Page 26 of Leave Before I Love You
Carly comes back with the tab for a signature, so I take it and scribble my name across it before signaling to Mav and Ron that I’m going to hit the dance floor for a few minutes before we drop out.
They both wave me off, occupied with their girls or whatever, so I go on my own, navigating the writhing bodies on the floor with relative ease until I make it to the center. Avery still dances with the football players and her friends, and I find a redhead looking for a partner several feet away.
This woman has rhythm and a banging body, and we fall into an easy cadence with each other. I like the way she moves her hips, and I tell her so as I settle my chin into her neck from behind. Her head drapes back, her hair cascading down my chest, and her eyes fall closed as she shakes against me.
From this angle, I have a view of Avery, who’s no longer dancing with the football players but moving seductively by herself, her eyes focused solely on me.
It’d be easy to overthink it a million ways, but I don’t.
“Thanks for the dance,” I tell the redhead, stepping around her and heading straight for Avery ten feet away.
“Couldn’t resist me?” Avery taunts the second I reach her, her lips curving as I grab her hips and pull her into me, making us sway together.
I laugh, conceding, “I guess not.”
She grins like she just won something. “Get ready then, Henny,” she says, leaning in so close I catch the seductive floral scent of her perfume. “You’ve never been danced with like this.”
I chuckle. “Oh yeah? That right?”
She nods, backing up just enough to drag a single finger down the center of my chest, her nails grazing my skin through my shirt. Then, she moves.
Slow. Controlled.Dangerous.
She shakes her hips and bends slightly at the waist, and her eyes are coy as they look up at me through her lashes. It’s ridiculously fucking sexy, and admittedly, I’m starting to think she’s right about never experiencing this before.
And all I can see is miles upon miles of her gorgeous, perfect skin as the slinky gold dress she’s wearing effectively disappears.
Her hands find their way into her hair, and she stands upright and winks, turning her back to me as she rolls her body in time with mine. She turns back toward me and presses her perfect curves against my body like it’s the most natural thing in the world. And fuck, maybe it is, because I find myself pulling her in tighter, digging my fingers into her waist as we move in perfect tempo.
And then, she just looks at me.
No smirks, no games, no taunts—just Avery.
She holds my gaze for a long moment before putting a hand to my face and pulling it to her own, our lips clashing in an unexpected, tongue-filled kiss.
I feel it fuckingeverywhere. Hell, my whole damn body comes alive, and my heart pounds hard in my chest as she pulls back like nothing happened and goes back to doing her sexy little dance.
The fuck was that?
Thoughts race through my head about kissing my best friend’s little sister and all the implications of that, and when she finally turns to face me again, I bring it up.
“Avery, you just kissed me.”
She laughs and shrugs. “So?”
“So, you’re Beau’s little sister.”
She smiles demurely, getting in my face and putting her lips almost to mine again. The song pounds around us, and I hold my breath, waiting to see what’ll happen.
“Don’t worry about it, Henny. I kiss everybody.”
Evidently feeling the need to prove her point, she spins around and grabs the first football player she sees and pulls him in for a kiss.
My jaw clenches. My body tenses. And the cruel scene mocks my careless dance with potential feelings.
I take it as my cue to leave.
Because in Avery’s world, it’s hard to believe there’ll ever be just one man.
