Page 51 of Just Friends

“Hi,” I whisper back.

His eyes search my face, reading me the way you do the back of a book in a bookshop, like you’re wanting to get the gist of the thing as fast as possible. He looks like he found one worth taking home in a crinkling plastic bag when his lips turn up at the corners. I don’t know what he saw in my expression, but I’m glad he’s back, smiling at me the way I think he reserves just for me, the tension between us dissipating like dew in the summer sun.

It makes my heart rate return to normal and my breath come out more evenly. It puts me at ease, the way only he can.

“Ready to dance?” I ask, spinning on a booted heel so my fringe skirt swishes around my thighs.

Alex’s eyes track the movement, his smile hitching higher. “Born ready.”

There’s a bubbling sensation in my chest, like fizzy white wine. “Well, I hear you have natural rhythm.”

He glances at me, eyes wide. “My Zumba instructor actually told me that once.”

I press my lips together to keep from laughing. “You don’t say.”

Twangy country music filters through the glass doors before we open them. A blast of cool air brushes against my skin, lifting goose bumps in its wake.

Rayne stands in the foyer, her olive skin covered in intricate tattoos that instantly make me want to book another appointment. She smiles when she sees us, and that smile cracks something inside me, that bit of tension that’s slid between my ribs. Alex deserves someone kind and lovely and beautiful, someone who can love him without reservation, and Rayne seems like just that kind of person.

“Rayne,” I say, a genuine smile lighting across my face. I wrap my arms around her in a quick hug before stepping back. Alex is right behind me, a solid presence at my back, and I have to step around him, my face warming.

“This is Alex,” I say. “Alex, this is Rayne.”

There’s a twinge in my stomach when they shake hands, but I shove it down and flick my eyes away from the touch.

“Nice to meet you,” Alex says. His voice is smooth and deep in a way that he never talks to me. This is his date voice, not the teasing lilt he uses when he’s flirting or the gruff tone of his morning voice. No, this holds sensual promise, and I wish I wasn’t here to hear it.

A grin splits across Rayne’s face, and her body becomes boneless as she sinks into his orbit. “Nice to meet you too.”

“Hazel says you’re an artist.”

My skin pulls tight, and when my jaw screams in protest, I realize I must have been clenching it. I take a step back, my boots clicking loudly on the laminate floors. “I’m going to find a bathroom,” I blurt, my voice a little louder than necessary.

Alex flashes me a concerned look, but Rayne doesn’t seem to notice.

“Cramps,” I tell him, and his eyes narrow suspiciously.

Without sparing him another glance, I swivel and disappear down a hallway I’m hoping leads to a bathroom. I need to splash my face with cold water and give myself a pep talk in the mirror.

The bathroom is cold, raising goose bumps on my overheated flesh, and I sag against the door. I need to get it together. Whatever confusing things I’m feeling for Alexhave to stop. I won’t even entertain the thought.

I wet a scratchy brown paper towel and use it to cool off my neck before returning to the lobby. There’s another man in our group, standing a few inches taller than Alex. He’s, well,gorgeous.Honestly, I have no other words to describe him. His dark, fathomless eyes catch on me and seem to sparkle like they’re lit from within. His jaw is a firm, cut line, his nose long and straight. His skin is a deep, rich brown and stretched over miles and miles of taut muscle. His charcoal gray shirtsleeves are straining against the bulk of his biceps, looking like they could rip at the seams at any moment, and his long, long legs are clad in jeans that look perfectly tailored but I bet come right off the rack. His body is the unreal standard that clothing brands design their clothes around.

And he’s smiling. Right at me.

Alex turns as the stranger’s eyes focus on me, and when I finally look at him, there’s a furrow between his brow, a flicker in his jaw.

“Hazel, this is Parker,” Alex says, but his tone sounds flat. “Parker, Hazel.”

Parker doesn’t offer his hand, but instead wraps a single arm around my shoulders, giving me the kind of warm, quick hug that you share between friends. When I glance at Alex, his jaw is clamped so tightly I’m afraid he might break a molar.

I squint at him in confusion, but his eyes dart away, focused on the doors to the studio that are now opening.

“Class is starting,” Alex grunts before stalking forward, his long legs eating up the distance before the rest of us have even started moving. I flash Rayne an apologetic look, although I don’t know whyIfeel responsible for Alex’s behavior. He’sherdate, and I’m here with…

I glance back at Parker, and that dazzling pearlescent smile is still in place. That smile sucks me in like a vortex, stealing my full attention.

“Ready?” he asks, and his low, smooth voice evokes the same feelings as being wrapped in a blanket by a rotating fire, hot cocoa warming your hands.

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