Page 29 of False Start

“You really want to stay stuck in that dress for who knows how long to wait for her to come check on us? I’m right here,” he reminded me, as if forgetting that fact was possible with him towering over me and smelling like a mixture of teak, turf, and the woods after a rainstorm. “Let me help.”

I bit my lip, craning my neck out a little farther to search for Larissa. When I didn’t see her, I looked back up at Kyle, who arched a brow.

I groaned. “Fine.”

I didn’t watch his victorious smile for longer than a second before I opened the door wider and let him step inside. I’d intended to keep that door open, but when I turned and Kyle walked up behind me, the door closed of its own accord, no doorstop propping the weighted thing open.

It shut with the quiet click of the lock, but it might as well have been a gun blast for how my ears rang.

“I’m glad you picked this one,” Kyle said, his voice drowned out by how my heart was beating in my ears. He reached for the zipper, one hand holding the fabric taut as the other maneuvered the contraption. “The blue is…”

He didn’t finish that sentence, just shook his head, and I watched him in the plethora of mirrors all around us. His eyes were fixed on where his hands worked, and myattentionwas fixed on where I felt the slightest brush of his skin against the back of my neck.

Every second dragged with him so close behind me, my body buzzing and all too aware of the subtle heat rolling off him.When he finally got the fabric free, the zipper lurched down an inch, and I sucked in a breath that made us both freeze in place.

Kyle’s eyes snapped to mine in the mirror, and then that gaze dropped to where my chest was struggling to take a deep breath.

He wet his lips, swallowing once before he slowly started sliding the zipper down.

His knuckles brushed against my spine as he did, and my eyelids fluttered shut at the touch.

Neither of us said a word, the only sound being the softsnickof the zipper as Kyle carefully guided it all the way down to the small of my back.

My chest was on fire with how hard it was to breathe, and then I felt the warmth of Kyle’s breath against my ear.

“Maybe we should practice.”

I swallowed, trying to wet my mouth so I wouldn’t cough from the desert dryness when I attempted a response. “Practice what?”

I opened my eyes, finding Kyle staring right back at me with just a slight tilt of his lips.

“Flirting,” he said, and his knuckles found my spine again, this time runningupthe length he’d just traced down.

I shivered, feeling every centimeter of that touch until he found one of my straps and carefully, slowly, slid it off my shoulder.

“Touching,” he said softer, and my heart stopped when he bent and lowered his lips to the sensitive spot just behind the shell of my ear. “Kissing.”

My next breath shuttered out of me, and I ripped away from his grasp, folding my arms hard over my chest to keep the dress in place.

“Ha-ha, so funny,” I deadpanned, hoping I came off as agitated or annoyed rather than the shaking mess of nerves he’dturned me into. “Next, you’ll say we need to practice horizontal dancing.”

Kyle quirked a smile. “That wasn’t on my list, but I’d be happy to add it.”

I rolled my eyes, thankful for the distance that was allowing me to find at leastsomesemblance of my dignity again. “Okay, Casanova. Thanks for your help. Now, get out.”

He laughed a little, sliding his hands in his pockets as he backed up on a shrug. “I’m serious, you know.”

“I’m sure you are.”

“Better for us to get comfortable when no one is around. Wouldn’t want my friends to see that pretty blush on your cheeks the first time I kiss you in front of them.”

My eyes widened, my cool fingertips floating up to touch my cheeks that were as hot as an oven.

That made me scowl, and I resorted to shoving Kyle the rest of the way out of the room while he laughed.

When I was alone again, I pressed my back against the door, one hand flying up to my forehead as I closed my eyes and internally groaned.

What have I gotten myself into?