She smirked when Rhys spluttered. Draven laughed and put his arm around my waist. I looked at him, blinking at him in confusion. Seriously, I thought it was entirely possible that aliens had swapped bodies with Draven. He was acting so peculiar! Draven just laughed at my expression and closed my mouth that was gawping at him in astonishment.
Rhys raised an eyebrow at the arm placement and then followed Dice around as she served drinks and proceeded to remind her, loudly, of all the ways that he was a cool and clever elf.
Dice wasn’t having it. She had his number. The paranormal world at large revered elves, more so star elves, but Rhys was a serious goofball. Yes, he was gorgeous, but seriously, he was a goofball.
“You’re really doing this?” I asked Draven, with my eye on his hand at my waist.
“Doing what?”
I turned in his arms and looked up at him. I was so close I could smell the lime and forest on his skin. “Don’t be coy and don’t play dumb. You’re the smartest person I know.”
His chocolate brown eyes looked down at me. I wanted to reach up and run my fingers through his curls, just to see how they felt against my fingers. And then I just shrugged and did it. He was being all lovey-dovey at the moment. I thought I might be able to get away with it. His hair was really soft, and didn’t have any product in it to make it all gunky. A girl appreciated those types of things.
“A little while ago, you were telling me you wanted to be just friends.” I tried to keep the hurt that had caused out of my voice. It didn’t matter if his reasons had been completely valid. It still hadn’t felt good to get rejected.
He sighed. “Is this where you warn me not to mess with your head or your feelings?”
I nodded. “And also to remind you that my best friend is a star elf and will bury you 6 feet under if you hurt me.”
We both looked to where Rhys was serving a drink to a svelte man with a handlebar mustache. Rhys wasn’t looking at the man, though, he was looking at Draven, and his swirly nebula eyes were cold with promised violence.
I shivered.
Yep, it was official. My best friend could be crazy scary. I was just grateful he was onmyside. It was worth all of his wayward affection when I could see how clearly Rhysloved me. Who knew? And my biggest worry had been a fear that Dice would see more into Rhys’ affection than there was. But nope, she seemed to read him perfectly.
I kept forgetting she could do that.
“You are interested, right? I’m not projecting my feelings onto you?”
Aww, the sweetie. His eyes were aglow with concern that he had overstepped.
I reached up and touched his cheek. His skin was warm, and there was a bit of stubble on his jawline. I pulled him down to me, and thenoohmphedin surprise when he lifted me up so my legs were locked around his waist, and his hands were on my lower back, holding me up, and then he kissed me.
I’d only been kissed one other time in my life, but it was clear from the moment his soft lips touched mine that there would forever be a before and after. Before Draven and after Draven. Our mouths moved in sync, as though we had done this a million times before. A buzz started in my head, like I’d been drinking steadily for a while, even though I hadn’t. Up felt like down, and down felt like up. My stomachswoopedand danced, my heartthudded,and there was a feeling in my chest like champagne bubbles popping. The jazz filtered around us; the voices of the crowd creating a wall of background noise.
And then his arms went under me, lifting me, cradling me, and I felt cocooned and warm and safe. The noise filtered to a soft glow, and I melted into him. My insides went from champagne bubbles to melted chocolate, just that fast.
It lasted maybe a minute, but it felt like a lifetime before I pulled back and looked at him with a face that probably resembled a cartoon owl. I was panting slightly, and I… What had just happened? Draven had kissed me, right? I didn’t just have a seizure or something and imagine that?
I wanted to pull him back to me and kiss him again. I wanted to go take a walk in the brisk night air and cool off. I wanted to ask the people surrounding us on the dance floor if they’d just seen him kiss me so I could have irrefutable proof I wasn’t losing my mind.
“Mia?”
Draven was asking me something, but I was having a hard time focusing.
“Mia, you with me?”
“Umm, hmm, yeah. I’m with you.”
His smile was gentle. “I was just asking if you wanted to dance.”
“Wearedancing.”
Draven looked down at our feet, which weren’t moving. I don’t know why this fact surprised me. I looked down at my wayward feet encased in shimmering heels and scowled. I’d really thought we’d been dancing the whole time.
Draven laughed and gently pulled me closer as he released my feet to the ground. He tugged me toward the middle of the dance floor.
“But my sweet tea!” I waved my hand, trying to get Rhys’ attention, but nope, he was flirting without success with Dice.
