Page 61 of Curvy Girl Summer

The song dropped and the entire place went wild.

“Look at Leon and Darius! They some damn fools,” Ahmad said before he burst out laughing.

“Where?”

He moved closer, and I tried to follow his finger. “Right there.”

“I don’t see them.”

He moved behind me and turned my head a quarter inch to the left. Leaning so his head was resting against mine, he pointed again. “Right there.”

The silky material of his shirt brushed against my exposed back. His muscular chest made the silk feel warm against my skin. His closeness made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. My eyes closed and I gripped the metal railing tightly as his cologne infiltrated my nostrils.

“They’re right near the pole,” he said in a low tone that coursed through my entire body.

A shiver ran down my spine.

My eyes flew open, and I swallowed hard. I started to move out of his arms when I saw what he was talking about.

“Is that… Wait a fucking minute!” I burst out laughing.

My amusement triggered his, and he fell forward, the weight of him pressing me against the railing.

“These two-left-feet muthafuckas!” Ahmad chuckled. He moved to the side of me fractionally. He wasn’t directly behind me anymore, but our bodies were still touching.

“Did they know they couldn’t dance when they went down there?” I wondered with tears in my eyes.

“They knew!”

I gave him a look over my shoulder. “While you’re standing here talking about them, can you dance?”

“Can I dance?” he scoffed, taking two steps back. “Hell yeah. Can you?”

As Terra-Cotta sang another up-tempo tune, I started rocking my hips. I put my arms in the air and moved to the beat. I started singing with them, and he joined me. His moves started to mimicmine, and as the song transitioned into the chorus, I turned my back to him and started shaking my ass.

“Oh, shit, Aaliyah, I see you,” he said as he got up on me and started dancing with me.

Together, we sang loudly as we danced.

There was so much freedom in the fun we were having. There was lightness and joy in our movements. Even though our bodies were grinding against each other, it wasn’t sexual. He wasn’t just standing there letting me twerk on him. He was actually dancing with me—and he had rhythm. With his hands on my hips, he kept up with me. But when the beat slowed down and my movements slowed with it, something changed.

My nipples hardened, and the heat from his body permeated the fabric of my dress. He gripped my hips, his fingers digging into my fleshiness. As suddenly as the lighthearted fun washed over me, it left. A sexually charged energy crept up my spine, and desire coiled in my belly.

This needs to stop.

“Ohhhhhhh,” Leon reacted loudly, causing me and Ahmad to separate hastily. He positioned himself in between us as we guiltily moved farther apart. With his arms crossed, he looked at me on one side of him and Ahmad on the other. “Now I see why you said Aaliyah was off-limits.”

“Cut that shit, man,” Ahmad responded.

“It’s not even like that,” I added quickly.

He’s married,I finished the sentence in my head.

“It looked exactly like that,” Leon countered before winking at me. “I mean, I get it. Aaliyah is the complete package. I just wish you would’ve said something before I got my hopes up.”

“Ahmad and I are just friends,” I asserted. My voice came out louder than anticipated. “That’s it. That’s all.”

“And y’all coming up here with all this energy, where was that down there?” Ahmad pointed down to the first floor. “Both of y’all down there making a mockery of dance.”

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