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He shrugs. I turn toward him, curious, head cocked slightly. “That’s what we call the tennis tour,” he says. “You’re performing, always on. It’s exhausting, takes up all your time.”
“Do you like it?”
He grins. “I love it.”
Of all the guys in the house, Ryan has been the most reserved so far. I look deep into his light green eyes, and I’m reminded why he was one of the first guys I found attractive. He’s tan from spending hours in the sun every day training, and his body is tight and athletic. He’s tall, nearly towering over me.
I turn back to the bookshelf and go to grab one of the books at random at the same moment that he reaches out. Our hands touch and I laugh a little bit, pulling back.
“Sorry,” I say.
“No, you go ahead.”
I pull out some novel I’ve never heard of. “Maybe I’ll take this down to the beach tomorrow.”
He looks at the book I’m holding and laughs. “Oh yeah, you strike me as a fan of the Broads With Broadswords kind of gal.”
I grin at him, holding up the cheesy cover. It’s half-naked women in extremely ineffective-looking armor holding up a huge sword. “How does this even work?” I ask him. “I mean, why bother wearing a metal bikini?”
“Who knows,” he says. “That never made any sense to me.”
I laugh and slide the book back into the shelf. I look up at him again and he smirks at me, reaching out to take my hand. I let him pull me against him, not really thinking about anything. The party is suddenly so far away, and he’s the only person around.
“I’m going to be honest,” he says softly. “Bringing you up here was just an excuse.”
“An excuse for what?”
“For this.” He leans forward and kisses me softly.
I kiss him back, giving myself into whatever this crazy thing is. It feels good, and I’m awash in desire as soon as his lips touch mine. He slowly pulls back after a moment.
“Come on,” he says. “Let’s go back.”
“Uh, yeah, okay, sure.” I blink, surprised as hell. He keeps holding my hand as we head back through the hidden hallway.
Once we’re halfway back down the steps, he turns to me and kisses me again. I let him, wanting more, wishing we’d stay back in that room. But I know I probably shouldn’t.
He breaks it off again and we head back into the party. He says something about getting me a drink and heads off to the bar.
I stumble back through the crowd, feeling crazy. I don’t know why I’m kissing all of these guys like this. As I turn the corner, I nearly collide directly with Carter.
“Oh, sorry,” I say.
“Hey, there.” He grins at me. He’s wearing these black rimmed glasses that make him look incredibly distinguished. “Fancy running into you.”
“Literally,” I say, laughing nervously.
“Come here, I want to show you something.”
I think about arguing, since Ryan’s going to be looking for me, but he’s already pulling me along behind him. We head out to the front of the house, and I hurry to keep up as we walk down the long driveway.
“Okay, here,” he says, stopping and turning to me. “Look right up there. What do you see?”
“Stars,” I say, following his fingers.
“That’s right, but what kind of stars?”
I shrug. “I don’t know.”
