Page 31 of It Runs in the Family

My body pressed against his and a wave of heat washed through me, pooling between my legs. I took a second to decide whether or not that was a good thing.

Bad. Definitely bad.

“Let me escort you to the bathroom,” he murmured in my ear.

I stared up at him. He was sexy, and I hadn’t been this physically attracted to a man in, well … ever. Maybe I should just go for it and live a little instead of being so careful, because look where being careful had gotten me—unemployed and possibly dead in a matter of days or weeks.

All the more reason to sleep with him.

His gaze pierced mine. The teasing look in his eyes was gone, replaced with unadulterated lust. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m gonna kiss you,” he said, barely audible above the music.

“So what are you waiting for?” I asked, all the alcohol in my system making me feel brazen.

He slowly lifted his hand to my cheek, then slid his hand to the nape of my neck, his fingers twining in my hair. “You’re drunk,” he said, softly, looking conflicted.

I knew he was probably giving me a chance to back down, but it only made me want to kiss him more.

I decided it was my night to be bold.

Reaching up on my tiptoes, I pressed my lips to his as I lifted my hand to his face. My tongue ran along the seam of his mouth, and for a moment, he was frozen.

Maybe he was a one of those guys who liked to make the first move.

Disappointment washed through me, quickly followed by anger. I was unapologetically me, and if he didn’t like it, fuck him.

But just as I was about to pull away, his fingers tightened in my hair, and he took over.

I gasped as a white-hot electric heat washed through me. Heck, I forgot where I was as I kissed him like we had five seconds to live.

It felt like the kiss had just begun when he pulled away, his chest heaving as he stared at me in amazement, then with something I couldn’t decipher. It took him a second before he said, “You still need to go to the bathroom.” Then he released me and put his hand on my lower back, ushering me toward the restrooms.

We pushed through the crowd, and he grabbed my elbow a couple of times to keep me upright, but once we were a few feet away from the restrooms, I walked in without looking back at him.

There was a line for the stalls, and I leaned against the wall to hold myself upright.

What was I doing? I didn’t get shit-faced drunk, and I didn’t make out with men I’d just met. Then again, if I was about to be murdered, maybe it was time for me to stop being so responsible. Where had it gotten me, anyway?

It took a good five minutes before I made it into a stall. I checked out my reflection in the mirror as I washed my hands. My hair looked a little wild and my cheeks were flushed, but there was a sparkle in my eyes I hadn’t seen in a long time.

I headed out of the bathroom, wondering if Boone would be waiting. I didn’t see him, but there were a lot of people hanging out in front of the entrance to the restrooms. I started toward the direction of our table when someone grabbed my arm from behind and pulled me to a halt.

“Hey, there, little cousin.”

My blood turned cold. Billy. Tall and bulky, he loomed over me, filling the space with the same brute confidence he’d had since the day I’d met him.

He spoke in a familiar slur that clued me in that he was drunk, not an uncommon occurrence, but as far I knew, he didn’t usually come to T-Birds. I hadn’t seen him here in years. Then again, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been here.

Billy had been unofficially excommunicated from the family about a year ago, after he was arrested for theft and hitting his girlfriend. But a couple of months ago, his mother had announced at a Sunday dinner that he’d found Jesus and was a new man. The family had welcomed him back in the next week, and he had seemed calmer and more polite, but I still didn’t trust him. His new manners felt like an act, and I could sense his simmering anger under the surface. I thought it was telling that his sister Trinity, who had more holiness than all of us put together, wanted nothing to do with him. But the people who had a say in whether he was part of the family had blown off my concerns.

Now, with the way he was looking at me, I knew I’d gotten it right.

I jerked my arm from his grip and nearly lost my balance, but as I started to turn away, he grabbed me again.

“Is that any way to treat your favorite cousin?” he asked with a dark laugh, his pale blue eyes boring into me.

I tried to jerk my arm free, but he was prepared for me this time and held firm, his fingers pinching my skin, making it clear that his intention was to hurt me. I wasn’t surprised. Billy was a mean drunk.

“Let go of me, Billy,” I said through gritted teeth.