Page 13 of Puck of the Irish

She shivers and I lean down, slowly sliding a hand to her nape, giving her time to tell me to stop. She doesn’t.

“Rizz,” she whispers and the word makes my cock jerk to attention.

“I miss kissing you,” I tell her honestly, surprised by the words as they fly from my mouth without my permission. She licks her bottom lip and I take it as the invitation it is. She curls her hand around my hip and tugs me forward as I tilt my head and press my lips to hers. It’s instant heat, like a match to a line of gasoline, and we both groan into the kiss, just waiting for that inevitable explosion. I gently roll my tongue against hers, just enjoying the feel of her again, loving the way she runs her hands over every inch of my exposed skin.

“We could go for seconds, Nat,” I whisper between kisses. “Or thirds…or tenths…”

She makes a sexy littlemmmsound, but then pulls away.

“We can’t,” she groans, though she leans in and kisses me softly one more time before pulling away for good, putting actual space between our faces. Our bodies are still close, her hands still lingering on my chest, and my hands are still resting on herneck, my thumbs tracing circles on her cheekbones. “One and done, that was the deal. No strings. No seconds.” She says it with confidence, but almost like she’s trying to convince herself. As much as I hate it, I nod and step away, trying to ignore the raging hardon I have now. I won’t push it, no matter how badly I want her. She says one and done and I’ll respect that.

“Ok,” I say simply, holding her gaze. The gray is bright against her expanded pupils, her lips red and swollen from our kisses.

“Ok,” she repeats, sounding a little stunned. We both stand there for a second a touch awkwardly and then bust out laughing. I’m glad we have this connection that lets us breeze through this stuff that could easily get dicey.See, we can do this. It’s fine.

“I’ll see you tonight,” I tell her with a smile as I step aside and gesture for her to get on with her workout. “Hope your dancing shoes are ready,” I add with a waggle of my eyebrows. She smiles, giving me one of those sexy challenging looks.

“Oh I’ll be dancing circles around you, Thirst Trap. Don’t you worry.” I shrug one shoulder, unconcerned.

“Guess we’ll see.”

Nine

NAT

Fuck.Me.

Rizzo can dance. And I don’t just mean he doesn’t have two left feet. This. Man. Can.Dance.

I hadn’t been banking on that when I’d issued my little challenge earlier—after another mind-melting kiss that shouldnothave happened. I’d beenthisssssclose to saying fuck it and finding a storage closet somewhere, or hell, maybe even going at it right there on the gym floor, but somehow managed to rein myself in. Barely.

Despite the little slip up earlier, tonight has been an absolute blast. Hattie semi-successfully taught the whole group a handful of line dances, though Howey and Jules both still kind of look like fish flopping around on the deck of a boat half the time. Jules does actually look cute in his ten-gallon hat, I’ll give him that, and he and Bobby keep bumping into each other and cracking up, so it seems like everyone is having a great time. Hattie is definitely in her element and I see many more nightsat the Tipsy Cowboy in our future—especially because I can tell how much she wishes Shep was here too.

Rizzo, the sneaky bastard, can two-step like nobody’s business. He’d held a hand out to Hattie in invitation as some fast-paced country song that I’d never heard came on. We both looked a little skeptical, but Hattie had slid her hand into his and then the two of them started burning up the floor, spinning and twirling and moving like they should be onDancing with the Starsor something. Hattie had grinned so big I was surprised her cheeks didn’t hurt. I felt a little pang for my friend then, realizing how much she must miss home and doing things like this that she obviously loves.

She’d left for a new start and to get away from her psycho ex, not because she didn’t love living in the south. I can’t imagine having to give up everything I knew and loved for fear of my life and starting over completely. Sure, I’d lived on the East Coast for a while for school and work after graduation, but I always knew I could come home any time I wanted. Hattie doesn’t have that luxury and it makes my heart hurt for her. I know she’s happy here now, but it was definitely an adjustment for her at first. I hope nights like this make her feel a little less homesick.

I’d narrowed my eyes at Rizzo after that first dance with Hattie and he’d grinned like a jackass, clearly proud of himself for his big reveal. Of course, the girls have been all over him since the minute we walked in, but even more so after that little demonstration.There really is just something about a man who can dance…Most of them don’t even seem to realize he’s a professional athlete, just an insanely good-looking guy who can move his body in ways that should be illegal, and he’s all too happy to spin them around the floor.

And I’m not jealous at all.

Despite the cold temps outside, Hattie and I had decided to lean all the way into the evening’s theme and are clad inmatching cut-offs, boots, and crop-tops. The look on Rizzo’s face when he’d walked in had been priceless, and I hope that anyone else who noticed just chalked it up to Rizzo being Rizzo and flirting with anything with a pulse. Despite all the attention he’s getting, I don’t miss the way his gaze seems to find me no matter where I am in the bar, and that assuages a bit of the jealousy. Not that I had any to begin with. Whatever.

“Are you sure you don’t need a ride?” Hattie calls, her cheeks flushed.

“I’m good!” I tell her. “I’m gonna grab a bottle of water and then I’m gonna head out. You go ahead.”

“I’ll make sure she gets home alright,” Rizzo says, sliding up beside us. Hattie gives me a pointed look and I narrow my eyes at her. “I don’t mean like that,” he adds with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “I mean, I’m sticking around for a bit longer, so I’ll make sure she gets into her Uber safely on her way before I find someone to take me to bed or lose me forever!”

I look at him, torn between amusement of him being him…and irritation at the idea of him taking some random girl home.

“Did you just quoteTop Gun?”

“Yes, ma’am, I did.” I huff out a laugh, shaking my head. I turn back to Hattie, pulling her into a hug.

“I’m good, really. Go ahead. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

She eyes me and then Rizzo, but lets it slide before whistling to Jules, Bobby, and Howey.

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