Make It Count (6 page)

He blinked and jerked his gaze away before gripping her waist and spinning her around roughly so her back was to his front. She took a step back in her heels until they were locked in an embrace and she continued to follow the beat, grinding her butt back into him.

Alec held her tightly with a strong grip on her hips. She’d thought she’d felt his arousal before, but now she was definitely sure, the thick ridge pressing against her. His breath rushed hot along her temple, and she reached back with one hand, curling a finger into a belt-loop on his jeans, pressing him closer. Her entire body felt slick from sweat, from the press of bodies on the dance floor and most of all, because of the roaring attraction between her and Alec.

A hand brushed her hair over one shoulder and a gust of cool breath wafted over the damp skin at the back of her neck. Closing her eyes, she groaned low in her throat, and Alec rumbled a groan in response before he pressed his hot lips to the spot he had cooled. The contact sent a jolt straight down her spine, and she stiffened in surprise, shock and lust.

Alec’s movements stopped behind her and then his lips returned to her ear, and he whispered in a low, raspy voice, “Kat, we need to stop.”

His words were like an ice pick to her skull. This whole thing had been out of line. If Max saw them  . . .

She slowed her hips and took a step forward, glancing over her shoulder. Alec stood motionless, hands fisted at his sides, hair damp with sweat and hooded eyes on her. She reached back and held her hand out. He waited a beat before slipping his hand in hers and she led him off the dance floor.

Kat pushed her way through the crowd back toward their table, constantly aware of Alec’s damp hand in hers, the heat of his body at her back. When they reached the table, she let go of his hand and hauled herself into a seat. Alec did the same across from her, his face flushed. Gathering her hair off of her neck, she fanned herself and looked across the table. “Where’s Max?”

Cam stared at them, his face hard. “At the bar.” He whipped his head to Alec. “What the fuck was that?”

Alec flipped a beer cap between his fingers. “What?”

“What?” Cam said incredulously. “You do that little performance on the dance floor and you say what?”

Kat’s stomach churned.

Cam laughed bitterly. “Geez, after that grinding, you might be pregnant, Kat. In fact, every girl within five feet might be pregnant.”

Alec raised his head and fixed Cam with a glare. “Shut the fuck up.”

Cam shrugged and Kat debated on what to say.
Don’t tell Max. Tell Max so he’ll break up with me because I don’t have the guts to do it. Tell Alec I’ll be his if he’ll love me and not discard me after a month like every other guy.

But when Max returned to the table, he was all smiles, and Cam accepted his beer from him.

“How was dancing, babe? Alec keep his hands to himself?” Max winked at her.

She swallowed. “Yeah, we had fun.” Understatement of the year.

“Stone can dance, huh?”

Alec hadn’t looked up from his beer cap flipping. “Yeah,” she murmured.

Max slung an arm around her shoulder, leaned back in his chair and Kat steeled herself to get through the rest of the night.

Chapter Six

K
AT WALKED SLOWLY
down the hall toward the bathroom, yawning. Her ponytail had slipped to the side of her head overnight so she whipped out the elastic band and began arranging it again. Max was still in bed, snoring. When they’d stumbled home from the bar last night, she had feigned drunkenness and Max had promptly passed out beside her in bed. One class she could pass—Sex Evasion 501.

And mostly, she couldn’t think about Max touching her when Alec’s scent clung to her hair and her neck burned where he pressed his lips to her skin.

It was not lost on her how wrong that whole thought process sounded.

She bent her head, her hands fixing her ponytail. A bedroom door creaked open ahead of her and she slowed her pace, remembering belatedly she was only wearing a tank top and pair of panties.

She raised her eyes and froze.

Alec stood before her wearing only a pair of black boxer briefs.
Only black boxer briefs.
And for the love of all that was holy, she couldn’t stop staring. He wasn’t bulky like Max, but he had a runner’s body, with sinewy arms and a thin waist trimmed with that delicious V muscle leading down into his waistband. His legs were muscular and she had to bite her tongue when all she wanted to do was bite his thigh. Yes, she wanted to bite his thigh. And then that muscle at his hip. And then maybe peek down those boxers to see if his big hands meant other things were big. She could still feel the imprint of those muscles against her own, shifting to the beat on the dance floor.

And oh mylanta, his abs. Those delicious ridges were perfect, bulging under thin skin, highlighting a nice little trail of hair that started below his belly button and disappeared into his waistband. She licked her lips, wishing she could trace those ridges with her tongue.

Yep, she’d officially gone off the deep end. Just right over it.
Plop!
Into the water. She wasn’t even flailing. She sank like a happy little ball of lead. Horny lead.

Alec cleared his throat and she snapped her eyes from his general crotch area back to his face. His eyes were on her general stomach area, where a strip of skin showed below her tank top.

She lowered her hands, letting her hair spill down her back and tugged her shirt down. “Um . . . hey.”

Clearly, eloquent was her middle name.

“Hey,” he rasped out. His hair was adorably ruffled, the part usually smoothed back in a bump now hung in a dark floppy bang on his forehead. It was odd to see him without his glasses. Odd and definitely . . . nice.

She wondered if he thought of biting or licking any parts of her. Instead of dwelling on that, she gestured toward the bathroom. “I was heading there.”

“Me too. But ladies first.”

She wanted to laugh. In an inappropriately hysterical way. Because who said that other than her father when he went to the country club?

“Thanks,” she mumbled. She stepped gingerly toward the bathroom, which was directly in front of him. As she brushed past him to enter, he grabbed her arm gently.

His touch startled her, and she looked up. His eyes were heavy lidded, and the pale green of his irises was darker in the early morning light. She imagined this would be an amazing scene in a movie, where he whispered in a tortured voice,
Kat, I want you. I’ve always wanted you. Let’s retreat to my boudoir and consummate our mutual attraction
. . .

His lips were moving, and she snapped back to attention.

“. . . It was acting up, so flush twice.”

Yep, while she dreamed of writhing naked and sweaty in his sheets, he was telling her to flush the toilet twice. Awesome. Amazing. Not embarrassing at all.

She mumbled something in the affirmative and slipped from his grasp, then shut the bathroom door quickly behind her.

She gripped the sink and bent her head. This was crazy. She should break up with Max, but she hated breakups. And Max was safe. Sure it wasn’t anything deep, but she didn’t especially feel as if she wanted something deep—or that she deserved it.

Max had been irritated with her lately, but really, he’d lasted longer than most guys. And every time she thought about breaking up with him, she remembered the safety of their easy, light relationship and backed off.

When she finished using the bathroom, she opened the door to the sight of Alec standing outside, his arms crossed over his
still
bare chest, a shoulder propped against the wall. And he
still
hadn’t put on pants. He also looked impatient.

He uncrossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Any trouble in there?”

She clutched her hand to her throat in mock helplessness. “It was so scary in there without you, Alec. I didn’t know which knob on the sink was for hot water, and I couldn’t remember if I was supposed to pee sitting down or standing up.”

He stared at her for a minute, and then his entire face cracked. His lips split into a huge grin which deepened the creases alongside his mouth and accentuated his cheekbones. A couple of his bottom teeth were slightly crooked and for some reason she found that incredibly endearing.

And then he began to chuckle. Like the male version of a giggle. His shoulders shook and his eyes twinkled. He was like Santa, but Alec most certainly didn’t have a belly like a bowl full of jelly. It was a belly full of hard things that came in sixes. Or maybe eights. She wouldn’t mind unlimited access to his body for further examination.

Kat pulled her eyes away from his abdomen and raised them to his face. He had stopped chuckling now, but hadn’t wiped the grin off of his face.

He gave her a wink as he walked past her into the bathroom. “Next time, I’ll hold your hand and we’ll get through it together, Kat.”

As the bathroom door shut behind him, Kat frowned at her hands, because yeah, it might make her thirteen, but she loved when a boyfriend held her hand.

She sighed and walked back to Max’s bedroom. He was still asleep, but woke up as she dressed.

“What’re ya doin’?” he mumbled sleepily.

“I’m headed back to my place. I have some things I need to get done today.”

He rubbed his eyes. “You okay walking back?”

“Yep, I’m fine.”

“Good. Call me later.” The bed creaked as he rolled over. By the time she closed his door behind her, he was asleep again.

She trotted down the stairs and pulled on her coat as Alec emerged from the kitchen, a piece of toast stuck between his teeth. His hair was damp and he wore his glasses.

Maybe he
was
hotter with his glasses on. They were kind of stylish, with thick, rectangular frames. They framed his face well. She needed to see comparison pictures or something. Maybe she could take pictures on her cell phone and then put it to vote among her roommates  . . .

“Kat?”

How long had she been staring at his face?
Ooops.
“Uh . . . yeah?”

Alec gave her a strange look and shoved the rest of his toast in his mouth. “I asked if you were heading home?”

“Oh, yeah, I am.”

He gestured toward the door and pulled his car keys from his pocket. “I can give you a ride.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

He shrugged and opened up the door, waving her out. “I’m heading there anyway. I have a meeting.”

“Well okay. Thanks.”

Alec’s car was the definition of a junker. There were splotches of rust among the brown paint, and the whole vehicle vibrated violently while they idled at a stop sign. When Kat pointed questioningly at a notepad with scrawled numbers on it, he explained his gas gauge didn’t work, and he kept track of his mileage on paper.

She reached for the radio dial, but he waved his hand over the instrument panel. “Yeah . . . uh . . . it doesn’t work.”

“You can’t listen to the radio?”

“No. Well, at least, not usually. Sometimes when the moon is full and the stars align and I sit at just the right angle, I can get some gospel station.”

“Silence sounds like the better alternative, then.”

“Listening to music while driving is overrated.”

She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “No, not really. Driving without it sucks and it’s boring.”

She laughed, and they lapsed into silence. Memories of the night before swirled in her head, but she clenched her jaw before she said something stupid like,
where’d you learn to dance like that
or
jeez, how about this weather
. She bit her lip as he pulled into a parking lot outside her apartment.

“This is it, right?” he asked, gazing up at the building.

“Yep. Thanks for the ride.” She climbed out of the car.

“No problem, Kat.”

She gave him a wave as she made her way into her building, aware of his car still idling in the parking lot, and the skin on the back of her neck tingling, like he’d branded her with his lips.

She rubbed the spot with a wince and opened her front door. Shanna looked up at her from her video game. Again.

Kat nodded at her and walked into her bedroom. Tara was tacking some pictures of her family on the wall. She gestured toward a box in front of Kat’s closet. “That came for you today.”

Kat took off her coat and checked the return address label. “Oh good, my mom found my stuff.” She peeled off the packing tape and opened the flaps. On top of a pile of clothing sat a pair of almost pristine ballet shoes. She shoved the box over to Tara’s side of the room with a grunt. “It’s for you, actually.”

“For me?” Tara said, dropping her pictures onto her bed.

“Well, for Amy. My mom shipped all my old ballet stuff. I mean, I realize it’s, like, ten years old or something, but a lot of these things I never used, so . . .”

Tara was already rummaging through the box. “Kat, I can’t believe you. This stuff is gorgeous.” She pulled out a light pink leotard with ivory trim. “Amy is going to look adorable in this stuff.”

“I thought so. Anyway, I asked Mom to ship it so you could take it home for spring break. I hope some of it fits.”

Tara dropped a pair of ballet shoes she’d been ogling and launched herself at Kat. “You’re the sweetest, Kitty-Kat.”

Kat wrapped her arms around her friend’s waist and squeezed. Tara was the best big sister she’d ever met, sacrificing so much to help her family. If Kat could help in any way, she would in a heartbeat. “Anytime, Tare-bear.”

Tara released her and tilted her head toward her wall. “You busy? Can you help me with these pictures on my wall? I think they look stupid, all up in a row. You have your side of the bedroom decorated so cool. Arrange mine for me.”

Kat cast an eye over to her side of the room. Her comforter was a lavender with light yellow piping and she’d incorporated those colors around her space, finding different shades of purple and yellow frames to display her pictures. She had even managed to save up from her summer job filing paperwork for her dad to buy a purple laptop.

Now comparing her side of the room to Tara’s, hers did look more organized. But that’s how she needed things to be.

“Okay,” she said, taking the pictures from Tara she’d ripped off the wall. She leaned back, treating the wall as a canvas, and started layering the pictures into a big grouping on the wall. Tara’s family was beautiful, all blond and happy. Kat smiled at a picture of Amy, clutching a Nutcracker doll last Christmas. Beside it, Kat tacked up a picture of Tara crossing a 5K finish line. “So, are you nervous about your race?” she asked. Tara planned to run her first marathon over spring break in March.

“Yes!” Tara said. “I’m excited but freaking out at the same time. Did I tell you that I ordered one of those 26.2 stickers for my car already so I can slap it on right after I cross the finish line?”

“When I see those stickers on cars when I’m driving, I think, ‘Oh, there’s a completely insane person,’ ” Kat said.

Tara laughed. “Yeah, I know I’m crazy. Actually, after we’re finished here, I’d planned to go for a run. Wanna come?”

Kat shot her a look out of the corner of her eye. “You know that question gets a perma-no from me.”

“I know, but I think you’d like it. Clears your head. Just flushes everything out and refreshes it.”

“Sounds like a plumbing problem.”

“Kat—“

“Thanks for asking, honest. But I’m gonna say no.”

Tara sighed. “Fine.”

Kat smoothed a corner of a photo with Amy and her twin, Natalie. “Alec likes to run.”

“Oh?” Tara said, her tone a little too smug for Kat’s taste.

She shot her friend a glare. “Just making conversation.”

“I think you’re talking about what’s on your mind.”

Kat ignored the comment and stepped back, eyeing the collage of pictures on Tara’s wall. “What do you think?” She overlapped the photos so they looked like one massive shiny heart.

“It looks awesome!” Tara clapped her hands. “You’re so good at this stuff.”

“I’ll take care of the decorating for the two of us, and you take care of the amazing physical achievements,” Kat said, walking back to her side of the room to unload her book bag. Tara followed her. “So, are we going to discuss last night?”

“What’s there to discuss?”

“Um . . . you grinding your ass on Alec.”

Kat turned a glare onto her friend. “There was no ass grinding. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tara folded her arms over her chest. “Really.”

“Yes, really.”

“You both looked pretty flushed when you came back—”

“Well, it’s only normal for a guy to get hard while dancing with a girl—”

“A-ha!” Tara shouted. “You had to be close enough to feel that! Unless he’s got a foot-long shlong, which I highly doubt—”

“Oh my God, we’re not discussing Alec’s anything.” Kat pointed a finger at Tara, who remained silent. Then Kat groaned. “Who am I kidding? I saw him in his underwear this morning and that image is going to be ingrained in my brain forever. Along with you saying the word
shlong
. What’s with that word?”

Tara shrugged. “It rhymed with foot-long.”

“Whatever, if he can get me to pass this statistics class, I’ll do anything with his foot-long that he wants.”