Page 212 of Playing Dirty

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Tessa stood up suddenly.

“Come dance,” she told Luca.

“Bossy.”

“You like it.”

“Unfortunately.”

He grinned and stood with her.

Then looked back at me briefly.

“You surviving over here?”

“Questionable.”

“Good answer.”

Then they disappeared into the crowd together.

Just like that.

Fast.

Physical.

Easy.

I watched them go for a second too long.

Then—

I felt him beside me before he spoke.

Mason.

Closer now.

Not touching.

Never touching.

But close enough that my body reacted instantly anyway.

“You okay?” he asked.

And somehow—

that was the softest thing he’d ever said to me.

Thirty Four

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

ROWAN

Mason shouldn’t have sounded soft.

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