Chapter 16
sixteen
ELLIE
I’ve never seen that side of Rowan before. But I guess when a man grabs a woman after saying no, it can pull all types of emotions from someone else who cares about you. My feelings are bubbling to the surface, and I can’t hold them down.
It was… hot . But I know he was doing it because that’s the kind of guy Rowan is. He will always stand up for someone if he needs to. It doesn’t matter who they are. Best friend or not.
I asked him to dance before I chickened out. I can hear a song playing over the speakers, and the dance floor is fairly crowded with couples. I knew I wanted to dance with him, so I made sure to drink enough to get liquid courage to ask.
His tall frame faces me, and I’m not sure what to do with my hands, so instead of overthinking everything, I let my body take control and do what it wants. My hands find his shoulders, trailing down his biceps and onto his waist. I turn around, pushing my back against him, his strong chest pressed against me.
The dim lights cast a glowing sensation over the dance floor, turning everyone’s bodies into shadows.
I can’t get enough of him. His calloused hands drag along my body, pulling my hips into him. Rowan hasn’t touched me like this in a very long time. I feel his face fall into my neck, the warmth of his breath caressing my skin. My hips sway to the rhythm of the song, and I let my body lose itself to him.
Everything fades around me, and it’s just us.
I turn my body to face him. Needing to see his face. His lips part when our eyes find each other. I see his throat bob, and I fight with myself to push away. The space between us is inches apart, and I can feel the heat of his body.
This can’t happen. I can’t let myself have him when I’m the one who left him behind to move to a new city and start a new life. I go back and forth in my head, from needing him to letting him go. But when I get lost in his eyes, I’m taken back to our first kiss. I can still feel how soft his lips were on mine.
My hands go up his chest to his shoulders, moving toward the back of his neck, where I feel strands of silky, thick hair running through my fingers. His tongue swipes the bottom of his lip and drags it under his teeth. I know he’s thinking the same thing. He wants to taste me just as badly as I do him.
I need to cool myself down because with of the way my heart is pounding, and the ache I feel between my legs, I’m in dangerous territory. Within seconds, I watch him lean down, coming closer to me, my face. I can practically feel his lips inches away from mine. He cups my face in his hands, and my hands find his as I close my eyes.
Shit. Is he about to kiss me?
My body pulls toward him, and I almost feel the graze of his lips as my feet move toward him, meeting him halfway when the music suddenly changes into something with a quicker tempo. The once smokey orange glow of the mood lightening turning to a deep blue.
I pull myself out of that bubble of lust and drop back to my feet, staring up at Rowan. My eyes go straight to his chest, which continues to rise and fall. The adrenaline courses through our bodies. For a moment, we stand in the middle of the dance floor with people still surrounding us, and we keep our eyes on each other.
Neither one of us dares to move.
* * *
Ellie: I’m in deep shit.
Ellie: HELP
Riley: Whoa
Addie: What’s wrong?
Ellie: Pizza, chocolate, movies.
Hailey: Why are you all up so early? Please stop blowing up my phone and let me sleep.
Addie: Emergency movie night? Oh, this is code red.
Riley: I’ll bring the pizza.
Addie: I’ll bring the chocolate.
Hailey: I’ll bring the tequila.
“I’m here,” Riley sings out once she enters the guest house, a pizza box in each hand.
Addie follows from behind, holding two full bags of every type of chocolate you can think of. Then Hailey walks in, two full bottles of tequila in her hands, with a wicked grin.
We’re all in our loungewear, no makeup, no bras, and no boys. I decided to wear an oversized shirt with simple cotton shorts. Riley has on her dinosaur onesie that she bought to wear on one lazy Halloween. Addie has on a dark green pajama set, a buttoned-up shirt, and matching shorts with white trim. Hailey has on a black T-shirt that says, ‘ Tattoos Are Stupid,’ despite being covered in them, and black leggings.
Emergency movie started the night Riley lost her virginity. It was in the back of a pickup truck after our junior year homecoming dance. Every time something monumental happened (at least to us), we would call for an emergency movie night. This meant whatever plans you originally had, canceled, done, sorry not sorry.
“I have all our movies queued up and ready to go.” I point to the television that hangs above the fireplace, where it’s surrounded by the couch and lounge chairs.
We end up moving everything, including the coffee table, making a large pillow and blanket bed. We all lay together, eating and gossiping while Bridget Jones’s Diary plays.
Five slices of pizza later, I’m ready to spill my guts. But first, I take a shot of tequila.