“OMG. I am legit, like, so sorry.” My eyes unwittingly glance back up toward the petite blonde teenager with breasts larger than her entire frame. “Like, totes. For real. So sorry.”
I glance back down at my dress and rock back on my heels. This dress was once one of my favorites. So pretty and made me feel even more so.
That’s why I wore it tonight.
“It’s fine.”
It’s not fine. I’m lying through my teeth. I’m not even sure what to do at this point. I look ridiculous. I should probably just go home.
“You’re like…Naomi Kent, right? I totally worshiped you in middle school and high school.”
I think I just vomited into my mouth. I look back up at this girl and force a smile. “Thank you. That’s very sweet of you to say, and it means the world to me.”
“Can we take a selfie? I’d love to post it.”
“I—” I blow out a breath. “Sure.”
She takes out her phone, makes fish-lips and snaps a pic. Okay then. I’m not even sure if I was in that at all. Probably better that way given the state I’m in. “Can I ask what it was like when Florian Heart dumped you like that at the Grammys? I mean, that had to hurt. I felt so bad for you. He’s really hot too. For an older guy.”
Right. Time to go. “Have a good night.” I push past her in the direction of the entrance when an arm wraps around my waist, spinning me around until I crash into a hard, strong chest.
“Fancy seeing you here,” Gus says with a playful lilt and a gleaming smile on his lips that makes his eyes sparkle. “Why does it look like you’re going instead of coming. And before you smack me, that was not meant to be as dirty as it sounded.”
I laugh despite myself and the night I’m having. I take a step back, pointing down at my dress. “It’s already been a long night for me.”
“Don’t let IG Barbie or a little wine knock you down, doll. You still look stunning. Dance with me?”
“Dance? I’m a mess.”
“Nah. Come on. Let’s start some gossip.”
I laugh at his smile, snaking my arms around his neck, and groaning as my torn-up dress rides up higher.
“I’m soaked, you know?”
“I can feel it. It’s also soaking me. How about we dance to this song, and then we go somewhere and dry off?”
I stare up into Gus’s pretty gray eyes. At the smile he has on his lips just for me. At the way he holds me so close and so tight and I feel…crazy, excited butterflies. Like lightning bugs. Like bolts of electricity zapping through my body and across my skin.
It’s his smile, I decide. His smile is just so…everything.
But his eyes are right up there too. And the way they look at me…
After we left the restaurant the other night, he walked me to my car, and we spent another twenty minutes or so talking beside it. Neither of us seemingly able to say goodnight. Instead, we laughed and couldn’t shut up. So different than anything we had going in the restaurant. This was not about the song or our heartbreak or even sex, but about regular stuff. Where we grew up and what that was like because our worlds were so different back then. It was easy and comfortable and nice.
I’ve tried not to think about him since. To only think about the song. About what I want with it and for it—if I even want to do it at all. What I want for myself. Where I want to go and how to push myself there.
But he was there, always lurking in the background of a quiet moment.
He crawled into my mind and planted himself there. It happened so damn quickly, so unexpectedly, and now I don’t know what to do with it.
“I didn’t expect to see you here, though I’m hardly surprised you are.”
“I’m here with a couple of my bandmates.”
I glance around the room, but honestly, I’m not even sure who I’m searching for. “Where? I’d love to meet them.”
“Not now, Naomi. They’re not here and you are. So, dance with me.” His face drops into the crook of my neck, holding me even closer as my fingers suddenly decide to play with the bristly ends of his cropped hair. He hums into my neck as I smile into his chest and wonder why am I dancing with Gus Diamond like this?
“Are you trying to seduce me into agreeing to your song with this dance?”
He laughs, the sound flirting with my skin like a lover.
“When you say yes to me, it will be because you can’t say no.”
“I bet that’s what you tell all the girls.”
“I never had to before. You’re the first to ever make me wait for it.” His face draws back, his eyes meeting mine in a heated stare that makes my blood smolder. “The first to ever make me work for it.”
“That explains the cocky grin on your face and the challenge in your eyes.”
His eyes ghost across my face, feature by feature. “No, it doesn’t.”
My face warms, and all I can do is tuck it back into him. I blow out a breath, wondering why the hell I’m doing this. We said this sort of thing couldn’t happen. No crossing lines. Professional only.
But right now, that’s more like a long-forgotten memory. Just a passing flicker of words that are gone just as quickly as they were spoken.
Gus’ hands are on my waist, tickling at me over my dress. Gooseflesh pebbles up and I like it. I like it a lot. His touch. His scent. The way he makes me smile and feel. The way he came to my rescue in a way. I’m soaking him with my destroyed dress, and he doesn’t care, and again, what am I doing?
I pull back and smile up into his eyes. God, those eyes. “I should go. I’m a mess and the cold wine against my skin is uncomfortable.”
“No. You should stay. If you leave, I’ll want to come with you, and I promised you I wouldn’t, so I can’t.”
I laugh. “I’m not sure that made a whole lot of sense.”
“It did. Trust me. Instead, how about we go find a quiet place to hang out.”
I stare down at my dress, uncomfortable in so many ways in it. “I’m going to find something of Ethan’s to put on.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“Yes. I won’t look.”
I nod because I suddenly have no words. No argument.
Gus realizes this and takes my hand, much the way he did on the beach the other night, and leads me through Ethan’s house. Releasing my hand, he snatches a bottle of champagne and two glasses and waves me toward the back stairs and up them. Directly into Ethan’s dark, quiet, empty bedroom. I’ve been in here before, but because it’s Ethan, I don’t dare go near his sacred closet. Instead, I find his dresser and open up the top drawer, tugging out a white shirt.
Then I spin back around and tilt my head at Gus, who is watching me from across the room, hovering by the door with his hands locked behind him.
“Bathroom?”
Bathroom. Sure. Yeah. Right. Let’s go into the bathroom. Makes total and complete sense.
I nod and turn my back to him, walking into the bathroom and pulling the ripped, soiled dress over my head. Gus didn’t follow, and for a second, I frown at that. Until I remember that I shouldn’t frown at that. If I do this duet, it’s business only. Isn’t that what he said? That he wouldn’t hit on me? Wasn’t that my hardline? That I wouldn’t sleep with him?