Page 45 of Embrace

I’ve just sat down when Kian touches my wrist. “I was trying tosay you look beautiful, Scarlett,” he says to me, quietly enough that I don’t know if I heard him right. “Do you want a drink?”

That I hear loud and clear. I nod, and he doesn’t ask me what I want, but as I’m watching the performers onstage, a vodka cranberry appears on the table in front of me.

I look up at him. “How did you know I wanted this?”

“That’s what you were drinking at the Beta Phi welcome party.”

How does he remember what I was drinking? I’m blinking up at him in surprise when Cassie comes to our table again.

“Okay, I’m up next, and then they’re going to play a game with the audience so I’ll have some time to hang out with you.” She tells this to Kian before walking off toward the stage.

She sings an original song, and I’m blown away by her voice. The girl is seriously talented, and I finally understand why Kian likes her. She’s pretty inside and out, and there doesn’t seem to be a single flaw on this girl.

When I glance around the room, everyone’s swaying to the sound of her delicate voice and the love song she’s singing. Cole is filming the whole thing. But when I turn to Kian, his eyes are on me. He gives me a smile and a thumbs-up as if to ask if I’m having fun. I give him one back and turn to the stage again.

She sings two more songs, and each one has the crowd hooked.

When Cassie walks offstage, the host climbs up, talking about some game for which he needs audience members to volunteer. A group on the far side of the lounge cheers when they send up a couple. One more finds their way up and then someone shouts for Kian.

He waves, smiling at the people in the crowd who urge him to join. The host seems to recognize him, too, and then Kian’s not saying no anymore. The guy is incapable of denying people a good time.

Cassie comes up. “Okay, let’s order some food.” But she notices all the eyes on our table and Kian staring at her now.

She laughs. “Oh, no way. Not again. Take Cole.”

Kian’s gaze falls to Cole, who’s a few drinks deep and paying attention to no one but the server, who comes over with another glass of some fruity drink he seems to be loving.

That’s when he looks at me, his hand outstretched. “Come with me?”

And stupidly, or hypnotized by Kian Ishida’s eyes, I press my palm to his.

Fifteen

Kian

“All right, contestants,listen up. The game is balloon pass. Each couple gets a balloon placed between their bodies and, without using their hands, they have to get it from their stomachs to their heads with good ol’ teamwork.”

Scarlett stares at me, her expression blank, but I can tell she’d rather be doing anything but this. All I can think of is the fact that she actually said yes. The girl spends her time locked in a private study pod in the library. She does not want to be onstage right now.

But she is, because I asked her to.

“Have you played this before?” I ask her, hoping to hear whether she’s pissed at me for bringing her up here. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve dragged someone here against their will.

She shakes her head. “We don’t do a lot of this in the library.”

“We got this, Scar.”

“There’s a sizable height difference here, Ishida,” she says, skeptical.

“We’ll make it work.”

The host continues to tell us the rules, the time limit, and howthe winner gets breakfast at Lola’s. That’s when Scarlett looks at me, shaking her head in amusement.

“Seriously? All this for the diner. I’ll buy you breakfast.”

“It’s the principle, Scar.”

Before she can say anything else, we’re given a small balloon filled with some liquid. The host places it right between us, forcing our bodies to hold it there. I’m close enough that I tower over Scarlett and can feel the warmth that radiates off her.