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What if I shouldn’t be here at all?

“Kenzie?”

I blink myself out of my stupor and find Moira watching me with concern in her eyes.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, uh...” I glance down at the floor and shift the blankets around in my arms. “I guess we should put these down?”

I unfurl one of them in front of me, and Moira helps me get it straightened on the floor. We bundle a few of the spare ones up like cushions, and Moira sets our shot glasses and the bottle down before we both take a seat.

“Let’s just sip this round,” she says as she pours two more shots.

We clink them together, and I let the burn of the little sip I take singe away some of my fear. When I’m focused on Moira, on how it makes my heart race just to sit next to her and watch her lips curve around the edge of her glass, the rest gets easier to push away too.

Somehow, she makes the freefall less scary. She makes it feel more like flying than plummeting.

CHAPTER 15

KENZIE

“So...” Moira sets her half-finished shot down and leans back to prop herself up with her palms. “How does the Murray School compare to the illustrious Rebecca Stewart Academy of Highland Dance?”

“You mean the Stewie school?”

She chuckles and shakes her head. “You’re really going to make me regret telling you that, aren’t you?”

I shrug and try to play it cool. The way she’s sitting has her chest thrust forward to make the cups of her bra strain against her shirt, and I have to fight the urge to ask her if she’s doing that on purpose.

Asking would imply I’ve been looking, and I can only imagine how smug she’d get about that.

“I think RSA is...flashier,” I say as I shift on the blankets.

I’ve been sitting with my knees tucked under me, and when I drop my weight onto one of my hips, my skirt rides up a few inches. Moira’s gaze flicks down to the velvet hemline, and I let myself smirk.

“But I can see how much care goes into this place,” I continue. “I admit it’s got more personality than RSA does.”

“You mean you don’t think our reindeer blankets are flashy too?” she asks, pointing at one of the little embroidered creatures beside her leg.

I laugh. “Okay, the reindeer are pretty flashy. Did you bust these out to help seduce me?”

She trails her finger along the edge of the blanket, dropping her eyelids to stare up at me through her lashes. It’s not subtle, but it’s also not entirely ineffective; my thighs clench under my skirt.

“Do you think I need help seducing you?”

“Well, you haven’t won yet.”

Both our voices have dropped low. Moira reaches for her glass and lifts it up, tilting her head at me.

“Neither have you.”

She drains what’s left of her shot in one go, and I have to tighten my grip on my own glass because damn it, she looks way too good shooting whisky.

She licks her lips when she’s done, just like the first time, and I can’t even pretend I’m not staring at the pink tip of her tongue.

“What do you say, Kenzie?” she asks. “You ready to beg me to kiss you?”

I shake my head and rasp, “Not even close.”