Page 58 of My Last Dance

“He’s a hottie with a body,” Ria said, wagging her eyebrows andfanning herself. “Look at those abs.”

“No, don’t look,” I snapped.

Ria rolled her lips, trying to stifle a laugh. “You got it bad, girl,” she said, patting me on the shoulder.

As soon as Richard started dancing low, moving his hips in a sexual way toward the bachelorette, I lost it.

I slammed my drink down, making it slosh over the side, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

When Kappy found me in the crowd, there was no surprise in his eyes. My frown deepened, but he just grinned, like he knew that we’d been following him all along.

And then he didn’t pay asingle secondof attention to me.

Even after he left the stage, I couldn’t pay attention to what my friends were saying. I was lost in my own world of shock and jealousy, wondering if I should confide in Mer or Ali, or wondering if I should—

Strong arms wrapped around me from behind. “The Viper came out to play, eh?” his deep voice rumbled.

Whirling around, I smacked his chest. “I cannot believe you’re doing this!”

“You can’t?” He laughed. He was shirtless and a little sweaty, and I had a hard time not blushing.

“Put a shirt on,” I fumed.

“Why?” he asked with a lopsided grin. “I don’t look good?” He pouted out bottom lip to resemble a sad little kid, but there was absolutely no innocence in the way he was just dancing. He looked over my head to my friends for reassurance.

“You look great!” Ria gushed.

“You did excellent.” Paige nodded eagerly, taking another long sip from her fruity drink. “Really excellent work, Kappy.”

I glared at my friends. “Donotencourage him!”

He just laughed as he produced a plain black t-shirt from his back pocket and shrugged it on, making his muscles stretch and bulge in different places. “I have you to thank actually.”

I gaped at him. “Me?” I threw my arms wide. “For this?”

He chuckled as he leaned forward, right into my personal space. “All those Dance Dance Revolution games really inspired me,” he whispered, his breath tickling my cheek.

My nose flared with an angry breath. There’s no way he was putting this on me. I shoved him away. “What would your momthink? Does she know about this?”

He barked out a laugh. “Ya know, I think she’d be okay with it,” he mused. “Her favorite movie isMagic Mike.”

“Oh my God,” I muttered, holding my temples. “You need to bathe in like…in like…holy water. You are objectifying yourself, Richard.”

His whole body shuddered with a laugh.

“Stop laughing!” I demanded.

He held his jaw, but he couldn’t stop. “Your brain is frying itself, P. It’s just dancing, you do it all the time. Dancing is good for the soul, and it’s better for the body than SSRI’s. Now c’mon, let’s get out of here.”

“No! I do not dothis.” I pointed to the stage. “You were all up on that bachelorette. I do not grind on other men!”

“Nah,” he agreed, settling me a bit. “Just Patrick.”

I gasped. “That’s different! You just…you…” A strangled noise erupted out of me. I was too angry to come up with an insult.

“I?” He grinned wickedly, waiting. He smoothed his hand down and interlocked it with mine. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

I glared at him, but I didn’t pull my hand away. I couldn’t. Not when it was the only thing that eased my jealousy by a tiny fraction. “And go where?” I ground out.

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