Page 60 of Just a Little White Lie

She faces me with a grin, mouthing the lyrics and boogieing in her seat.

There she goes, being all cute and adorable again. All irresistible.

I fight my laughter, wiping the edge of my lips to try and control myself, but then she goes and hams it up, jumping out of her chair and putting on a little show.

My eyes drink her in, each movement calling to me. She’s a freaking siren, and it’s impossible to hide my desire.

Her steps falter, and she stutters to a stop, straightening her shirt and moving back to the safety of her laptop. “Or not. Any other ideas?”

I clear my throat, feeling like an idiot. She doesn’t want me looking at her that way.

Pull it together, man!

Grabbing the phone out of my pocket, I open Spotify and skim through a couple playlists. She pauses her music, and I click on a song that might work.

“A little Usher and Pitbull.” I nod to the beat, then start showing her a simple two-step.

She jumps up and copies me, pulling off the moves with more class than I expected.

“That’s good.” I grin, dipping my knees and moving my hips to show her the next part.

She studies me, then is just starting to copy what I’ve done when the studio door bangs open and a tall kid with a bad attitude walks in. He was the one who frowned at me before, and I instantly don’t like him.

“Lame!” he shouts, giving us a definitive thumbs-down.

And I don’t like him for good reason.

I frown, and as tempted as I am to turn up the music, I pause it. “You think you can do better?”

He scoffs. “Hells yeah, Bigfoot.”

Lauren snorts and quickly slaps a hand over her mouth.

I shoot her a sharp scowl. I can’t help it. This is one mouthy kid.

But she’s fighting a grin for reasons I can’t even fathom.

Shaking her head, she mutters out the side of her mouth, “Come on, Jack. You don’t like nicknames?”

Her wink tells me I’m simply getting a taste of my own medicine, and I have zero comeback. Much to my annoyance.

With a short sigh, I look at the tall teenager. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Mav.”

“Okay, Mav.” I shrug, trying to be the bigger person here. “What’s so lame about Usher?”

“He’s old-school. We don’t want to be no dinosaurs.”

“This isn’tJurassic World, bro!” A kid with a cheeky smile bounces around behind Maverick, trying to be tough… behind the barrier his friend is creating.

Lauren is grinning so wide her face is basically all smile… until Mav points at her. “And we don’t want to be no Hoofers either.”

Now it’s my turn to smirk. “Told you.”

She makes a face at me while the rest of the crew saunters in. A couple of the girls check me out like I’m candy, which is kind of awkward. I’m how many years older than them?

I glance away, pretending not to notice, but can’t help a sizzle of panic when they put their heads together and start tittering.

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