Page 23 of The Drop

“Nope, no backing out. Come on, captain.” I smile up at him and start walking across the deck back into the party.

“Inside? Really,” he says, following me while pulling the sweatshirt over his t-shirt. I’m only mildly disappointed I won’t get to see him shirtless.

“Yeah, I’ve got a fun idea,” I shout over the music as we make it to the dance floor. “Can I get a couple of phone flashlights?”

Cami and Gunnar immediately pull out their phones and shine them toward Grant.

“Okay, pull some poses,” I instruct while angling the phone towards him. We're attracting some attention, but who cares? It’s just the hockey captain modelling. No big deal, right?

It is a big deal, and we draw a crowd of very thirsty college girls and some guys. I mean, who can blame them? He starts with his hands in his pockets, his legs wide and looking moody. Well, this won't be hard.

“Have you done this before?” I call out, and he laughs and shrugs.

“Guess the camera just loves me,” he says smugly, and I roll my eyes.

“Turn to the side,” Adam cups his hands over his mouth and shouts, “and do blue steel!”

Grant glares over at him. “Ooh, that looks good,” I call out, “do that again.”

Before long, we are all just shouting poses at him; they are getting more ridiculous, and he figures out we are just doing it to see if he will do them while we dance along to the songs playing.

Pulling the sweatshirt up and showing a way too short peak at toned abs, he tosses it back to Adam for him to wear for the last time, depending on the vote.

“I need another drink,” Grant says, walking toward me. he puts a hand on my lower back and guides me towards the kitchen while everyone else stays dancing.

The kitchen is quieter now since the poker games ended, and most people have already got their buzzes on and taken any drinks with them.

“These look good,” I say after I hop up to sit on the counter and scroll through the photos, and Grant hands me a new drink that tastes like vodka and whatever juice was left when I sip it. It’s not good, but it’s not bad.

“Let me see.” He leans on the counter next to me. I angle my phone towards him, and we go through both our favourites before he plucks my phone out of my hands and types away before holding it back out to me. “There, photos on the way to my phone for the poll.” He smirks at me.

“Thanks,” I say, taking it from his hands and looking around the empty kitchen, feeling a different kind of buzz from Grant’s proximity. “So, what do you normally do at these parties?” I’m mentally hitting my head against a wall. Why did I just ask him that?

“I’m not normally hanging around in the kitchen.” He chuckles, pushing his hands through his hair and movingaround to face me, leaning back against the island.

“Dancing?” I ask, smiling at him, putting my hands on the counter and leaning forward slightly. “Bet you would have a lot of girls wanting to dance with you.”

“I don’t know what you’re insinuating, Brooke.” He smirks, crossing his arms. I can’t help but notice his muscles strain against his shirt with the movement. “Maybe I just come to parties to hang with the guys?”

“Suuure, you don’t come and make moves on, girls?”I wink at him and put air quotes around the word moves, taking a sip of my drink.

“I’ll have you know. My moves are smooth,” He narrows his eyes at me playfully.

“Okay, hit me,” I laugh, adjusting myself on the counter. “Show me a move.”

“Okay, well, when I sent those photos to my phone, if I didn’t already have your number, that’s a move I’ve used.” He rubs the back of his neck with his hand self-consciously.

“That was a move? That’s kind of sneaky.” I stare at him with my mouth open. “And easy. I would have thought you would want to work harder to earn it.”

“You want me to?” He lowers his voice looking at me, and I feel a rush of excitement, something about this guy just draws me in and I know we live opposite each other and he’s quickly becoming one of my close friends so I shouldn’t even think about going there but, hey, a little flirting can’t hurt.

“Sure, show me the Anders’ moves.” I shrug one shoulder, trying to keep my breathing steady and leaning back on the counter with my hands.

“I normally start by getting them a drink.” He nods to the drink in my hand, and I look down, narrowing my eyes, that his moves had already started, and I hadn’t noticed.

“Okay, you get them a drink, you get their number, what’s next?” I lick my lips nervously, unsure of where we are heading and if we are on the same page.

“Now, I would get a little closer.” He pushes off the island and puts his hands on either side of me, caging me in, and my breath hitches; he slowly slides his hands closer to my thighs, and I open my legs up for him to stand between my legs.

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