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the shoulder. Brady then turned his devastating green gaze on me. “Ignore him.”
“I tend to do that anyway, but thanks for the tip.” I shrugged, glancing around me and wondering how soon I could escape from the conversation and head down to the beach.
“Ohhhhh,” Ollie bellowed. “She told you.”
We all ignored Ollie. I was learning that it was best. He only took attention as encouragement for his craziness.
Brady sidled closer to me, leaving the conversation he’d been having with Liam and Jeremiah. His shaggy brown hair fell into his eyes, and he flicked it away before lifting his beer bottle to his lips. He was good-looking, but in a pretty boy way. His eyes were a bright, rainforest green, framed by impossibly-thick, black lashes. His jaw was defined, and his lips were full. He was shirtless, so I got an eyeful of his eight-pack. Yes, eight not six. The guy should’ve been an Abercrombie model or something.
“How do you know Liam?” he asked me, swaying so that his arm brushed mine. His skin was heated from the sun, and I swore my arm must’ve been burned from his touch. He flashed me a winning smile, showing off his perfectly-straight, white teeth.
“We went to school together,” I lied. I didn’t know why I lied, I just did. It wasn’t like I really had much of an explanation, and the truth would do nothing but baffle the poor guy. Besides, I would never reveal the whole truth that led me to end up there. Not to him or anyone else.
“In Virginia?” Brady’s brows furrowed in confusion.
My eyes widened in shock. I’d assumed Liam was from California and hadn’t even considered the possibility he’d grown up somewhere else before I blurted out my lie.
“Um, yeah,” I said quickly. “I wanted to get a fresh start, so he told me to fly out, and here I am.” I shrugged like it was no big deal.
I felt a heavy weight pressing down on me and looked to my left to see Liam staring at me while Jeremiah spoke to him. From the glint in his eyes I knew he’d heard every lie I’d spoken to Brady. I couldn’t seem to break away from his gaze, and my throat became dry like I hadn’t had a drop of water to drink in days.
“You wanna dance?”
I heard Brady’s question and jumped on it.
“Yeah.” I tore my gaze from Liam and looked up at Brady. “I’d love to.”
I took his hand, and he guided me away from his friends and into the crowd I’d fought against only minutes before.
The swaying and grinding bodies closed in around us, and I breathed a sigh of relief that we were out of sight of Liam. I didn’t know if I could focus on dancing with Liam so close to me.
I hated that I felt this…this…connection to him, but it was undeniable. I knew, deep down in my soul, that he and I were more alike than either of us would care to admit.
Brady turned me so that my back was to his front. His hands slid down to my waist, and his thumb circled over the bare skin of my stomach where my cover-up had fallen open. I leaned against him and slid my arms up and around the back of his neck. His hips grinded against mine, and my lips tilted up into a smile.
I didn’t recognize the song playing, but that was nothing new.
Things such as TV and music had been something I hadn’t gotten to enjoy with Blaise. The only things I had to keep me company were my sketchbooks.
The song ended, and another one began. Brady and I continued to dance, our bodies growing damp from sweat from all the closely-packed bodies and the sun simmering down on us.
We danced to a few more songs before Brady pulled me over to one of the tables set up with beverages. Somewhere along the way to the dance floor he’d lost his beer. He grabbed a new one and held one out to me. I shook my head and grabbed a water bottle instead.
“So,” he started, sounding slightly out of breath from all the dancing, “you and Liam went to school together?”
I was puzzled as to why he was asking me again, but I nodded and lied smoothly, “Yeah. Why?”
He tipped his head in the direction where Liam still stood with his friends. “Because Liam can’t seem to take his eyes off you. Thought maybe you were his ex or something.” Brady shrugged and lifted the beer to his lips. “You two got something going on or something? I didn’t mean to encroach on his territory. I’m not that kind of guy…well, I am,” he smiled sheepishly, “but not when it comes to my friends.”
I rolled my eyes at Brady’s use of the word territory, like I was some sort of land to be conquered. “No, we’re not exes, and there’s not anything going on with us.”
“Hmm,” he mused, looking from Liam to me. “Funny.”
“What’s funny?” I questioned, trying to keep the curiosity from my tone.
His tongue flicked out, wetting his lips, and he smiled crookedly. “It’s just…Liam can’t seem to take his eyes off of you, and in all the time I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him pay anyone much attention.”
“Really?” I took that bit of information and filed it away.
