Page 64 of Last Fall

I kissed her neck, just barely holding in the growl I wanted to let loose.This.More of this. “I guess the water is on me then. Let’s get out of here.” Apparently the entire club was thirsty and pressing inonus.

We were just about to find a nice dark corner to make out in when a hand touched my bicep. I froze, as most people tend to do when they’re touched by someoneunexpected.

A blonde I didn’t know smiled up at me. “Oh my god, are you ErikCassidy?”

Zoe snorted, wrapping her arms around my waist as she snuggled against me.Oh hell yeah.I slid my arm around her and thanked whatever God of Jealousy sent this fanmyway.

“Iam.”

“I’ve never met an athlete out in public before!” shegushed.

“Believe it or not we lead regular lives sometimes. For instance, I’m on a daterightnow.”

Her eyes barely registered Zoe at my side. “Youdance?”

“With my girl? Anytime shewants.”

“Can we dance now, Baby?” Zoecooed.

Iaboutdied.

“Of course, Darlin’. It was nice tomeetyou...”

“Meg.”

I nodded once. “Have a fun night.” Then I swept my girl over to a table that happened to have a nice tall chair open. I slipped betweenherlegs.

“Your girl, huh?” she asked betweenkisses.

“I didn’t want to scare you off with theentireword.”

“Mmm...”

“I liked the way you wrapped yourselfaroundme.”

She broke the kiss to repeat the move, looking up at me. “Thisone.”

“Hell yeah. This is where youbelong,Zoe.”

“Withyou?”

I nodded slowly knowing how easy it would be to say the wrong thing right now. “The same way I belong with you.” I very carefully put my arms around her and squeezed. “We fit justright.”

She seemed to like that. “You would have said the whole word if I wasn’t soskittish?”

“So fast it would have made yourheadspin.”

“Isn’t it too fast? We haven’t even been on a date yet.” She glanced around. “Although I guess this is kind of an impromptufirstdate.”

Best kind if you ask me. “This isn’t too fast, Zo. This has been two years in the making. So no, calling you my girlfriend on our first date is not too fast in my book. Everything we do is slow and careful. I think it’s perfect that our first date has been as unplanned and amazing as our first kiss.” She blushed crimson at that. I kissed her forehead. “Where’d you learn to dancelikethat?”

She did this cute little half-shrug thing she usually did when she talked about herself. “My mom put me in dance the day I took my first step. Or close toanyway.”

I brushed hair off her forehead, wove my fingers into the thickness and pulled it away fromherneck.

“That’s nice.Thankyou.”

What she didn’t seem to understand was that I couldn’t stop touching her—never wanted to stop—her hair was simply a non-threatening way to keep this connectiongoing.