Page 34 of Pressure Point

“This isn’t about trying to get the girl. She’s into someone else.”

“It’s always about trying to get the girl,” Link said, a knowing look in his eye. “Now, just follow my lead.”

Link hit play on his phone again, the familiar song filling the room. It had been a favorite of his mother’s at the time it was on the radio. Liam could still see her dancing around their small kitchen, singing along as she made dinner. It’d been years since Liam had heard it, but still everything about it came flooding back to him. The lyrics, the beat, the melody—it was as if he listened to it every day. Warmth spread over him as he let the memories pull him in, while still trying to focus on what Link was doing.

“First things first, find the beat. Every time you hear that drum, move. Tap your foot, wiggle your hip, move your shoulder, any of that works. Just move in time with it.”

Liam did as he was told, shrugging his shoulder up and down with every thump in the song.

“Now add in something else. If your shoulder moves with the beat, move your hip on the off moment. Think about it like this—you’re in the box, watching a player come at you with the ball. What do you do? You rock back and forth trying to figure out which side he’s going to shoot it on, right?”

“Aye.”

“Do that now. When you hear that drum, he’s going to the right, then left, then right…”

Liam moved just as he was told, still feeling absurd as he did so. There was no way this was sexy and attractive. No way that Avery would look at him doing this and want to be associated with him, much less flat-out want him. As much as he claimed this wasn’t about trying to get the girl, he couldn’t deny that deep down he still wished for that to happen.

They spent the next hour working on getting Liam to be able to move with the beat, adding in different parts of him, and making them all work together. He was starting to feel pretty confident, like maybe he could actually do this. He’d never look quite as impressive as Link had when he’d walked in, but he wouldn’t totally embarrass himself either.

“I think I might be able to pull this off,” Liam commented, grabbing a bottle of water from next to the speaker.

“Now we just have to add in Avery.”

Liam froze, bottle halfway to his mouth. Did he just say that we needed to add in Avery? She wasn’t here, was she? Oh shit. This was supposed to be a secret. He didn’t want her knowing that he was doing this, that he was learning how to dance just for her. Avery knowing that would change everything. He'd go from helpful friend to pitiful loser. She may not be interested in him as a boyfriend, but he didn’t want her to also lose interest in him as a friend.

“Pardon?”

“That is her name, right? Avery?”

“Aye. But she’s not…”

“No, no,” Link laughed. “She’s not here. I just meant adding in dancing with a partner.”

Oh, thank God…

“So, for the purposes of this, I’ll be her. If you’re facing each other, place your hand on her lower back, like this.” Link took Liam’s hand, circling it around his body and placing it on his back. It felt more than a little awkward to be touching another man like this, but if it meant figuring out how to get Avery back into his arms, then awkwardness be damned. Link stepped in closer, so their bodies were all but touching. “Pull her in as close as you want, then just start swaying the way you were before.”

The music switched over to Niall Horan’s “Slow Hands,” and Link slowed down their movements to fit the new beat. The song was slower and a lot more sensual, exactly the kind of song he fantasized about dancing to with Avery. The change felt easy and natural with Link leading the way, and Liam just hoped that he could pull off the same thing with Avery. Just the idea of holding her close, feeling her soft curves up against him again sent a rush through him.

“Hey, did you already stock the—whoa!” Devlin Decker, Bunz’s head server, said, walking into the room. Liam instinctively stepped back from Link, trying not to look like he’d been caught doing something wrong. “Keep the extracurriculars at home, dude.”

“Ha, ha. I’m just teaching him some basic dance moves so he can impress his girl. Heather knows.”

“Suuuuure, Heather knows…”

“I know what?” Heather Atwell, the owner of Bunz, asked, poking her head in. “Oh, hi, Liam!”

Liam raised a hand in greeting, feeling a flush on his cheeks. Great, now everyone was going to know about his misadventures in wingman-ing. All he could do was hope this didn’t make it back to the rest of the team, or he would never, ever hear the end of it.

Glancing at his watch, he was surprised to find that it was later than he thought. He needed to get to the training center for practice. Gunnar knew where he was this morning, but he would still be all over his ass if he was late. Just because they were practically family didn’t mean that he got special treatment.

“I should actually head out. I have practice,” he told Link, hoping that it didn’t sound like an excuse.

“No problem. You were great, and you’re gonna knock her dead. If you want another lesson before your night out, just text me.”

“Will do,” he said, gathering his things and heading for the door.

“Oh, and Liam?” Link called, right as he was trying to squeeze past Devlin. “She’s lucky to have you. Even if she doesn’t realize it now, she will. And then it’ll be like that other guy never existed.”