“There you go,” I say, moving to the beat. Meanwhile, she barely shifts. Her body is so stiff, it looks like she’s made of ice. Her burning skin is the only thing telling me she’s really here with me. “Get out of your head, Wren. Just feel the music.”

“Easy to say,” she says, but after she lets out a long breath, she closes her eyes and starts relaxing. Her upper body starts moving with the music, still rigid but dancing at last.

“See? You’re a natural.”

“Stop teasing, or I’ll stomp on your toes.”

I laugh, then move one of her hands to my shoulder, my own going to her hip. I’ve rarely been this close to her, and now that I am, I can smell her subtle perfume. Something floral. It’s so good it almost makes me weak. I’m pretty sure it’ll be imprinted in my nose even once she’s gone.

Finn’s voice resonates in my head, telling me I’ve got it bad. I push him away. This is nothing. Just two friends dancing.

Her eyes are still closed, but she’s truly starting to get it. Slowly, her hips start swishing to the rhythm, a mirror image to mine.

I lean forward, her soft hair brushing my cheek, before murmuring in her ear, “Good.” Then, I push her body and keep hold of her hand so I can spin her around once, twice. I catch her hips at the end of her last turn, this time her back to my front. Wren’s breathing is loud and shallow. Her smell is everywhere.

Jesus Christ, this was a bad idea.

And it only gets worse when she starts moving her hips, now grinding her ass against my groin.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Think of something else, Aaron. Something that doesn’t involve a dream-inducing body with plump lips and a witty humor.

Neither of us talks, but something is exchanged through the dancing. I couldn’t say what it is, except that Wren’s slender fingers wrap around my wrists and hold me as I grind against her. I can feel myself getting hard despite all my best efforts, but I can’t for the life of me pull myself back. She’s a drug. I can’t get enough.

Wren stretches her neck back so her head leans against my shoulders. My forehead slowly drifts to hers. She exhales shakily.

Then, in a second, she’s off me, spinning so we’re now face-to-face. Her eyes are no longer closed; in fact, they’re wide open. Her chest rises and dips fast, probably not so unlike mine.

She swallows, then looks away. “I, uh… I’ll go check on the girls.”

I don’t trust myself to speak, so I just nod. Without a second look, she’s gone, leaving me alone in the kitchen, breathless.

Fuck. Finn was right.

Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

Wren

“I’m nervous.”