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“Oh god,” Ellis whispers from the chair next to me. She throws back the rest of her second hard seltzer before turning to the woman behind us. “Cass?” she questions.
Cass smiles, closing her eyes and nodding as she realizes her mistake. “Sorry,” she says. “It was so weird to run into you guys here. I heard what happened at the wedding. Can we try again? I’m Cassidy. Cass for short.”
Ellis holds out her hand. “Ellis,” she says with a wide smile. “And this is Griffin.”
Cass tilts her head to the side, her blue eyes shining. “Griffin, huh?”
I chuckle as Ellis stands and leans to throw her can in the trash at the end of the table.
“Sorry about that,” I say.
Cass points between us, one brow raised. “So, are you two actually married?”
Ellis giggles. “We actually met a few hours before the wedding.”
“You’re kidding!”
The two of them are laughing, and I stand up to take my place next to Ellie, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Cass notices the movement. “Well, it seems like that’s working out.” She takes a drink of the beer in her hand and pulls her phone out of the small tasseled bag hanging over her shoulder. “Look,” she starts. “I actually just moved to Ohio a few months ago, and I’m looking for friends to hang out with. If you want, I can give you my number, and maybe we could hang out sometime.”
Ellis grabs her unlocked phone and quickly types her number into Cass’s contacts. She snaps a selfie of the two of us, sends it to herself, and hands back the phone. “That would actually be great.”
Cass seems pleased at that. “Where’s Chad?” I ask, wondering where her asshat billionaire boyfriend ran off to. A country Christmas party doesn’t seem like the place he’d want to go to.
Ellis nudges me with her shoulder, and I catch the hint ofyou shouldn’t have askedin her eyes before Cass responds.
“Actually, I broke up with him after the wedding.” Her face scrunches as if she’s fighting how uncomfortable talking about it is. “He kept hitting on other women.”
“I’m so sorry,” Ellie says, and by the warmth in her tone, I’m inclined to believe her.
“It’s alright. Well, I’ll let you guys get back to what you were doing. It was nice seeing you again.”
Upon her retreat, she accidentally bumps into Wes, and I turn to face Ellis, smiling down at her beneath the string lights hovering above us on the ceiling. “You want to dance?” I ask, and before I register what’s happening, she’s dragging me onto the dance floor and throwing her arms around my neck.
“So,” Ellie begins. “Come here often, Stuart?”
I lean down, nudging the side of her head with my nose. “Shut up,” I mutter, but there’s no heat behind the words.
The music shifts, and suddenly there are more bodies crowding the dance floor. A few women bring their drinks along with them, and I’m realizing that the ranch has become somewhat of a country nightclub.
Ellis pushes in closer, and it sends heat down my spine, warming my entire body.
Lost in a sea of people, we shut the world out. Ellis spins, turning to face away from me and grabbing my hands to place them firmly on her waist. When her body connects to mine, I bite back a groan.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“You’re not such a bad dancer after all.” She’s taunting me, and I know it. Ellis presses in, and I try to think of anything tokeep myself in check. She’s certainly not respecting space, and I can’t say I don’t enjoy it.
I get the thought that if she let me, I’d absolutely respect the fuck out of her.
“I was only pretending I can’t dance,” I say, my fingers tightening on her waist as she leans back against my chest, her body rubbing against–everything.
Double Fuck.
I’m hard. And I’m pretty sure she knows it.
I try to create some distance, get myself under control, and guide her to face me again. She’s still pressed close, but this way I can actually think about something decent.
