Page 17 of Doing It for Love

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 watchingBridget Jones’s Diaryon 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 andsexy. 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 actuallytouch.

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.

“Ofcourse,” 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.”

“Well,” he says, moving my body toward the drums. A worker is placing new paint on top while a few clubbers start pounding the instruments, spattering everyone within range. Landon’s scruff tickles my neck as he says, “There are the drums.” He moves me a few more inches. “Or the paint balloons.”

Paint balloons.

Paint balls.

Balls.

Landon’s—

“Or we could paint each other,” Landon suggests. He nods up the stairs to several curtained-off areas. Friends and couples go in paint free and come out with designs, handprints, and other various art over their skin and clothing. I turn to Landon with a big grin, resting my chin on my shoulder. He laughs at my smile and wraps his hand around mine.

“Come on.” He leads me up a few sets of stairs, above the main dance floor, and over the paint drums. The beats continue to thump through my chest, making me want to grab Landon and dance some more. A couple passes us as they leave one of the curtained areas, freshly painted and holding hands. I squeeze Landon’s fingers twice. He squeezes back once.

One of the club workers pulls back a curtain. Landon ducks in first, pulling me behind him. The club worker says, “If we’re out of any color, let us know.”

Landon nods and brings me in front of him. I lean against his warm chest and look around the room.

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