I started for the kitchen, calling back over my shoulder, “Nothin’, Al. I’m empty.” I shook my can in the air as proof. “You want one?”
“No, I...I’m fine, Colt.” The disappointment in her voice pierced my chest, but I had to get away for a few minutes to clear my head. I stood in the open fridge and downed half a beer before looking up to find Blex standing in the doorway.
“You need to figure this shit out, man,” he warned, walking over to grab another beer for himself. “You can’t keep sending her all these mixed signals.” He locked eyes with mine on his way back out to the living room. “Shit or get off the fucking pot, Fowls.”
I finished off that beer and grabbed one more before making my way back out there. Alex sat slumped over on the armchair with her head in her hands. Her earlier excitement had been washed away with my inability to give her a simple compliment. I was such a dick.
“Hey, Allie,” I said, crouching before her. At the sound of my voice, she looked up. Her brown eyes wet with unshed tears. “You look really, really nice.”
She nodded in agreement, but I could tell she didn’t believe me.
Pulling her head to my shoulder, I eyed my roommates over her back as I began to massage the nape of Alex’s neck. I motioned to the stairs, and they followed my cue, leaving us alone in the living room.
Allie’s breath was warm on my skin, and she smelled so fucking good. I wished I could just sit there and hold her forever, but dickhead would be arriving soon and I couldn’t let her leave like this. “Hey,” I husked into her hair.
She sat up, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.
“I’m sorry, Al. I’m the world’s biggest asshole. You look amazing, and I guess...Well, it just sort of shocked me...how beautiful you are.” Someone fucking shoot me and put me out of my misery.
Her lips began to tremble as she searched my face, trying to decide whether or not to believe me.
“It’s hard for me to see you with guys,” I continued, revealing how truly pathetic I was. “You mean a lot to me.”
She nodded. “You mean a lot to me too, Colt—”
Just then the doorbell rang. Of course it did.
Alex stood, adjusting her dress. “Will you get it?”
“Yeah,” I rasped, pushing up from the floor. My lips pressed into a line as I gave her a final once-over before answering the door.
ALEXIS
MY HEART RACED AS Colton’s eyes licked every inch of my body and liquid heat began to pool between my legs. I squeezed them together, trying to calm the swarm of butterflies that had suddenly taken up residence in my vagina.
As Colt pulled the door open to Stephan’s gorgeous face, I forced what I hoped to be a genuine-looking smile...Suddenly, this date was feeling like a really bad idea. What was I doing?
“Alexis,” Stephan purred in appreciation as he too undressed me with his eyes. The fluttering vanished. Those fucking butterflies had always been loyal to that clueless son of a bitch who was all but glaring at my date, and apparently, they’d decided it’d be a great idea to migrate south for the summer.
“Stephan,” I squeaked, trying to get a grip on myself. “You look nice.” And he did. He had on a pair of charcoal gray Dickies that hugged his ass to perfection with a red washed out button down cuffed at his elbows. His hair was spiked up in a messy, styled but not too put together look. Sex hair. He had sex hair!
“Thanks,” he said, stepping inside when it was made evident that Colton was not going to extend the invitation. “You are stunning, Alexis.”
I could feel my best friend’s eyes rolling without even looking at him. Who said things like stunning anymore? “Thanks.” I grabbed my purse from the coat rack next to the door, and before walking out, turned to press a kiss to Colton’s cheek. “I’ll see you later. Love ya.”
He sounded like he had a ten-pound bolder sitting in the back of his throat when he answered. “Have fun, Allie. I love you too.”
“I hope you like to dance,” Stephan said with a huge smile as he pulled up to a swanky little place called Bailando.
“I love to dance!” I answered excitedly. He couldn’t have chosen a better place to get me out of the doldrums. The thought of tearing up that dance floor had me bouncing where I sat.
Stephan opened my door and helped me out of the car. Such a gentleman. It was easier to appreciate him without my body going haywire over he who shall not be named or even a thought for the remainder of the evening.
“Reservation for two, under Stephan Young,” he announced when we approached the podium in the very festive foyer. The walls were lined with photos of various celebrities dancing or posing for photos at the bar. There were lights strung around the entryway and a huge pink neon sign that said, “Salsa.” It was bordering on tacky, but somehow it all worked together with the atmosphere.
“Marie here will be your waitress, enjoy.” She was short and curvy with big curly hair and wore the same black pencil skirt and white button down as the rest of the staff. Her smile was warm and welcoming. Marie grabbed a couple of menus from the side of the podium and led the way to our table.
Stephan pulled out my chair before taking the one across from me.
“What can I get the two of you to drink?”
The margaritas looked fantastic, but being that neither Stephan nor myself were twenty-one, I went with a strawberry lemonade and him with a water.
“Chips and salsa?” she asked, shimmying on the word salsa and waggling her brows animatedly.
“Yes, please,” Stephan answered.
“Great. I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
As I watched her walk off, I found myself distracted by the couples dancing around us. There was a permanent smile fixed on my face as I watched men and women alike swinging their hips with so much confidence. I’d never been in a real salsa club before. The atmosphere was unlike any place I’d ever seen. So fun and sexy. I couldn’t find a single face that wasn’t just exuberant.
“This okay?” Stephan asked, looking around the restaurant and back at me.
My answering smile visibly set him at ease. “It’s amazing. Do you know how to dance like that?” Please say yes. Please say yes. I wanted to be touched the way the men were touching those women. And I really wanted to see Stephan move the way they moved.
Stephan bit into his bottom lip as a shy, almost embarrassed smile appeared on his face. “Yeah...My mother owns a dance studio...She, uh, made me take classes.” He turned bright red as he playfully lifted both hands to cover his face, peeking at me through the cracks in his fingers.
Thank you, God. “That could be the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Stephan and I both ordered beef fajitas. I made it a point not to overeat. One, I didn’t want to look like a heifer, and two, I didn’t want to puke when we finally made it onto the dance floor.