He frowned.
Willa told herself to let the past go, but she was shaking from the emotional charge of old memories. Why can’t I put it behind me? Because he’s always there, part of my life even if I wish he weren’t.
Lexi knew better than to mention his name. Willa loved her sister, but even as close as they were, they’d both done things to hurt each other—things they regretted, things apologies didn’t fully wash away. Lance was a reminder of a time Willa never wanted to relive. She didn’t feel bad about telling him she was Lexi. He didn’t deserve the truth. The quicker she started this fiasco, the quicker she could leave. “Congratulations.”
With large, dramatic moves, an assortment of male and female dancers tore off their suits, revealing casual street clothing. Clay stepped away. The dancers encircled Lance and Willa. The opening music to a song began to play loudly.
The scene felt unreal. Lance looked around in surprise then back at her. The words from the song had meant nothing to Willa when she’d practiced the dance moves to them with Lexi, but suddenly, hearing them while so close to Lance threw Willa off balance.
What would I give for one taste of your lips?
One night in your arms?
I’d trade it all.
The song seemed to affect Lance as well. There was a fire in his eyes, hinting at a need that mirrored her own.
For Lexi.
To him, we’re the same.
Inhibitions temporarily pushed aside, Willa waved her arms, matching the movements of the dancers behind her. She threw herself into the energy and the power of the crowd. As more and more people came forward, stripped off their business attire and began to dance in T-shirts and cut-off jeans, Willa shifted away from Lance to move in unison with them. They formed a large semicircle that covered the lawn and flowed out onto the sidewalk behind.
The words of the song fanned Willa’s confusion.
You looked right through me, walked right by.
But you see me now.
Come on, give me one taste, one night.
We’ll do it all.
She let the music flow through her, drive her movements. Her eyes held Lance’s even though they were twenty or so feet from each other.
I may have been easy enough to forget before. She glanced at him over her shoulder and deliberately wiggled her ass at him. But try to forget this.
What had started as an interesting and productive day had derailed into a spectacle Lance was struggling to make sense of. If his cock’s judgment could be trusted, there was no way in hell the woman who had just congratulated him was Lexi Chambers. He’d found many women attractive in his near thirty years, Lexi being one of them, but only one woman had the irritating ability to give him a public boner.
Willa Chambers.
The flash mob organized into four lines of dancers with Willa in the front. The overall scene might have been impressive but, like a schoolboy, Lance’s attention was drawn to the bounce of two perfectly rounded breasts. His gaze lingered on Willa’s deliciously long, bare legs before she spun, and he was treated to the equally tantalizing view of her perfect little ass beneath a skirt that barely covered it. She shook that delightful derriere back and forth with a seductive rhythm, until all he wanted to do was reach out and haul it against his throbbing cock. Lance gritted his teeth and forced himself to look away. There were many women dancing, several with more provocative outfits than Willa’s, but they couldn’t hold his attention. Every move Willa made, every time their gazes met and clashed, Lance’s blood pounded in a possessive, primal way.
That has to be Willa.
His body knew hers, remembered every intimate, delectable inch of her. There was no way to block the memories of her tongue eagerly meeting his. How was it possible that none of the women he’d been with over the past ten years had shaken him to the core as she had? Yes, she was gorgeous, but why Willa? He didn’t regret much in his life, but if he could go back in time he would have stayed away from her that week.
Or been with her every week since.
His only excuse was he’d been young with a disproportionate ratio of more hormones than brains. He’d considered himself intelligent, but with her he’d been a bumbling fool—making mistake after mistake until he’d ruined any chance they’d had of being together.
Proof of the level of his screwup was the length of time Willa had held a grudge. She was civil to him in social situations, but that was all. At first, he’d tried to make amends. She’d said she never wanted to see him again, and he’d wanted to understand why. Eventually, out of respect for her friendship with his sister, he’d backed off. Time should have smoothed things over between them, but it hadn’t. One night. It shouldn’t still be that big of a deal, but it was. He’d given up hope that she’d ever forgive him. His cock, on the other hand, had remained more optimistic.