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‘You gotta look away right now,’ Nate demanded in my ear I jerked my head towards him

‘What?’

‘Dude, he’s about to kick your ass,’ Nate warned quietly, his eyes flicking across the roo ataway ‘I couldn’t help it I’ve never seen her et behind the bar,’ Nate advised I nodded and cut through to the far end of the roo over forto calo? You look like you could use one’

‘Sure,’ I answered without hesitation He poured us shots of tequila

TJ held up his glass before slinging it back, then shaking off the bite ‘Emma looks frickin’ hot, by the way’

‘Yeah, thanks, TJ,’ I gruhed ‘That’s why you needed the shot, isn’t it? Fuck,her out, then you definitely need a few more shots I’ll do another with you just to help you out’

I s yourself forout the tequila throughto help’

‘Well, it’ll take out soht,’ TJ re

‘Fuck you, TJ,’ I shot back, h harder ‘You can leave the bar now’

‘No proble into the crowd

‘Do you want another drink?’ Sara yelled to me over the noise of the crowd and the music

I paused to consider where I was in the spectrum of drunkenness ‘Will you split one withmy hand to lead ht my other hand and asked, ‘Dance with me?’

I looked up at hi seen hih the crowd to the middle of the dance floor and held me close I draped my arms around his neck, and his breath tickled ht with his hands cradlingto find your friend in New York?’ he asked with his mouth close to my ear

‘Honestly, I’m not even sure where to look for hi towards the floor ‘And I think I’e in de ainst mine I slid my hand down to rest on his chest and could feel his heart beating faster That’s when I realized thatlike it usually did when he touched me I looked up in surprise His clear blue eyes inspectedand dropped his hands He kept his focus onBut I remained silent, still stunned with the realization that our connection was gone And he heard every unspoken word

Cole shook his head in disbelief ‘Really? That’s it?’ I reached for him, but he moved back a step ‘Don’t bother’ He brushed pastbodies filled in the e around me as I remained perfectly still, shocked by what had just happened

‘Hey,’ Sara hollered, parting the croith the drink held out in front of her ‘Here’ She handedsip ‘Where’s Cole?’ She scanned the crowd in search of him

‘He left,’ I told her

She drew her brows together ‘Why? What happened?’

‘Nothing,’ I answered siuiltily

‘Dance withuilt with a subtle swirl in ain, and I shookto add to it

I closed the bedroohter andon upstairs I’d pulled the liquor frouys take care of the one upstairs, since Brent and TJ were still ‘entertaining’ Nate and Ren had passed out a while ago I couldn’t recall seeing Ren ht, but that’s how it usually ith him

I stripped off my shirt, threw it in the corner and ehtstand next to the bed, along with my phone I kicked off my shoes and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth

When I came back into the bedroom, my phone was lit up I picked it up and found, Is it later yet? displayed across the screen I paused, not recognizing the California nuuys had handed out my number

Then I realized I had

It IS later Where are you?

I waited for her to respond And ain with, Outside your room

I walked over to the curtain, slid it back and grinned when Elass door

‘Hi,’ I said when he opened the door,a million miles a minute I’d told myself this was a bad idea for the past half hour, but still foundat his rooht turn on I was convinced I’d die if he was in there with another girl

‘Hi,’ Evan responded, his breathtaking grin greeting ’

Evan laughed ‘Are you lost?’

‘Most likely,’ I answered, shuffling my bare feet

‘Would you like to co a hard ti at him without his shirt on My heart skipped several beats and my entire face lit on fire ‘You don’t have to’