Page 47 of Yours, For Now

The music changed, indicating that the general dancing portion of the evening had begun.

"I like them." He looked at himself. "I don't know if I can find a pin somewhere to put this on my lapel."

"Or we could do this, maybe?"

I took the flower from his fingers, our skin touching for a second. The tingle that sprung from the point of contact did something to my chest, and because of it, instead of ignoring it, I followed the impulse to put the flower in my hair. I tested the terrain of my curls with my fingers, found a spot that felt good, and tried to pin it in place.

"Here, let me." Gabe took over; his fingers moved gently on my hair.

Again, just like when he'd helped me with my jewelry, we were close. In my room, I'd hoped for him to kiss the inside of my wrist again, even if it didn't make sense, and I knew that I shouldn't want it. Here, so close that if I turned my head just a bit, I could align my lips with his, my thoughts led me on a slightly different path.

His lips looked soft, with tiny tension waves surging from concentration. The way I wanted to lick my lips and kiss him showed me just how dangerous this closeness was.

"Done." He took some distance and contemplated me. "I hope I didn't pull your hair too much. It looks really nice. You look really nice."

I smiled. "You look really nice, too."

"Thanks." He stood and offered me a hand. "Now, shall we dance?"

He took his jacket off and left it hanging on the back of his chair. He led me to the dance floor and, within ten minutes, I'd made up my mind: Gabriel Sotomayor was a great dancer.

He pulled me to him, hand to my waist, and guided me in a fast turn.

I laughed. "Gabriel. I didn't know you could move like this."

"The galas never give me a chance to show off." He leaned closer to me. "When they ask you why we broke up, you cannot tell them it was because I made a fool of myself dancing."

"Nothing foolish about you dancing."

Except me, maybe, who really enjoyed seeing him move to the music, and allowed myself to be mesmerized by it.

He released me from the turn, and we went back to dancing at a bit of a distance. His feet and hips continued to move to the rhythm of the music, while he unbuttoned his shirt sleeves and rolled them up his forearms. How was that so sexy? Simply witnessing the gesture had tingles showing up in all sorts of places.

When he was done, he grabbed my hand and continued dancingwithme, a big smile on his face.

I stepped in closer to him, to talk to him discreetly over the music, of course. I didn't get much out of it, if we ignored the way his proximity lit me up. With the heat of our bodies moving, the smell of his cologne became clearer, and I took it in.

"You look like you enjoy dancing," I said.

"Why does it sound like an accusation? I do like dancing."

"Because it almost feels like you tricked me into being amazed, somehow."

"Oh, c'mon, Lina." He put a hand on my back, and we moved to the music, our bodies close enough to rub each other. "Let me have this. One thing I can amaze you with."

"Fine. But only one thing."

He laughed. "Fine. But maybe we shouldn't look like we're having such a great time together. Or it'll make it harder for us— you, really— when we break up."

"Excuse me. Harder for me, only?"

"Yeah. It's your family that is constantly bugging you about being with someone. My family doesn't care." He looked around the room. "And my family hasn't seen us together this way."

"I could tell my family you were actually just a random plus one."

He drew me even closer. "A random plus one who's dancing sexily with you?"

"I'm irresistible. That's why you came here even if you knew this was leading nowhere."