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I drag my tongue across my bottom lip. “It’s not a good idea, Princess.”
“I’m not asking you to fuck me on the dance floor, Hollis. Just come dance for one song. Have a little fun. You know if it’s his agent, he’ll be a while. You always used to dance with us. It’s my favorite song. Pretty please.” She bats her lashes.
I’m so weak for her. “Just this song.”
She grabs my hand and pulls me out of my seat. It’s something she’s done in the past. But the innocence of it is gone, replaced with an awareness that didn’t exist before. We move through the pulse of hot bodies, sweat and perfume and cologne mixing, but I can still smell her shampoo. I put a protective hand on her waist as we weave through bodies. She pauses, fingers lapping mine as she looks around. Even with heels, she’s not quite tall enough to see over the heads of others.
I bend until my mouth is at her ear. “They’re about twenty feet to the right.”
She shifts until her back is flush with my chest. “Can they see us?”
“If they were looking this way, they could.” My heart is thundering in my chest. I should step back, but I don’t want to lose this connection, even though it’s a dangerous game we’re playing.
“But they’re not?”
“For the moment.”
She moves my hand to her hip, her ass pressed against my growing erection. My fingers grip her automatically. I can feel the heat of her through her dress.
“It’s too public a place, Princess. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not a good idea.” But fuck if I don’t want it to be. I want to kiss my way up the column of her throat. I want to take her home and peel her out of this dress and make her come again. I want to make her mine and never let her go. But Roman’s words dig at me. She would never date a player. I would never allow it.
“If you’d get out of your own way, it would be a perfectly excellent idea.” She releases my hand. I follow as she slips through narrow gaps and try to catch her wrist, but she’s just beyond my grasp.
When we reach the group, Aurora pulls Rix away from Tristan, and the two of them start dancing together. It’s borderline obscene. Which is the point.
Tristan stands beside me with his arms crossed. “I can’t decide if this is payback or foreplay.”
“Probably both. You two are good, though, yeah? And you and Flip are back to normal.”
He glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah, to all of the above. It’s easier now that me and Flip aren’t living in the same space. We’re both in therapy so that’s good. He and I aren’t all the way back to normal yet, but it’s better that I can’t see what he gets up to. Mostly it’s conflicting, you know?” He turns to me. “Actually, you probably don’t, since you and Roman haven’t done the kind of shit me and Flip have.” He sighs and rubs his bottom lip. “It’s a tough situation to navigate. Flip knows more about me and what I like than he should, and I know more about him than I should. But I love Bea more than anything, and he knows that, so the rest we try to either ignore or look past.”
“It’s good you’re working things out.”
“Yeah, it is. I was my own problem. Sometimes I still am.”
“We all are.” Isn’t that what Aurora meant when she said I should get out of my own way? Maybe she’s right.
I watch as Rix and Aurora sway to the music, laughing, Aurora’s hands on Rix’s shoulders and Rix’s on Aurora’s hips. What I wouldn’t give to trade places with Rix. I want to believe Roman would get over it the way Flip has, but I don’t know. In some ways, Rix ending up with Tristan is more fucked up, considering his history with Flip. Those two have seen sides of each other that complicate things. But Aurora is so young. What she wants now could change, should change with time and experience. I don’t want to complicate her relationship with Roman.
“Oh, fuck, dude.”
I look over at Tristan. He’s staring at me with something like understanding, empathy, and pity. The last time I saw this look on his face was when they carried me off the ice a few weeks ago. “What’s going on?”
“Now it all makes sense.”
“What makes sense?” Maybe he’s drunker than he looks.
“Don’t make the same mistake I did. I caused a lot more hurt than I needed to.”
Panic makes my throat tight. Back when Tristan and Rix were still hiding what was going on, Roman called him on it. I didn’t find out until after shit hit the fan that he already knew, but I hope this isn’t Tristan telling me he thinks he knows what’s going on with me and Aurora. I don’t even know what’s going on. Only that it’s become impossible to stay on the right side of the line. “What are you?—”
I startle when Roman’s hand lands on my shoulder. “Hey, man, do you have Peggy’s clutch? Is everything okay?”
I hold up the clutch, then point to Aurora and the girls. “Yeah, just keeping an eye on things.”
“Thanks for making sure she stays out of trouble.” Roman makes a constipated Kermit the Frog face when Aurora starts twerking in her princess dress. “I gotta head out. I’m meeting with my agent in the morning.”
“Is everything okay?”
