12 Days of Forever(33)

Yvie pulls me onto the dance floor, even though I told her that slow dancing was my forte. I’m a white boy with no rhythm and my date is a ballet dancer with a body that doesn’t stop. She’s going to get my ass kicked tonight, guaranteed. Heads turn and eyes follow as we weave through the dancing bodies. When we stop, she turns quickly and places my hands on her hips. I look around, checking to see what other guys are doing. They’re sort of bobbing up and down, and of course the band has all the moves to get the ladies’ attention.

Yvie doesn’t want me to dance though as she rubs her ass hard against my groin. I groan, thankful that the loud music drowns out my weakness, and grip her hips a bit tighter. She moves, letting the music dictate what her body is doing. Her hands slide up and down my legs as she gyrates against me. She swivels her hips repeatedly until I have no choice but to follow her motions. It’s an erotic display of affection with clothes on and I finally understand why guys do this. It gets you in the mood. Not that I need any help with that lately.

I’m afraid to let go for fear she’ll move away from me. I loosen my grip, giving her a bit more freedom to maneuver against me. I tear my eyes from her briefly to see others watching, and I’m not sure if I should be enjoying this or not. By the looks on the other guys’ faces, I should be. I’m starting to think each day with her is another fantasy come true, except this wasn’t a fantasy… until now.

Her head falls back onto my shoulder and I press my mouth against the base of her neck, quickly working my way up to her ear. “You’re making me hard.”

She chuckles, knowing damn well that she’s turning me on. Yvie continues what she’s doing until the song is over. When she starts to walk away, I grab her and pull her to me. There is no way I can let her leave me just yet, not without a cover.

We stagger, meaning I walk awkwardly behind her thinking about everything from playing basketball to weight lifting. Except neither of those is doing me any good because I can picture Yvie in a cheerleading outfit, kicking her leg high up in the air and the weight bench… well I’ll never look at another one of those the same again. Yvie somehow finds our friends and family over the mass of people. They look at us, some of them skeptical, and I avoid their gazes. I don’t want to hear questions that I don’t have answers for. Not tonight at least.

“You two look like you were having a good time out there,” Harrison says before lifting his half-filled glass to his lips, never breaking eye contact. I can’t tell if he’s being serious or what.

“I knew you were tapping that arse,” Jimmy laughs, earning a slap from Jenna. I shake my head and sit down, opposite Yvie.

“Where’s Liam?” I direct my question toward Josie, who is looking around. She finally shrugs.

“He’s working, I guess.”

I look at Harrison and Jimmy, who aren’t saying anything.

“So, are you guys a couple?” Katelyn asks, her voice full of happiness.

I open my mouth to answer, but Yvie beats me to it. “We’re just friends.”

Ouch. Even though I’ve said it myself many times in my head, hearing her say it out loud hurts a lot worse than I imagined.





As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I want to take them back. I don’t regret them because we’re not a couple, but I didn’t mean them the way it sounds. I’m somewhat thankful for the muted light drowning out what I’m sure are awkward looks in my direction. I can’t look at Xander because I’m afraid of what I might see. With the amount of time we’ve spent together I know more of his expressions. He’s either happy that I confirmed that we’re only friends, albeit with benefits at the moment, or he’s upset because he wants more. That’s the vibe I got from him when he picked me up at the airport. I ignored the feeling though because I don’t want to make everything awkward between us. I want to have fun and enjoy my self-imposed vacation. And as selfish as it sounds, I want to have fun with Xander. Adding unneeded pressure of what happens next will only dampen our time together. There has to be a time to discuss where each of us stands with what’s going on. For all I know he doesn’t want anything serious, and yes the obvious step is to ask, but I’m afraid of rejection. I also have to acknowledge that a part of me is hiding behind the fun we are having so that I don’t have to make a decision as to what we are right now.

The waitress stops at our table and takes our orders. I look around the bar and marvel at all the people here to celebrate Liam and Josie’s anniversary. I glance at Josie and have a bit of sympathy for her. Everyone is at the table except for Liam. Her eyes are focused on the beer bottle in front of her and she’s not paying attention to anything going on around her. I turn back to the crowd and look for Liam. There are hundreds of people here, and while they’re industry professionals, his wife should be by his side.