parker had already been to the bar and gotten himself a drink. He swirled the amber liquid in his glass with one hand as he leaned toward Hudson as if to listen to him talk.

But his gaze…

His gaze was fixed solidly onme. I stared back at him through the rest of the song. And God, he was so freaking hot. His sandy hair was full of bedhead, the sleeves of his button-up shirt were rolled to the center of his forearms, exposing a sexy amount of flesh with his arms folded over his chest like that. And the slightly pissed-off narrowing of his eyes made my breasts tingle mercilessly.

As the last notes of the song ended and Alec pulled away from me, I had to shake my head to clear it from its daze.

Together, my brother and I started back to the table just as Damien and Oaklynn returned from wherever they’d been.

“Where did you guys disappear to?” I teased, which made Damien flush with his old shy ways.

Oaklynn laughed, winking at me. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she taunted before returning her attention to the table and then shrieking, “Parker!” in excitement.

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