Page 18

“Just water for me,” I say at the same time.

I ignore her pout. The night is long; I need to pace myself.

With a water bottle in my hand, I risk a glance in Nicky’s direction. He’s standing a head taller than the people around him, looking mouthwatering in dark chinos and a cream-coloured polo shirt pulled tight across his chest, shoulders and arms .

“Who’s that?” Serena murmurs, tilting her head in Nicky’s direction.

A swooping sensation takes over my stomach as I watch a tall, curvy blonde slink her way over to Nicky. To be in this VIP area, she must be someone they know, and from the look on his face, he doesn’t seem to mind her attention.

I turn away, my heart pinching in my chest. “Don’t know.”

Serena looks at me and takes my hand. “We should head back out there. No point spending the night with people we see every day at work.”

I don’t argue, even though that was the whole point of coming out tonight. To lift the spirits of the team and all.

“Let’s go back to the bar.” I spare Nicky one last glance, jolting as my eyes connect with his, and turn back to follow behind Serena.

We jump onto a barstool, sharing just the one because it’s prime real estate up here at the bar, and she orders us a round of drinks.

“To us!” she sings, handing me a shot glass with a sloppy grin.

I clink my glass with hers and shoot it down with a grimace. Will I ever like the taste of tequila?

“You weren’t going to say hello?”

Nicky’s voice travels from my ear and hits me right in the gut. I glance over my shoulder to find him leaning his arm against the bar next to me, his big body shielding me from the crowd of people around us clamouring to order a drink.

“You seemed busy.” I bite my lip and lecture myself for sounding so petulant. Nicky is not mine to monopolise. He’s free to talk to whichever pretty girl he wants to.

“I’m never too busy for you, Cherry.”

I wobble on my barstool, looking to see the spot next to me now empty. Where is Serena ?

“She’s dancing with that guy,” Nicky says. I swivel on my barstool and follow his gaze to the dance floor. There she is, dancing with her arms around the neck of a very cute guy, giving me very unsubtle thumbs up behind his back.

“That was fast.”

I turn back to find Nicky now in front of me, his hands resting on the bar behind me, his long arms caging me in on either side of my body.

Ooooh, well this is nice.

“Are you having fun?” The music is so loud he has to lean in close to talk to me. So close his lips are within kissing distance.

Not that we’ll be doing any kissing, but a girl can dream.

I lick my lips and let my liquid courage take over. “I’d be having more fun if you’d dance with me.”

His brows dip. “I don’t really dance.”

“You danced with me at Matt’s wedding.”

He smirks and leans closer to me, his eyes sparking at the reminder. “That was different.”

“Fine,” I say when the silence drags on and we remain where we are, staring at each other. We do this staring thing so well. “I’ll find someone else to dance with me.”

His hands drop from the bar and land on my hips, holding me in place.

“Fine,” he growls. “I’ll dance with you.”

I beam up at him and jump off the barstool. “Yay!”

Clasping onto his hand, I pull him along behind me.

“That dimple…” he grumbles and I flash him another smile over my shoulder. Huh, maybe I need to use my superpowered dimple more often?

We skirt around the dance floor and find a spot in the back, away from all the wayward hands and elbows .

“Here is perfect,” I declare, twirling around as the music takes me over.

He puts his hands around my waist and pulls me closer to his body. We move together in time to the music, his arms like steel bands holding me to him.

Oh, so we’re doing this sort of dancing.

I stare up into his face, our bodies moving in sync with the beat and each other and it feels…incredible.

“I thought you said you don’t dance.”

He smirks. “I don’t.”

He twirls me out and pulls me back in again, holding me even tighter than before. My hands move from his shoulders to the back of his head, and I run my fingers through his hair. You know, to see if it’s as soft as it looks.

“Cherry.” His voice holds a note of warning I choose to ignore. With the effects of the tequila sloshing around my body, I lean in closer to him, fluttering my eyelashes and flashing my dimple to see how far I can push him.

With a tortured groan, his hands fist my dress around my hips, forcing me even closer to him, his eyes now glued to mine. My breath comes out in ragged gasps as he presses my front fully against his, his fingers smoothing circles all over my bare back.

Thank you, little red backless dress.

“Ah, another one of your little secrets. Don’t worry, it’s safe with me,” I say, struggling to keep up with the conversation.

What are we talking about, again?

His lips twitch and his eyes travel languidly across my face before settling on my lips. I moisten my dry lips with the tip of my tongue, noting his eyes darken as he follows its progress.

“Cherry—” His face inches in slow motion closer to mine.

“Cherry! ”

Serena’s high-pitched squeal drowns out whatever he was about to say and his head flinches away from mine. I blink at the suddenness, whirling around to face my friend as she snatches me almost violently out of his arms.

“Idris Elba is here!”

I shake my head to focus on what she’s saying. “What?”

She points to the bar. “Idris. Elba. Is. Here.”

Standing on my tippy toes, I follow her line of sight. “That’s not Idris Elba.”

She squints. “It’s not?”

I giggle at her crestfallen expression. “No, it’s really not.”

“Boo.”

“I’ll leave you two to your celebrity spotting,” Nicky’s hands are clenched into fists by his side, his intense gaze flickering away from mine.

“But—” I stammer. I don’t want to look for celebrities. I want to dance with him.

He leans over and brushes his lips over my hair. “Have fun.”

I watch with my heart in my shoes and disappointment swimming in my belly as he walks away. Not to the VIP area, but towards the front door. He stops when he gets there, tilting his head in my direction and I see James nod from his spot off to the side, where he’s standing like a tall building.

He’s to remain here and watch over me.

“Boo, indeed,” I mutter under my breath. I turn to see Serena looking very apologetic and let out a laugh.

“Come on, you,” I tell her. “Let’s get another drink.” We manoeuvre our way towards the bar. “And then tomorrow we’re taking you to get your eyes tested.”

She giggles and I join her.

Idris Elba indeed .

We order a drink and I replay that dance with Nicky in my mind.

Another dance to add to my memory bank. My insides tighten as I recall his lips close to mine, his minty breath fanning across my face.

Perhaps it was a good thing Serena interrupted us.

Who knows how many of my tipsy thoughts I’d have shared with Nicky while we danced.

I may have revealed all sorts of things that should remain unspoken.

And he may have revealed some of his own , a quiet voice whispers back.

Oh well. I spare one last glance at where Nicky is now long gone. I guess now I’ll never know. And we’ll just go back to being Nicky the superstar and Cherry, his best friend’s little sister.