Page 35 of Refusing Kendall

Teagan’s present sits right where I left it on the bed, white box with a blue bow that reminds me of the color of Lucas’ eyes. Now that it’s time to open it, I’m a little nervous and not sure that I want to. There’s no telling what T has in store for tonight. The only way I’m going to find out is to open the box, though.

Once I do, a flash of bright red catches my eye before I’m pulling out a frilly looking dress. It’s got a halter top with a deep v neck. From there down to the hips is form fitting, leaving the bottom flowy around the legs. The back will hit about mid-calf, while the front angles up into a split in places where it shouldn’t even be decent in public. Luckily the ruffles around the entire lower edges of the dress look like they’ll hide all of the important parts.

I lay the dress out on the bed and pull out matching red strappy low-heeled shoes that are at the bottom of the box. Thoughts run rampant in my mind, but I cannot think of where we could possibly be going with me dressed like this. It takes me an hour to shower and get ready. The whole time, I’m running through the options in my head. Each idea more extreme and comical than the last.

I have just slipped the heels on my feet when I hear keys at the door. One last look in the mirror has my heart about to beat out of my chest. My long brown hair hangs loosely around my shoulders, and with just the right amount of makeup, I actually feel sexy. Which I’m sure is exactly what Teagan wanted.

Walking down the hallway into the kitchen, I stop in the doorway to watch as they make their way inside. Goose and Teagan are first, playfully arguing about something or other. I’m such a weirdo, because I love sitting back and listening to them interact. Sometimes it’s not so hard to believe that this is precisely where we’re meant to be. Lucas and Mav file in behind them. They’re all sexy in their own rights, dressed in various forms of jeans and t-shirts, but it’s T who holds my attention. His white long sleeve dress shirt is tucked into his black slacks and rolled up to his forearms. My guys look good in jeans, but Jesus Christ, the way that he fills out those slacks makes little butterflies flit around in my stomach. Not to mention, he doesn’t have his hair pulled back tonight, so all of those long blonde locks drape over his shoulders.

I don’t move from the shadows of the door until Goose finally sees me. He doesn’t waste any time marching over to me with a grin plastered on his face. I sigh with as much relief as contentment when he pulls me into a tight hug.

“God, you look so good,” he whispers in my ear, making me shiver with a short kiss underneath my ear.

Teasing him a little, I lick the lobe of his, “I love you, Grant Michaels.”

“Come on, man. Don’t be a Kendall hog,” Teagan says from somewhere behind us.

Goose winks down at me as he takes my hand. Before I even know what’s happening he pulls me forward into a spinning motion. I trust his lead, so my steps don’t faulter. My dress flairs out around me, and it makes me laugh. Teagan catches my back against his front just as Goose lets me go.

Lucas groans from where he’s perched up on the counter beside Mav, who stands with his arms and legs crossed looking at me like he could devour me where I stand. It’s different when I have the attention of them separately or even two of them at once. With the four of them in the room, and the same thoughts running through all of their heads, it brings a flush to my face that’s likely to stay all night.

“I know it’s T’s night and all, but damn what I wouldn’t give to watch you guys tonight,” Lucas says with a wink my way.

I turn in Teagan’s arms so I can look up to his face, “Speaking of which, where are we going?”

The smile that belongs to him and him only takes over his face, “Can’t tell you. It’s a surprise. Are you ready to go?”

“I’m going to grab my jacket, but yeah, I think so,” I answer.

Teagan helps me into his Jeep, and it doesn’t take us long before we’re parking outside a familiar club. We’ve only been here once before with the team for an after-game party. It’s relatively milder and classier than some of the others that we’ve been to. It’s a good thing my ID is stuffed into the inner pocket of my leather jacket. It doesn’t matter, though. Almost as soon as Teagan flashes his, we’re being ushered inside and without an underage stamp. Damn, sometimes it’s nice to be on the arm of campus royalty.

Teagan pulls me through the crowd of people near the bar and out onto the dance floor. I don’t get a good look around me, because he fills my space in a way that blocks out everything else. The music is loud, and the beat is enough to get my heart racing.

“It’s salsa night,” Teagan explains, putting his mouth to my ear so I can hear him.

I have never in my life learned how to salsa, but I have a feeling he won’t let me fall on my face, “I didn’t know that you knew how to salsa.”

He grins down at me, “There’s a lot that you don’t know about me yet, sweets. But no worries, we’ll get there.”

We had been doing a little slow dance kind of thing as we were talking, but when the song switches over, T spins me out and back into his arms again. Surprising the shit out of me, he starts a slow movement with his body that isn’t hard for me to keep up with. He tucks me close and rolls his hips. It’s not hard at all to follow his lead with the steps and where to move my body. We fit perfectly together, even with the height difference. I love the way he controls the way that my body moves with nothing more than a small touch here or there.

All of my guys can dance, as they proved at their prom last year. They’ve all got their own little quirks about them and how they move. Teagan was holding back, which is unlike him. I can’t exactly say that I’m complaining at the moment, though. Just the feel of him taking charge and moving our bodies to the beat, starts a fire inside me that burns hotter than hell. I fully intend to let him put out later.

By the time that I’ve finally picked it up and don’t need his assistance to know where to put my feet and throw in a shimmy of my hips, we’re both sweating like we’ve ran a marathon. Although, that may have something to do with all of the bodies now crowded around us. More people are here than I thought would be interested in this kind of dancing. Though, now that I’ve experienced it first hand, I can see why. Teagan might as well be fucking me right here on the dancefloor.

As we get a quick break in songs, he leans down to press his mouth against my ear again, “Let’s get something to drink.” I nod, but I don’t let go of him, and it pulls a laugh from his chest. It’s another whole song before we leave the floor to head to the bar.

I tug on his arm and point towards the bathroom, he nods and does his own motion towards the bar. We go our separate ways, and it takes me no time at all to do my business. I don’t want to waste one second of time that we have. Squeezing my way between bodies, I make my way to where he’s waiting. I’m no more than a few steps away when my eyes find him. There’s a blonde in a barely there dress trying to rub against him like a cat. He ignores her and even turns himself sideways to try to get away from her. It isn’t until the bartender hands him two bottles of water that he not so gently removes her arm off his shoulder and moves away. After what happened on Halloween, the sight sends a slight thrill through me. I start walking towards him, so he doesn’t see me gawking like a weirdo.

We meet halfway, and even with the waters in his hands, he finds a way to wrap me up in a hug as he kisses my naked shoulder, “I don’t think I’ve told you tonight. You look absolutely stunning.”

“Youwouldthink so, since you picked out the dress and all,” I tease him.

He shakes his head and his long hair tickles my naked skin, “I’m telling you right now, even I couldn’t have foreseen just how fucking perfect you would look in it. We don’t have to stay, you know. I wouldn’t mind cutting this short and heading back to the house.”

“Or we could always just duck back into a dark corner somewhere,” I say suggestively.

His laugh is loud, and I notice some of the women around us turn in appreciation as his head tilts back.

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