Page 62 of Party Favors

“There is! There’s this bar not too far that has live music and line dancing!” I’d always wanted to check it out, but Vella had said she’d rather have her fingernails torn off by a rabid monkey than go with me.

“This Friday? Are you free?” he asked.

I would be, no matter what it took. “Yes.”

“Do I need to dress up for this? Cowboy boots, hat, that kind of thing?”

“You can wear whatever you want. Or don’t want.” Oh no, impure thoughts again.

“I’ll keep that in mind. I just wanted to take you out to thank you for all that you’re doing for Sunny.”

That feeling of being a balloon with a fast leak returned. This was for the best. I knew that. Some part of me had still hoped, though. “Okay. I’ll text you the address and meet you there at nine o’clock, if that’s okay.” No coming to my door with flowers and being all charming and irresistible.

It wasn’t a date. I needed to make that clear.

To both him and me.

There was silence on his end and then he said, “That works. I’ll see you then.”

I hung up my phone, my heart ramming against my chest.

Why did it feel like I’d just made a big mistake?

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Vella said, shivering next to me. While I had opted for a Kat-inspired outfit she’d worn on her last American tour topped off by my pink cowgirl boots, my roommate was wearing a black corset and leather pants with stiletto boots and no coat, again.

“I needed you here tonight,” I told her.

“Can we at least go inside?”

My hesitation was enough to tip her off.

“What is happening right now?” She sounded alarmed.

“We’re waiting for someone.”

“For Max?” she asked, and I couldn’t tell what her tone was. Incredulous? Excited? Annoyed? Probably all three. “You have a date with Max and you made me tag along? I’m guessing he doesn’t know that I’m coming.”

“What difference does that make?” I needed her to be a buffer. To keep me from hitting on him.

“I think we’re about to find out.” She nodded her head to the right and I looked in that direction and nearly had a heart attack.

While I had witnessed a couple of different incarnations of Max—casual, in a suit—nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelmingly sexy sight of him in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. Like every teenage fantasy I’d ever had come to life.

It was freezing outside, but I was perspiring from desperate longing. I actually reached up to my mouth to check and make sure I wasn’t drooling.

“You have to behave,” I said to Vella, but I suspected that I was also saying it to myself.

“Are you threatening me right now?” She was delighted.

“I would, except you don’t own anything valuable or have anything you love that I could hold hostage.”

“Why do you think I wouldn’t behave?”

“You know how you are.”

She had a look of pure evil on her face. “Uh, a total delight? A virtual ray of sunshine? Like a unicorn with a rainbow horn and pink cotton candy hair?”

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