Page 30 of Don't Fall

His hand moves to the center of her back, holding her steady, though I notice not as close as he was keeping me to him a minute ago, and he smiles at her. He doesn’t say anything. Which I realize sends two separate messages to the pair of us. He’s sneaky. Purposely leaving us to draw our own conclusion as to his thoughts and intentions. It makes me like him a little less again. It also makes me want to know him more.

Jules is busy casting her usual chick voodoo over him and judging by the slightly dazed expression spreading over his face, it’s kicking in already. I turn my back on them just in time to see Drea coming toward me, dragging Scott along.

It’s a split-second decision on my part when I take off across the room and zero in on the newest member of our little get Tessa laid party. He’s tall and built like a swimmer, and as far as I know, hasn’t slept with any of my friends.

“You.”

He laughs. “Me?” I like his smile. It reaches his brown eyes.

“Yes, you.” I clasp his bicep with my hand. I could have used two. My fingers don’t even come close to reaching around it. “I need a dance partner and you’re it.”

“Lucky me.” He grins, getting to his feet and following me back out onto the dance floor. We’re just settling into the sea of people grinding up on one another when he leans in to yell, “I’m Casey, by the way.”

“Tessa,” I shout back.

“I know.” His hands land on my hips as he moves closer to me, matching me move for move perfectly. I don’t usually like dancing with a partner. Inevitably someone keeps bumping into someone else and then everything is off rhythm and what’s the point of that? But not with Casey. Somehow, we just work. And I let myself think of the other places and ways we might move well together, if for no other reason than it’s the least complicated trail available to my thoughts right now.

Casey’s hands move comfortably over my body, spinning me around to hold me from behind as we continue to sway with the music, which is slowing down again. His chin is resting on my shoulder, the scruff on his jaw line tickling my skin. I smile. It feels nice. I forgot how nice. Being held. Being close to a man. The way they smell. The way their physical strength can make you feel safe when they have you cocooned against their chest. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss this. Or that I wasn’t the teensiest bit jealous of Drea, who hasn’t gone without any of those things since she was old enough to appreciate them.

I know Casey’s practically a stranger. These feelings I’m having, they’re not about him. They’re about me. And when my eyes move outside of our immediate bubble and catch on Lane, I know they will never be about Casey. Not as long as my new roommate keeps looking at me the way he’s looking at me right now.

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LANE

It’s eating away at me. Watching her dance with someone else. Watching her enjoy it. The mounting frustration involuntarily causes me to grasp Jules a little tighter, sending the wrong message to her all together. A message I know she receives loud and clear when she nestles her body closer to mine, her hand roaming seductively over my chest, playing with the buttons of my shirt in a very suggestive way as she does. It should be enough to pry my attention away from Tessa, but it’s not. Goddamn it, nothing is anymore.

I’m starting to wonder if maybe I did take a blow to the head that night she burst in and came at me swinging that umbrella. There’s really no other way to explain my inability to focus on anything but her these days.

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