Page 111 of Pack Rivals, Part One

"My prom? Why'd you ask me that?"

"You said you didn't like parties like the one tonight."

"True, but I still went to my prom."

He squeezes me tighter. "Tell me about your prom dress."

I laugh. "It wasn't anything like this one. My mom would never have let me wear a dress like this!"

"Sensible."

I cock my head. "Why?"

"Every dickhead is trying to lose his v-card on prom night. You wearing a dress like this …" He peers down at me and whistles. "Did you," he leans closer, "did you lose your v-card on prom night, little bird?"

"Is this your way of trying to discover if I'm a virgin, because I'm 26 and there's an ex-boyfriend, remember?"

"You did, didn't you? With him?" His eyes glide over my face. "Was it good?"

"It was …" I chew my lip, thinking back. We'd only been together a few months. I was still so dazzled he wanted to be with me, amazed it was me he wanted to take to prom, that I couldn't have refused him that night, even if I'd wanted to. "Okay. Special in a way but–"

"Awkward."

Yep, awkward. I'm not sure it ever got any better – for me, anyway.

I nod, then pinch his neck. "How about you? How did you lose yours? Was it at prom?"

"Nah, I never went to prom." He grins. "It was with an older woman. I met her at a bar."

"Was it good?"

He shakes his head. "No, awkward. I didn't know what the hell I was doing." He leans in and licks his tongue around the lobe of my ear. "I've learned a lot since then."

I shiver, thinking of all the wicked things I bet that tongue could do.

"You want to know one of the things I learned?"

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea–"

He scoops me up into his arms and wades through the pool, climbing the steps and lowering me back on dry land. "You want to be good at sex, you've got to be able to dance."

"What?" I giggle. "That is not a thing."

"Is." He positions one of my arms on his shoulders and takes my other hand in his. "Do you know how to dance? Properly?"

"No. Do you?"

"Yeah." He knocks his knee against mine, nudging my leg backward, then takes a step to the side. He goes slowly, encouraging me to follow his lead.

"How did you learn this?" I ask with suspicion. "Was it that older woman?"

"It wasanolder woman." He spins me around slowly, then draws me back into his body. "It was Axel's mom."

"Oh my god," I gasp, my feet halting.

He chuckles, nudging me to move again. "It wasn't like that. She taught us all to dance. Said we needed to know how. Turns out she was right."

I remember what Axel told me earlier about his mom, how she'd taken Nate in.

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