Girl in Love(8)

Then he’d shown up tonight and she’d felt a pain more intense than she thought possible without someone having died.

Steven gripped her wrists and gently nudged her out of his personal space. “Time’s up, Ryans.” Kissing her softly on the cheek, he sighed in her ear. “I know it’s hard. But you’re gonna be okay. Just give yourself some time.”

“Wait.” She reached for his hand, slipping hers into it. “Will you just come over and hang out tonight? As a friend?” It was the contact—his soft, warm lips on her face— that made her ache for more. For a connection to someone. Anyone.

Steven glanced around. “Just me and you?”

She nodded. She couldn’t handle much more of Mia’s critical evaluations of her clothing, her song choices, or her behavior.

Steven looked her straight in the eyes. “You know what people will say. And honestly, I know myself well enough not to trust me. I can’t promise to care if you’re over him or not if you come at me like that again.”

Kylie grinned. At least he was honest. “I’ll behave. Promise. I just…don’t want to sit home alone and rehash the past all night. Maybe we could get some writing in. Please?” She bit her lip and waited for him to respond.

She watched his jaw clench as he contemplated her suggestion. “I’ll come hang out. For a little while. On two conditions.”

Relief flooded her entire body. The thought of sitting in that empty apartment had been weighing on her even more heavily than she’d realized. She knew she’d give in and spend all night on the Internet, trying to find out everything she could about Trace and Gretchen. Torturing herself if she went home alone.

“Name ’em.”

“First, we tell Mia. Explain that we’re just hanging out as friends. Or we invite her. Whichever.”

Kylie frowned. “I know she means well, but I need a break from ‘suck it up and get back in the game’ boot camp courtesy of Drill Sergeant Montgomery.”

Steven nodded. “Okay then. I’ll tell her I’m stopping by your place after this. Condition number two. Ryans, so help me, if you so much as glance in my direction with that come-fuck-me look one more time, you better be ready to follow through.”

The intensity of his words came through loud and clear. She took a step back.

“Got it. No come-fuck-me looks.”

Steven laughed. It was dark laughter that warmed her in places only one other man had ever been able to affect in that way.

“I didn’t say you couldn’t give them. I’m just giving you fair warning. I took the nice guy high road once. I probably won’t take it again.”

“Duly noted.”

She felt much lighter when they went back into the club. Writing with Steven was cathartic and she was looking forward to it. But she had a nagging feeling she was going to have to invite Mia whether she liked it or not. Even though she was driving Kylie a little crazy lately, she knew Mia was trying to be helpful in her own way.

Mia had told her a million times that she wasn’t looking for a relationship and that nothing was going on between her and Steven, but she knew it wasn’t worth risking it. If Mia had even an inkling of a feeling for him, then hanging out with him alone was a bad move. A dangerous and probably stupid one.

She was just about to tell Steven that all four of them could go back to her place and just hang out when he stopped so abruptly she ran smack into the back of him.

“What the hell, Blythe?” But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she saw what had stopped him.

Right next to where they’d been sitting, Mia and Chris stood at the edge of the dance floor. They might have been dancing. Or having sex standing up. Kylie wasn’t sure. But she saw that they were connected at the waist, chest, and mouth regions.

She reached up and wrapped her hands firmly around Steven’s biceps from behind, pulling him back. He was stiff as a corpse. His muscles flexed under her hands.

“Come on. Let’s go. Now we both have something to write about.”

But when Steven turned around to face her, his normally playful bright blue eyes were dark and blazing.

Apparently she wasn’t the only one contemplating something dangerous and stupid.





“WHERE ARE we going?” Kylie asked as she made her way through the sea of sweaty bodies in an attempt to keep up with him.

“I’m going to the bar. You can go wherever you like.”

She squeezed onto a stool beside him as he ordered half a dozen shots of tequila.

“Really? Six shots? When you’ve already been drinking? For someone who doesn’t know how he feels about Mia, that’s a lot of alcohol.”