Page 7 of Wildfire
He rubs the back of his neck again, the hem of his T-shirt showing the tiniest sliver of suntanned skin, and my horny brain malfunctions a little. “I’m Aurora,” I blurt out, borderline aggressively.
Emilia turns to look at me, her expression a mixture of confusion and embarrassment on my behalf. I opt to ignore it and guzzle my drink, letting the harsh bite of the vodka sting away the pangs of humiliation. Russ’s eyes are locked on to me as my cup lowers and he comes back into view.
His dimples are showing again.
Emilia clears her throat and I force myself to look at her. She’s staring at me like she’s definitely going to torment me about this later. “I came over to tell you that a game of drunk Jenga is starting in the den if you want to play.”
“Drunk Jenga?”
“They put dares on some of the blocks,” Russ explains. “Robbie and JJ like to make things interesting.”
Emilia tuts playfully. “I knew he’d be involved somehow. God knows what the dares are. Rory, I’ll see you in there?”
I nod and she disappears again, leaving me with my new friend. “How interesting are we talking?”
His lips quirk up again and, my God, there is no reason for me to want to make out with someone because of how their lips tug up, but the way he flits between confidence and uncertainty is doing something to me.
Russ takes a long sip of his beer while he considers my question and I just wait. I should be more embarrassed about shamelessly hanging on the words of a man, but this one is hot and a little awkward, and those concerns feel like a problem for my future therapist.
“Why don’t you come with me and find out?”
Chapter ThreeRUSS
“WHY DON’T YOU COME WITHme and find out?”
It sounded good in my head, but now that I’ve said it out loud I can’t help but internally cringe. This woman is far too hot to be talking to me and I have no idea how I’ve managed to land myself in this situation.
JJ caught me watching her snoop around the kitchen and gave me a “success with women” pep talk worthy of an Oscar before pushing me in her direction with the instruction to offer her a drink.
While I’m nottotallyuseless with women, I’m far from the best, which I proved when my first conversation with the attractive stranger in my house was about burglary. I usually need a bit of time to relax before I feel comfortable, which isn’t ideal at college parties. Alcohol sometimes bridges the gap long enough for me to ask for someone’s number, but I don’t drink often, which is why I’m chronically single.
Even though I’m buzzed from my drink, Aurora is just too fucking pretty, which is my excuse for why my brain is scrambling for some engaging conversation. I couldn’t even see her face when I approachedher, just long legs and curves covered by a tiny skirt and top. Then her head popped out from behind the door, blond waves framing her face, cheeks flushed pink, emerald-green eyes glaring up at me innocently, like someone who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. And then she smiled, something she’s probably done a million times in her life, but I forgot about my lack of skill with women. I forgot about everything.
I promised myself earlier I would talk to someone if I thought they were hot and, technically, I am doing that even if she’s about to politely reject me. I’m trying hard to channel the artificial confidence my beer is giving me and not crumble beneath her inquisitive gaze as she considers my offer.
She holds out her hand and I have to stop my eyebrows from shooting into my hairline from the surprise. “Lead the way.”
Threading my fingers with hers, I navigate us toward the den, silently repeatingfake it till you make itandyou’re a hot hockey playerandthe only person who knows you’re not confident is youin my head like JJ told me to.
I never expected his advice to work, but he looks totally unsurprised as I walk toward the Jenga setup hand in hand with Aurora. He looks a little smug, in fact. I keep her body close to mine, careful to stop drunk people from bumping into her until we reach the crowd around the dining room table.
“You ready for this?” I say, although I’m not sure if I’m talking to myself or to her.
As she looks up at me, her eyes soften and her hand squeezes mine gently. “How much trouble can one game of Jenga cause?”
“My friend Joe is heading to Yale Law School and they asked him what’s considered a felony in California.” Joe didn’t even look surprised. After he read out a list from his cell phone, Robbie and JJ wouldn’t let anyone else see what they were writing on the blocks, giggling to each other like schoolkids.
“Nothing says college spirit like posting bail. I’m sure we’ve both done worse. Come on.”
She doesn’t let go of my hand as she moves confidently through the crowd, head held high, hair dancing across her bare shoulders with every step. I’m not sure how I ended up as the one being guided, but I follow her toward the gap between Stassie and Emilia.
Stassie waves at me enthusiastically as I come into her view, patting the table beside her. “I saved you a spot, muffin.”
It’s clear she’s already drunk by the fact she pats so hard the Jenga blocks and shot glasses wobble.
“Okay, Godzilla,” Lola snaps from across the table. “Let’s not take down the tower before everyone’s naked. Jeez.”
Stassie mouths anoopsand gives me a dopey, drunk smile as she cuddles into Nate’s side. Her eyes flick down to my hand joined with Aurora’s before flicking up to Aurora, her jaw slacking slightly before giving me an awkward thumbs-up.
