Page 14 of Puck of the Irish

"Alright, y'all, let's mount up and ride out!" I wave to everyone as they make their way towards the exit and Rizzo leans his elbows on the high table.

“Did you have fun tonight?”

“A blast,” I yell over the music. He leans in close to my ear.

“You gonna make me go the whole night without a dance, Nat?” He pulls back and quirks a brow in challenge, and I can’t help but smile. I probably shouldn’t but…fuck it. Not like eitherof us is dumb enough to hump each other in the middle of the dance floor…I don’t think, anyway.

“Let’s go, Thirst Trap.” I grab his hand and tug him to the floor, throwing caution to the wind a bit now that our friends are gone. A new song starts up just as we find a clear spot and he reaches out and tugs me close. We start dancing, moving together as if we’ve done it a thousand times. It’s a fast number, and we flash across the floor, spinning and turning and twirling, and soon I’m damn near giddy, laughing and smiling like an idiot.

When we come back together, I yell up at him, “Ok, spill it! Where the fuck did you learn to dance like this??” He smiles widely.

“I learned so I could impress a girl in high school. Transfer student from Tennessee!” he calls overFlatlinerand I laugh out loud.

“Why am I not surprised?” He reaches up and tips the end of his hat to me with two fingers and I can’t even begin to explain why it’s sexy. While Jules looked adorable in his hat, Rizzo looks like the male lead from a cowboy romance. In fact, he could probably model for one of the covers shirtless in that hat and it would sell a million copies. He shrugs and twirls me outward again.

“What about you, city girl? Why do you know how to two-step?” I’m not nearly as good as Hattie, but I can hold my own.

“College,” I say with a shrug, as if that explains everything. He laughs and spins me again. His hands move all over me, leaving little licks of fire in their wake, but it isn’t until the song fades into a slower one, Chris Stapleton singing about Tennessee Whiskey, that I realizejusthow close our bodies are, just how good it feels being like this with him. He swallows hard but arches a brow in question. I nod and he wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me close and making me shiver wherehis fingertips skim over my bare skin. We start to spin slowly, everything suddenly hot and heavy around us.

Of course the sexiest song known to man had to come on.I’m suddenly hyperaware of every spot that Rizzo is touching me, of the way his muscles move and flex beneath that tight white t-shirt; the way his tight jeans sit just right; the way he can’t seem to stop looking at me like he wants to bend me over the bar…

“So, I think you should crack your shell just a tiny bit, Natalie Morgan,” he finally says, low in my ear. It’s like we’re in some weird little bubble now, just the two of us out here on the floor even though we’re surrounded by people.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I shared with you. I think you should share with me. It’s only fair. It’s what…friends do,” he says, but I would swear he hesitates on the wordfriendsfor a second. He’s got a point. I know I’ve kept walls up, but if this isreallymy life like I told dad it was, then I can’t keep these people out forever. They are my friends, especially Rizzo.

So, I eye him and say, “You get three questions.”

“Ten,” he counters immediately.

“Five. For tonight,” I clarify. He eyes me but finally nods.

“Alright, five it is.For tonight,” he repeats, letting me know that I’ve just opened up the door and he doesn’t plan on ever letting me close it again. That should worry me, honestly, but it doesn’t. If he figures out who my dad is—who I am—well, so be it. I’m tired of worrying about it. I mean, it isn’t like he’s a mobster or the President or something, I just didn’t want his name and all the attention and expectations that come with it following me around—which is why I took mom’s last name when I was fourteen, much to dad’s chagrin.

“One: what exactly were you doing before you moved back to Seattle?”

“I was working in New York for a real estate acquisition and development company.”

“That sounds…fancy?” I laugh and hike a shoulder. It was what it was. “Did you like New York?”

“I miss the pizza,” I admit. “But I like Seattle more—that counts as your second question, by the way.” He rolls his eyes and slowly spins me out away from him and then back tight into his body, skating his fingers up my spine and making my breath hitch.

“Siblings?”

“Nope, just me.”

“Parents? I mean, I know your dad lives here and your mom passed, but…” He trails off, leaving the question open. He knows the very, very basics and he’s asking for more. So, I take a deep breath and give him something real.

“My relationship with my dad is…complicated. It always has been. We butt heads a lot, but at the end of the day, we love each other. And mom died from a brain aneurysm. She went to bed one night and just…didn’t wake up in the morning. She was gone. Just like that.” I still don’t think I’ve processed losing her completely, but each day is a little easier…until it’s somehow worse than the day it happened. It’s like a rollercoaster: ups and downs and twists and turns, and just when you think you’re on a good beat, suddenly the damn thing shoots you backwards and your free-falling and wanting to puke.

“I’m so sorry, Nat.” One day I’ll tell him more about it. About her and our life and losing her, but tonight I just nod and give him one of thoseit’s-not-ok-but-it’s-oksmiles.

“Last question,” I say quietly, running my hand up his chest and around the back of his neck, toying with the edges of his hair. He holds my stare, reaching up to lightly pinch my chin between his thumb and forefinger. I swallow hard, searching his eyes for something to keep me from falling, but all I findis a stronger desire to.Stupid, stupid, stupid. Wanting another round of mind-blowing sex is one thing. Falling for Anthony Rizzo is something else entirely.

"I really want to kiss you again," he says.

"That's not a question," I say, barely a whisper but he somehow hears me over the music. His lips curl up into a sexy smile and I hold my breath while I wait for him to lean down and kiss me. The song ends and he blinks, shaking himself.

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