Page 22 of Meant for You

I strode toward Eves before he could take another one.

They were still dancing like idiots, in Eves’s case a beautiful little idiot who was apparently trying to kill me. I moved up behind her. She was on one side of Riff, while her friend stood on the other.

Grifter grinned when he saw me, obviously fucking pleased with himself.

Eves hadn’t seen me yet, so I moved up close, and slipped my arms around her waist. She stilled, her head dropping to look at the hands on her hips, then she turned to me and smiled.

Fuck me.

Okay, let’s do this.

I glanced up, and Riff gave me an exaggerated wink before he pulled Lila into his arms, like I’d just given him the go-head to pounce on Everly’s friend.

This was going to be a long night.

How had I thought holding her like this wouldn’t be a big deal? I’d assumed since I’d hugged her and held her plenty of times before that this would be no different. But it was.

And when Everly’s warm curves hit my front from waist to chest, I forgot all about the other idiots beside us.

I also had trouble remembering how to breathe.

Everly

I’d known who was behind me as soon as I’d seen those inked hands on my hips. Then his scent had hit me, a scent that was uniquely Dane. I looked up at him, into his gorgeous eyes and smiled, pretty sure I knew what was happening but asking anyway. “What are you doing?”

He leaned down and his mouth brushed my ear. “Crossing something off your list.”

I shivered and hoped like heck he hadn’t felt it. I glanced over at Lila to make sure she was okay on her own, but she was dancing with Grifter, looking up at him, eyes wide, like she might faint while he grinned down at her like a wolf about to take a bite out of her.

“She’ll be fine,” Dane said against my ear once again, making me shiver a second time.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him. I’d hugged him a million times, had felt what it was like to have Dane’s arms around me, had slept in the same bed as him almost every night we’d lived together, and this was—nothing like that. Not in any way.

We’d been kids then, and when I wasn’t anymore, I’d been living with my aunt. The greeting hugs we’d given each other when he’d managed to get to Rutherford to see me after I’d moved didn’t resemble what we were doing right now.

He started moving from side to side as people danced and sang to the faster beat around us. Our bodies touched from knees to chests—well, my chest was closer to his abs with our height difference, but yep, we were touching everywhere.

I moved with him, and every tiny shift of our bodies had us rubbing together. My breasts were smooshed against him, and the heat of his body soaked through me, making my skin tingle.

I inwardly winced. My nipples were getting tight and hard. I bit my lip, face heating. Could he feel it? He was only wearing a T-shirt. Oh my God, he had to feel it. How could he not? They were like freaking pencil erasers down my bra. They had to be digging into him.

I quickly rested my head on his chest so he didn’t see my embarrassment.

That just brought us closer, of course, and I could hear—feel—his heart pounding under my cheek. I was aware of every part of me that touched every part of him. The way his belt buckle pressed against my belly, his rigid abs, tight corrugations that felt hard as stone, the way the muscles in his lower back, under my hands, moved under his shirt when he did.

I shifted against him, and he made a rough sound that moved from him through me. His arms tightened. His hands were on my back and they started moving, one going lower, just above my butt, and the other coming up, sliding under my hair.

Then I felt him dip his head, and he breathed in deep, his chest expanding. Had he just sniffed me?

His mouth moved back to my ear. “You smell good.”

Yep, he’d just sniffed me. My heart was beating hard enough to make me feel out of breath. Did dancing with me like this, crossing off one of the things on my list, mean he was going to give me what I wanted? “So do you,” I managed. “Smell good, I mean.”

He leaned back, and his eyes were darker than I’d ever seen them.

I blinked up at him, trying to see the old Dane, the boy, but again it struck me how much he’d changed. He wasn’t there, not one trace of him. Dane was a man now, a damaged, protective, talented…beautiful man.

And my best friend.