Kissing Her Crazy(25)
“Elliot!” Tyler said, beaming up at him.
“Hey there, little man. How’s it going today?”
Tyler pouted. “I have to dance with a girl.”
Elliot laughed and squatted down so he was on the same level as Tyler. “Ah, it’s not that bad.”
Tyler didn’t look like he believed him. “Really?”
“Really. In fact, it can be a lot of fun. Especially if you are dancing with the right girl.”
He glanced up at Lena, and she looked back at him, her forehead creasing. She didn’t look angry. More puzzled. He knew the feeling.
Tyler mulled that statement over for a second. “I have to dance with Abby. I played with her at day care yesterday.”
He pointed at the flower girl who was sitting on the floor with her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands.
“She looks nice enough.”
Tyler shrugged. “I guess.”
“Did you have fun with her at day care?”
“Yeah,” Tyler said. He frowned, like he expected Elliot to trick him somehow.
“Well, this isn’t that much different from playing. You get to dance to some awesome music. You just have to do it standing next to her.”
“Oh. Well, that doesn’t sound too bad, I guess.”
“Why don’t you go over there and say hi? I bet she’ll be happy to see another kid here. She’ll be more fun to hang around with than all us boring adults.”
“You aren’t boring,” he said, grinning up at Elliot. “Can we go play video games again in your room?”
“No,” Lena said. “We talked about this, Tyler. We’re supposed to do our dance lessons right now. We can do something fun later.”
Tyler sighed. “Okay. Can Elliot do something fun with us?”
“I’d love to,” Elliot cut in, before Lena could say no again.
“We’ll see,” she said.
“That means no,” Tyler whispered to him.
Elliot ruffled his hair. “I’ll see what I can do to change her mind. Go on over and get your dance partner. I think lessons are about to start.”
Tyler let go of his mom’s hand. “Okay.”
He ran off without looking back, and Elliot stood up, his full attention on Lena now that Tyler was happily settled with his friend.
“Hello there,” he said, his voice deep and low, not much louder than a whisper.
“Hi.” She was still looking somewhere around the vicinity of his throat.
“I wasn’t sure you were going to come. You’ve been avoiding me.”
Her gaze finally met his. “No, I haven’t.”
He raised his eyebrows, amused.
She blushed. “Okay, maybe I have. I just… I wasn’t sure… I mean after what happened…”
Elliot stepped a little closer, reaching out so he could run his hands down her arms. “You mean when I kissed you?”
She shivered, her skin erupting in goose bumps, though he knew she couldn’t possibly be cold. The hotel was air-conditioned, but with so many open walls the steamy heat that lay just beyond the cool barriers of the indoors always trickled into the interior.
“Yes,” she murmured, moving her gaze back to his throat.
He gently raised her chin so he could meet her eyes again. “Do you regret kissing me?”
She looked at him a moment before answering. “No,” she said, that gorgeous blush staining her cheeks again.
Happiness streaked through Elliot so strongly he wanted to laugh with the sheer joy of it.
He leaned forward so he could whisper into her ear. “Do you have any idea how badly I want to taste that sweet mouth of yours again? Right now?” He kissed the soft skin beneath her ear, and she shivered again, leaning into him, turning her face so their cheeks brushed together.
She stepped back before their lips met and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Oz loomed up next to him. His stony gaze fixed on Elliot’s hands touching his sister. Elliot dropped his hand from her cheek but dragged the other down her arm to take her hand in his.
“Everything okay?” Oz asked her.
“Yep, fine.” Lena’s voice was faint but steady. Her hand gripped his tighter.
Elliot nodded. “Everything’s fine.” He pulled on her hand, leading her onto the dance floor. “Looks like it’s lesson time.”
Oz looked like he wanted to say something, but Cher came over and wrapped her arms around his waist. Oz looked down at her and the frown immediately smoothed away, replaced by such a tender, loving smile that Elliot’s heart almost hurt. Happiness for his sister filled him, and for the first time he wondered what it would be like to have someone staring up at him with such incredible love shining from her face. He’d avoided that scenario like the plague his whole life. Or maybe he’d thought he was avoiding it, but had never found someone who he wanted to look at him like that.