Page 63 of Never Been Shipped

He reached for the last strawberry before she could, holding it up to her mouth in order for her to take a big bite, a line of juice sliding down her chin.

“I’ve always had a thing for older women,” he said.

“Oh, you have, have you?”

He ran the strawberry lightly along her lower lip, his eyes dark as he watched her finally take the rest of it in her mouth. He leaned forward to kiss her, his tongue warm and tasting of strawberries, too, his teeth gentle as he nibbled at the corner of her bottom lip.

“These do make your mouth very red,” he said, sucking a bit of the strawberry juice off her. “Andextremelykissable. Your magazines were really onto something with that one.”

—

This time, Micahgot all the way dressed afterward, putting her bra and T-shirt back on and giving John back his hoodie since she had her own cardigan. They started packing up the guitars and the rest of the equipment, seeming to agree without having to say so that they were done rehearsing for the night.

“I think there’s a dance party happening right now,” Micah said. “On the main deck. I kind of wish we were just normal people on aNightshifterscruise where we could enjoy that kind of thing.”

He slung the case for his electric guitar—herguitar, technically—over his back, picking up the hard case for one of the acoustics after she’d grabbed the other one. He’d said there were people who’d helped get the rest of the equipment to the stage, and he could call them to get them to stow it back away where it belonged. He seemed to be thinking about what she’d said, and when she started to walk away, he pulled her back with one finger hooked in the belt loop of her jeans.

“I have an idea,” he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Let’s keep this date going.”

They dropped the instruments off in his room, and then John disappeared for a few minutes, coming back with two masks. One was a wolf mask that went over your entire head, while the other was a cat mask that covered the front of your face held up by a rubber band.

“Best I could do,” he said. “But I got these off twoNightshiftersfans in exchange for autographing a few things and promising a picture with the band if they found us at prom. Which one do you want?”

Micah selected the wolf, thinking both of covering up her hair but also of that strange, random vision she’d had her first day on the ship, of being able to shapeshift into a wolf and make her way through all the crowds. Already that seemed like a lifetime ago. John put his own cat mask on, pulling up his hood over his hair.

“This will never work,” she said.

“Worth a try, though, right? I always hit the clubs on a second date.”

She smiled, although she already had the mask on and soshe knew he couldn’t see it. “Not the first? What’s the matter—not confident enough in your moves?”

“My moves are too intimidating for a first date,” he said. “I wouldn’t want you thinking I’m some kind of animal.”

“Well,” she said, pulling at his cat mask to snap it gently back against his cheek. “No, we wouldn’t want that.”

Another thing she wouldn’t have known about John—he actuallycoulddance. And what’s more, he seemed to really enjoy it. The minute they got out onto the main deck of the ship, the music throbbing from the DJ up on the stage, he grabbed her hand and led her out into the middle of the dance floor. They were far from the only people wearing masks or costumes, so it wasn’t nearly as weird as she thought it would be, and it only took a few minutes before she felt herself relax, knowing that no one was paying any special attention to them at all.

John was still holding her hand as he gave her a spin, and then he was dancing closer to her, his hands on her waist, her hips, her ass as he moved her to the beat of the music. She’d done her fair share of dancing—she’d built acareerpartially on it—but she felt like she had nothing to do but move with him, letting the bass thump through her entire body, seeming to vibrate especially in her chest, which almost hurt suddenly with the force of it. She linked her arms around John’s neck, pressing against him even though it slowed them down, made them move as if underwater while the faster electronic music pulsed all around them.

Johnny, she thought.My Johnny. It’s always been you, hasn’t it?

He leaned in, holding his mask a little off his face to give more room to speak. “What?”

She hadn’t realized she’d said that last part aloud. She shook her head, suddenly grateful for the mask that blocked out her words, hid her face from his view. She spun in his arms so she was facing away from him now, unabashedly grinding her ass against him until she could feel him getting hard. His hands on her hips were a little rougher now, a little more insistent—Yes, keep doing that—and she danced like she wasn’t even aware he was there, even though she’d never been aware of anything more in her life.

She split off before they got too hot and bothered, dancing with a group of women who’d been shrieking and scream-talking while they jumped along to the music. They were clearly having the best time, and Micah had a blast dancing with them, pumping their fists to an anthemic chorus, standing half-crouched in anticipation of an epic breakdown, moving in a burst of energy once that beat dropped. When she glanced back at John, he was still dancing, rolling his shoulders, swaying his head back and forth until his hood dropped completely off, showing the way his damp curls now stuck to his neck. But he was watching her, too, and he danced over to her when he saw her attention on him.

“Are you done?” he asked, leaning in so she could hear him, his hand resting lightly on the bare skin at her waist where her T-shirt had ridden up.

Shehadbeen done, had started to become conscious of how hot it was inside the mask. But suddenly she didn’t want this to be over.

“Not yet,” she said. “Dance with me.”

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

John could’ve dancedwith Micah for hours. He loved watching her move, loved having her body pressed up against his. Dancing was one of those things that he forgot how much he enjoyed until he was actually doing it, feeling the music pulse through him and letting his body move to it in a way that felt natural and free and like an expression of something he normally kept to himself. And yet John felt like he’d somehow never danced before a day in his life, not like this.

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