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A soft chuckle slips free from him, and the sound of it scampers across my skin, making the tiny hairs on my arms prickle with newfound awareness. One hand curls around my thigh as the other slips beneath my sweater and settles at my waist. The feel of his calloused palms against my sensitive skin sends arousal spiraling through me, and I can’t help but shift.
“Keep wiggling around like that and you’ll find something hard poking your ass,” he growls.
I gulp and immediately still my movements. The longer I remain frozen in place, the more tempting it is to squirm as need pools in my core like warmed honey. My teeth sink into my lower lip in an effort to keep the moan gathering in my chest trapped inside where it can’t see the light of day.
His thumb strums my flesh above the waistband of my jeans where no one is the wiser. The way he touches me turns my insides to mush. What I don’t know is if it’s because I’ve never had anyone arouse me like this, or it’s specific to Ryder.
My greatest fear is that it has everything to do with him.
I clear my throat and attempt to distract myself from the dangerous thoughts circling around in my brain like hungry sharks. “When are you going to tell me what we’re doing?”
Before he can respond, the music stops as an older man hefts himself up onto the small stage I didn’t realize was on the far side of the bar.
He brings the microphone to his mouth. “The Wildcats brought home a win tonight, and you know what that means!”
Actually, I have no idea what it means.
But I seem to be the only one.
I glance around as everyone in the bar yells back in response, “Karaoke!”
“You got it!”
Oh no.
My head whips toward Ryder so fast that I nearly give myself whiplash. A slow smile spreads across his face as our gazes collide.
“Figure it out yet?”
CHAPTER18
RYDER
Her eyes widen to the point where they look like they might fall out of her head.
“No, I can’t,” she whispers in a voice that sounds like she’s being strangled from the inside out.
My gaze stays pinned to her face as I relax against the chair. “It’s on your list, isn’t it?”
She presses her lips together until they turn bloodless as every muscle goes taut. I’m kind of wishing that I hadn’t brought it up. I was enjoying the feel of her curvy little body against mine. The soft weight in my arms as my fingers stroked the bare skin beneath her sweater. It only makes me eager to explore more of her. And if she were any other girl, that’s exactly what I’d be doing.
Although, that’s not going to happen in front of Maverick. He’d have no problem getting in my face and asking what the hell I’m doing with his sister. Even though I’m a year older than Mav, we’ve always been friends. And teammates, because Mav played up in hockey.
The last thing I want to do is lie to him. But I also know if he discovers that I’m messing around with Juliette, it’ll probably be the end of our friendship.
That alone should be enough to give me pause.
It doesn’t.
“Yes,” she says grudgingly. “I never should have written it down.”
“But you did.”
“Yeah…”
I pop a brow. “And you want to check it off, don’t you?”
She draws in a deep breath through her nose before forcing it out between her lips. “I do.”
