Page 58 of Finally Loved

He laughed. “Yeah, it’s still pretty new, but she’s been tormenting us relentlessly about it for years, so we’re just waiting to see when she finally figures it out.”

Neve’s forehead crumpled, her mouth opening repeatedly with no words escaping.

Francisco edged closer to her, clearly amused. “Don’t worry, we’ll tell her soon if she doesn’t figure it out.” He gave her a knowing look. “Or you will.”

“I won’t if you don’t want me to.”

“Oh, I don’t care. I wouldn’t have told you if I did. If I tell one person in a couple something, I assume they’re telling their partner, you know? Pillow talk rules and all that.”

“We’re really not a couple,” Neve insisted, whilst also realizing she assumed a similar logic in her own life.

“Okay,” he replied, but, from his tone, he might as well have said theyetout loud. “And just in case that’s because you’re doing the wholeshe could never like mething. You should know you’re totally her type.”

“Oh.” Neve couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. She shouldn’t want Alba to want her—she couldn’t give her the thing she’d be wanting. But she also couldn’t deny that it was a little flattering to think Alba—beautiful, tall, wonderful Alba—might think she was pretty.

Francisco laughed again. “Do yourself a favor and just watch how touchy she is with you versus everyone else.”

Neve frowned and glanced in Alba’s direction. She literally had her hand on someone’s shoulder as she chatted with them. Neve really didn’t think Francisco’s theory had any weight to it.

Chapter 18

The song switched, a familiar, driving bass kicking in behind the DJ announcing that it was the final song of the night. Alba’s eyes lit up, catching Zainab’s as they both whooped excitedly. She’d danced on and off throughout the night, but she absolutely had to dance to this one. Plus, it was the end of the night and Zainab’s birthday. It needed to go off with a bang.

Zainab’s hands whipped into the air and she pointed towards the dance floor, rallying the eager group, minus Francisco and Tariq, who simply slipped back into their own little bubble at the table.

Alba laughed and slipped her hand into Neve’s. “Come dance?”

Neve looked up at her, eyes wide, and nodded. It really was unfair of her to look at Alba like that. She was already pretty enough without the puppy dog expression.

“Great.” Alba led her after the others quickly, refusing to let go of her hand.

Deep down, she knew she should have let go, knew she shouldn’t have been enjoying just getting to be the one holding Neve’s hand, or the number of people who had not-so-subtly asked if the two of them were together, but she couldn’t help it. Maybe she was a little bit tipsy and that was a good excuse for her actions. She hoped nobody would scrutinize that too closely.

She suddenly had a better understanding of the shy, happy looks Francisco and Tariq had always gotten in their eyes when she’d asked whether they were together. Given the amount she’d noticed them touching lately, she wondered whether they’d finally made it official, and, if they had, she wasn’t sure anyone would believe any excuse other than the fact that she was falling hard and fast for Neve.

They probably weren’t buying her excuses either way.

The two of them joined the rest of their group, but she kept Neve close, still holding her hand. Nothing Neve did suggested she wanted Alba to let go of her either, which soothed Alba’s guilt and kept her holding on. There was a significant blush across Neve’s cheeks, but Alba simply chalked that up to the crowded dance floor, which did feel several degrees warmer than the area they’d just left.

Bass pounded in Alba’s chest, her body moved to the music, her voice sang the lyrics, and the people around her crowded in on them until she and Neve were pressed up against each other. There were a couple of other people partly pressed into her too, but she wasn’t bothered about them.

Keeping their hands linked together, she wrapped her arm around Neve, and the back of her hand pressed into the small of Neve’s back. It was intimate. Too intimate for the location, probably. Too intimate for someone she was just friends with. Too intimate for her heart to ignore the way it made her feel.It was going to hurt like hell later, but, in the moment, it felt perfect.

Neve, blushing so furiously it was visible even in the dim light, smiled up at her before looking quickly away.

Alba’s heart clenched and her brain begged her to figure out what that look meant. In any other situation, she’d have interpreted it as flirtatious. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t been hit on while dancing before. But this was Neve. Her friend.

But Alba had a lot of friends and she didn’t dance like this with any of them.

She tried to shake it off, singing along with the others, with everyone on the dance floor, even as all she could really focus on was all the places her body touched Neve’s—especially when Neve adjusted her grasp slightly so that their fingers were half intertwined.

Alba was certain she was going to explode.

The song was speeding towards its conclusion, but Alba didn’t want it to end. She could happily stay there forever, dancing with her friends, and holding Neve for the rest of time.

Still moving with her, Neve looked back up. Her eyes were full of questions Alba didn’t know how to answer, but she met Neve’s gaze with a smile.

It felt like the rest of the world faded away. Part of her brain could still hear the music, could still feel the people moving around her, but all that really seemed to exist was Neve.

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