Page 48 of Away We Go

I ignore her pout. The night is long; I need to pace myself.

With a water bottle in my hand, I risk a glance in Nicky’s direction. He’s standing a head taller than the people around him, looking mouthwatering in dark chinos and a cream-coloured polo shirt pulled tight across his chest, shoulders and arms.

“Who’s that?” Serena murmurs, tilting her head in Nicky’s direction.

A swooping sensation takes over my stomach as I watch a tall, curvy blonde slink her way over to Nicky. To be in this VIP area, she must be someone they know, and from the look on his face, he doesn’t seem to mind her attention.

I turn away, my heart pinching in my chest. “Don’t know.”

Serena looks at me and takes my hand. “We should head back out there. No point spending the night with people we see every day at work.”

I don’t argue, even though that was the whole point of coming out tonight. To lift the spirits of the team and all.

“Let’s go back to the bar.” I spare Nicky one last glance, jolting as my eyes connect with his, and turn back to follow behind Serena.

We jump onto a barstool, sharing just the one because it’s prime real estate up here at the bar, and she orders us a round of drinks.

“To us!” she sings, handing me a shot glass with a sloppy grin.

I clink my glass with hers and shoot it down with a grimace.Will I ever like the taste of tequila?

“You weren’t going to say hello?”

Nicky’s voice travels from my ear and hits me right in the gut. I glance over my shoulder to find him leaning his arm against the bar next to me, his big body shielding me from the crowd of people around us clamouring to order a drink.

“You seemed busy.” I bite my lip and lecture myself for sounding so petulant. Nicky is not mine to monopolise. He’s free to talk to whichever pretty girl he wants to.

“I’m never too busy for you, Cherry.”

I wobble on my barstool, looking to see the spot next to me now empty.Where is Serena?

“She’s dancing with that guy,” Nicky says. I swivel on my barstool and follow his gaze to the dance floor. There she is, dancing with her arms around the neck of a very cute guy, giving me very unsubtle thumbs up behind his back.

“That was fast.”

I turn back to find Nicky now in front of me, his hands resting on the bar behind me, his long arms caging me in on either side of my body.

Ooooh, well this is nice.

“Are you having fun?” The music is so loud he has to lean in close to talk to me. So close his lips are within kissing distance.

Not that we’ll be doing any kissing, but a girl can dream.

I lick my lips and let my liquid courage take over. “I’d be having more fun if you’d dance with me.”

His brows dip. “I don’t really dance.”

“You danced with me at Matt’s wedding.”

He smirks and leans closer to me, his eyes sparking at the reminder. “That was different.”

“Fine,” I say when the silence drags on and we remain where we are, staring at each other. We do this staring thing so well. “I’ll find someone else to dance with me.”

His hands drop from the bar and land on my hips, holding me in place.

“Fine,” he growls. “I’ll dance with you.”

I beam up at him and jump off the barstool. “Yay!”

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