Page 31 of Bang Buddies With Benefits
She shrugged a shoulder, and my gaze dipped to her cleavage for a fraction of a second before I remembered her earlier threat. After that display, I doubted I was the only guy not related to her here who was struggling with that.
“I don’t know any fancy, professional dance steps, but I’d love to take you for a spin on the dance floor.” Her dance partner was watching us too closely, hovering like he was planning on swooping in again, so I fired a smirk over her head at the guy. “Fast and flashy is fun in the moment, but I prefer to go slow and make it last.”
14
Catalina
My jaw fell open, and for the second time today, it took me longer than usual to find my words.
At least my arm worked, automatically lifting and sending the back of my hand into Zac’s firm pecs in more of abehavetapthan a smack. Still, it got his attention.
Once he turned his endless ocean eyes on me, I almost wished it hadn’t. It wasn’t exactly a newsflash that he was ripped, but all of a sudden it was all I could think about.
“Izaac.”There, I managed to say his name—his full name, at that. Only it came out more intimate than chiding and resulted in the dilating of his pupils and extra heart palpitations for me. His long fingers wrapped around my hip bone, the defiant tilt of his mouth asserting that he didn’t plan on letting go.
Crackling energy spiraled up my core, leaving me more breathless than the dancing had. What was up with my body today? Considering he and I’d slept together countless times and no two of them were alike, the jolt of curious attraction didn’t make sense.
“Catalina.” The deep timbre of his voice ignited heat low in my belly. Without taking his eyes off me, he said, “If you’ll excuse us…” He didn’t wait for Rafael’s answer, tugging me toward the center of the space.
Others swarmed the dance floor, the flurry of activity muted with Zac taking up every ounce of my awareness. “Risky move. What if it’s a fast song?”
Zac took hold of my right hand and lifted our arms in a square. He placed his other hand low on my back, drawing me tight to his body as he lowered his mouth to my ear. “Then, honey, we’ll be dancing it slow and plastered together anyway.”
Mere minutes ago, I would’ve claimed that would embarrass me, and I’d already experienced that plenty today. But between the passionate racking of his gaze and the solid, unyielding planes of his body, I was convinced.
Evidently, fortune truly did favor the bold, as the next song was a slow, sultry love song.
Anytime Rafael and I danced, I struggled not to fight for lead—why should it be an expressly male thing, particularly when I’d mastered the moves first? Zac’s long stride and solid grip demanded I follow in a way that made it feel like a luxury to let go. “Tell me you wore a red dress during that competition you won. I’d wager a hundred bucks on it, and I bet the judges about crawled over the table to declare you the winner.”
Butterflies zipped through my stomach, the fluttering coursing up, up, up to settle over my heart. I grazed my lips across the line of his jaw and was rewarded with a hard swallow—as long as he was equally as affected, it made it okay for me to be. “I’ll neither confirm nor deny.”
“That means yes. Politicians and lawyers, man. Never a straight answer.”
A laugh spilled free as he spun me out and twirled me back in. Not nearly as smoothly as Rafael, yet I anticipated the reuniting of our bodies more than I’d ever done with my former dance partner.
“So how long did the two of you date?”
I debated pleading the fifth again, but it wouldn’t come across as flirty this time, and what did the answer matter anyway? “During a summer in high school, but it got in the way of dancing, so we went back to friends. Then we tried again a couple of months after we won the competition. Turns out we fought even more off the dance floor than on it, and our chemistry was also much stronger there than I-R-L.” I’d been in love with someone else, too, but there was no way I’d crack the lid on that particular Pandora’s box and let Zac get a peek at the messy contents.
He simply nodded. He sure held my hand tighter, though, his fingers slipping through mine to reinforce his grip. “You and I rarely see eye to eye.”
More of a statement than a question. Now I was the one increasing my hold on him, not sure what he was getting at. “True. But our chemistry transfers everywhere,especiallythe bedroom. And it’s not like we’re trying to make more than our fake relationship work, which takes off the pressure.” Behind my temples, my pulse thrummed faster and faster. “But there was more to it if I’m being honest.”
Damn it. Why did I open my big mouth and let that spill free? Hadn’t I just decided not to do that very thing? All the memories were getting to me, that picture on my mother’s phone messing with my head. Years later, when Mateo showed up to be there for me during Papa’s funeral, he’d told me about the lecture my father had given him the week before my quinceañera. It wasn’t the last time he’d pulled Mateo aside to request he be a gentleman and take care of me with the respect I deserved, either.
A giant lump formed in my throat, and Zac’s voice seemed far away when he asked, “Are you going to expand?”
Thump,thump,thumpwent my heart, and if I dared go any further down that mental path, I’d burst into tears. “I’d rather not.” I held my breath, waiting to see if he’d get upset; if this would be the moment he decided he’d given me enough leeway and everything got muddled and ruined.
“Okay,” he said. Then he tucked my head beneath his chin, drawing lazy circles on my lower back with his thumb as we swayed, slower and slower, until we were hardly moving at all.
The tangled knot that’d overtaken my chest unraveled, and I released a shaky exhale. This was the best part about Zac, and the arrangement he and I had. It was easy. Simple. Get in, get off, get on with our very separate lives.
Except… As much as I didn’t want him to push, I wondered if he was curious. Shouldn’t he be? I would be if the shoe were on my foot. Not that I wanted him to pry, so why was I psyching myself out, getting all in my head when he was merely respecting my boundaries?
“Catalina,” he whispered, and strands of my hair caught on his whiskered chin as I pulled back to meet his gaze. “You haven’t seen all my moves, you know.”
Before I had the chance to come up with a reply, he snaked his arm around my waist and dipped me. Lower than he’d done in the office, and almost as low as when Rafael and I used to do the death drop move, back when I was young enough to consider myself invincible.
