Page 21 of Lance

“Willa?”

“Hey, Lance,” I say, leaning toward him a little. Isn’t that what Nia told me? Guys like it when you lean. I touch his arm for good measure, wondering if I’m doing it like a girl or not. Nia wasn’t very clear on that part. But the holding his arm seems to be helping me not fall over so I decide to go with it. “We didn’t finish our conversation. You know.Before.”

“Are youokay?”

“Mmmhmm.” I smile and his eyes widen some more. Why does he look alarmed? Is my smile weird? I hold up my hands to feel my face but my fingers arenumb.

“Excuse me,” the blonde woman says. “We’re in the middle of something. Go be drunk and ridiculous somewhereelse.”

I had almost forgotten she was here. I give her what I hope is a sympathetic smile. “Youshould go somewhere else. He doesn’t even like you. He told me so.Before.”

She jabs a finger in my shoulder hard enough to hurt. “Listen,bitch—”

“Hey,” Lance says, pulling me behind him a little bit. I almost swoon at the contact and I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the spinning room. “You don’t need to touchher.”

“Butshe’s—”

“She’s an old friend,” he says firmly. “And I need to talk to her. So why don’t you head offnow?”

She gapes at him, and then at me, as if she can’t believe he’s picking me over her. I stick out my tongue and she mutters something about children under her breath as she stompsaway.

“Minnie,” Lance begins, turning toward me. I stick my tongue back in my mouth andfrown.

“Don’t call methat.”

He closes his eyes briefly. “It’s what I’ve always calledyou.”

“Before tonight,” I remind him. “Tonight you called me Willa. Because that’s my name, Lance.” I pause. “Which is yourname.”

He looks like he’s trying not to smile for some reason and I sigh. His eyes are so pretty when they sparkle likethat.

“How much have you had to drink tonight,Willa?”

“Oh, you know. A few. I definitely haven’t been trying to calculate my blood alcohol level based on my weight and estimated alcohol content of the club’s average mixed drink. Because that would be really weird.” He’s staring at me with a strange expression on his face. “Damn,” I mutter. “It was weird of me to say that, wasn’tit?”

“It’s fine.” He presses a plastic bottle into my hands. “But maybe it’s time to switch towater.”

I look at the clear bottle I’m holding. It’s only half full. I imagine the plastic touching his lips and a little shiver goes up my spine. “I thought you were drinking beerbefore.”

“I’m alternating,” he explains. “We’ve got a pretty busy schedule tomorrow and drinking enough water helps with the hangover in themorning.”

“Nia didn’t teach methat,” I mutter under my breath, rubbing my head. It’s pounding in a way that tells me I’ll be having a very rough timetomorrow.

“Drink the water,” Lance urges, taking the hand holding the bottle and bringing it to my mouth. God, his hands feel good on my skin. It’s so unfair. Why do his hands even have to begorgeous?

“What?” heasks.

“What do you mean,what?”

“You said something about myhands?”

Oh, fuck. I have got to do something about the whole talking without meaning tothing.

“Willa?”

“Why’d you get so upset?” I blurt out. “When you realized who Iwas?”

He sighs, rubbing his hands through his hair. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t handle that verywell.”