Doing It for Love(7)

I evil laugh with the iPod, turning the volume up and dancing in my seat. My music preference stayed firmly in the late nineties, early two-thousands. Boy bands are the best thing to ever happen to my eardrums … and the worst to Landon's.

After the final guitar strum I switch over to some *NSYNC while Landon continues to shake his head at me.

"Are we almost there?"

Landon answers with a grin, nodding out my side of the car. He pulls up to a club I've never set foot in, and from the line outside, it looks like I'm not going to tonight either.



       
         
       
        

"Um … " I raise an eyebrow while he throws the car in park. We're the only ones in full white, so my brain is short on guesses about what we're doing. "I think you should've used the GPS."

"Ha. Ha." He taps my nose with the car key. "Trust me."

We get out, and I'm instantly grateful I put on flats. The asphalt is covered with gravel and early-autumn leaves crunching under our feet as Landon leads me straight to the bouncers.

I grab onto Landon's biceps, tucking in close. I'm not sure what he has in mind since he knows I'm not the best clubber. I already feel out of place. And we're only outside.

The bouncer looks as if he's going to kill the next person who says something to him until he catches Landon's eye and turns a one-eighty, grinning wide and fist-bumping my hubby-to-be.

"Congratulations, man," he says. My cheeks feel hot under the lights in the entryway. My grip tightens on his arm. What is happening?

Landon says, "Thanks," wiggles from my hold, and places a hand on the small of my back. "Ladies first."

"I don't think I want to," I say with a laugh. Landon's hand slides around my waist and pulls me close.

"I won't leave your side, scaredy-cat."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

He nudges me past the bouncer. I can hear the people in the line throw out some choice words when Landon opens the door.

A steady drumbeat thumps through my chest, my eyes adjust to the contrast of dark mixed with bright neon, and my nervous butterflies fly out behind me as I take in all our friends covered head-to-toe in bright paint. Cheers vibrate the walls and scare me back into Landon with a laugh.

He catches me and leans down to my ear. "You have Theresa to thank for this."

I turn, my nose grazing the scruff on his cheek. "What exactly is 'this'?"

"Engagement party." He taps a kiss to my lips. I want to kiss him longer, but a hand curls around my wrist and yanks me away from my sexy-ass fiancé.

Sexy-ass. He does have a sexy ass. If only I could grab a handful while he's pressing me against a wall.

"Freaking gorgeous!" Penny, Landon's old roommate's girlfriend, yells. I push away my naughty ass-grabbing fantasy and she pulls the diamond on my hand up to her face. She's covered in bright yellow paint spatters, dotting her cheeks and down her neck. I sneak my hand away as politely as possible so she doesn't get paint on my ring. But Theresa snags it next, and she's painted in blue and pink. Suddenly I'm surrounded by all my girlfriends, laughing and showing off the rock. 

"Oh!" Theresa says over the music and the high-pitched squealing. "You need to get painted." She grabs my arm, and I wave bye to everyone. My white dress glows as bright as all the neon paint under the black lights, and even though there are about 150-plus people in here, I can spot Landon across the room, glowing like the Bat-Signal. So much for staying next to him all night.

"You are crazy, you know?" I tell her as she drags me through the crowd. "How did you get everyone here in one day?"

She tosses her brown curls over her shoulder. "We've been waiting for Landon to ask you for months. He finally got the balls to do it."

Damn, I love my friends. Most people would tell me I'm crazy or we're crazy or whatnot because of my age, but my friends go and throw a black-light paint party.

Probably going to get a different reaction from my parents.

Wait …

"Theresa?" I ask, stopping on the steps to the paint drums. "You didn't post this on Facebook, did you?"

Her head tilts to the side, and she blinks but doesn't answer.

"Because I haven't told my mom yet," I continue, "and she cannot find out from Facebook."

She blinks again, eyes growing wider and wider, making my stomach more and more uneasy.

"O-of course not." She fake smiles. "That would be a horrible thing."

I go to smack her, but she dodges my swing and hops down the steps to the larger crowds, pulling her phone from her pocket.

"Be right back!" she shouts with a wave. I crumple a napkin at a nearby table and chuck it in her direction. The feeble thing lands about two feet in front of me.

"Nice throw, Beth Ann," I hear over my shoulder. I turn around with a gut punch, knowing who it is because he's the only one who calls me by my middle name. But Jace totally expects it, catching my wrist before it connects with his stomach. A wide grin splits on his bright-red painted face, his teeth glowing white like my dress, and globs of green in his brown hair. He pulls me in for a bear hug, lifting me off my feet and making me squeal over his shoulder.

"Don't squeeze too tight," I croak. "I'll break in half."

He sets me down. "I'd say congratulations, but you're so stupid," he says, and this time I get a good hook to his shoulder. He rocks back on his heels and chuckles. "Just saying, you could've had this … " He gestures to himself. "But you chose that." His hand waves out behind me. Warm arms find my waist, jolting me on the spot.

"I'm funnier than you, bro," Landon says to Jace, tucking his chin in the crook of my neck. Jace gasps as if that's the worst insult ever. I laugh and kiss my fiancé's cheek.

Fiancé. I love that word.

"You guys are doing that cute shit, so I'm gonna get a drink." Jace slaps his hand across Landon's. "Congrats."

"Sure, you say it to him," I call out to his retreating figure. Jace turns around with a grin.

"He's not the stupid one!"

I go to flip him off, but Landon catches my hand and twines our fingers together.

"He'll only take it as an invitation," he says. I roll my eyes, but nod. Jace not-so-subtly hits on everyone. I don't know how Landon lived with him for so long.

When I first met Jace, he'd just broken up with his girlfriend-Penny, girl who almost painted up my ring-and was so out of it he passed out on my shoulder watching Bridget Jones's Diary on Netflix. The next morning he didn't remember a thing, not even meeting me. It didn't take him long to call me gorgeous and ask for my number. Landon did his very manly territorial display with a giant kiss and taking me to his room to complete the territory marking. Jace still hits on me just to see Landon go caveman. I'm not complaining.



       
         
       
        

Landon rocks me slowly to the drums, trailing kisses down my neck and making my eyes roll back in my head.

"You want to dance, Tumbles?"

"Yes. But keep it Bible distance, remember?"

"Like, the e-book version?"

I elbow him in the gut, and he leads me to the dance floor. Alec gives me and Landon a wave before getting pulled into a dance by Jaycee, one of the girls in Landon's movie. Theresa and Penny are dancing with each other and a guy I don't know, but he tells us congrats as we pass. Landon spins me under his arm and then pulls me against him. My waist knocks with his, jolting the naughty tingles. As he moves with me, I push on his chest slightly to keep our agreed-upon distance.

"How do you know the bouncer?" I ask, mainly so I'm not tempted to just make out and dry hump. Landon's hands smooth over my waist.

"We were filming here today." He gulps. I bite back my smile, feeling something I haven't in a long time-empowered and sexy. I maneuver against his leg, pressing our belly buttons together. He sucks in a deep breath and spins me around to dance with my butt instead. "The backdrop was awesome," he says after a minute. "I can't wait to see the playback."

His warm body feels so good against mine. He's never danced like this before. Hands exploring but not overstepping, breath hot and heavy in my ear, keeping my ass close enough to feel the explosions between us, but far enough away to not actually touch.

What were we talking about?

Asses.

No.

Backdrop. Playback. Oh! His movie …

"Did you use the special neon paint for your zombies?" Yes, zombies. Let's talk about gross makeup and dead people coming back to life.

"Of course," he teases. "That's what makes them scary."

The music tempo changes a bit, or maybe it's not the music at all, just Landon dancing behind me. One of his hands grips my hip while the other strokes my ribs. I tangle my fingers into his hair, enjoy the scruff of his chin against my cheek, and rub against him as much as I can without breaking any rules. But damn, this is harder than I thought it'd be.

Lots of things are hard.

I'm sure it's hard.

But I'm not going to feel it.

Nope.

"I want paint on me," I blurt. Hips are knocking and the waves are reverberating in the Land of Liz, and I am not proving Landon right on "Flakey Lizzie."