Page 43 of Hunt for the Roses
“Great. Come find me later,” Sarah says before she bites her bottom lip and walks away.
I’m grinning as I turn to Aria, but Aria isn’t smiling. Instead, she’s throwing me a hard stare. I play dumb. “What?”
She grabs my arm with both her hands as if she’s begging. “Dane, could you please just give me this hour or two, and I promise, whatever sexual escapades you want to do afterwards, won’t offend me in the least.”
I hike a thumb over my shoulder. “Did you not just witness me tell her I’m with a friend?”
She purses her lips as she removes her hands from my arm. “That’s true. You did.”
“Thank you.” I turn to face the bar and take a sip of my water. “So let’s get actual drinks now. What do you want?”
“Sex on the beach, please,” she says. I order a sex on the beach and then a gin and tonic for me. Once the bartender passes the drinks to us, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston plays, and Aria’s eyes go wide. She takes her drink off the bar as she gets up from the stool.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“To dance,” Aria states like it’s no big deal.
“By yourself?”
She leans closer to my face as she says, “Sometimes you just have to seize the moment. Right now, I feel like dancing.” And with that, Aria raises her arms in the air, with her drink in hand, and she starts dancing with a couple other people in front of the DJ.
Aria’s quick to make friends with another woman up there, who seems older than her, but just as fun apparently. Aria takes the woman’s hand and spins her around, and then the woman spins Aria around. Before you know it, they just sway their hips to the beat of the music.
I take a sip of my drink as I watch Aria move on the dance floor. I’m finding that I’m learning a lot about Aria I never knew before. Like how spontaneous andfunshe is. To top it all off, she’s a natural beauty, and she hasgreatrhythm. Talk about a total package, I can’t take my eyes off of her.
Once the chorus comes on, Aria’s arms fly high in the air, and she’s singing right along at the top of her lungs with everyone else on the dance floor. I can’t help but stupidly grin from my seat at the bar, and I almost wish I was dancing with her.
Not almost.
Idefinitelywish I was dancing with her right now.
When the song ends, Aria walks toward me as she’s fanning herself. “I forgot how much I break a sweat,” Aria says. “I hope I don’t smell,” Aria adds as she tips her nose down to her shoulder.
My elbow rests on the bar as my chin is in my palm. “Did you just sniff your armpit?”
Aria takes a seat in her bar stool, and grabs her crossbody bag to sift through it. “Yes,” she responds as she takes a travel size deodorant out, and uncaps it before slouching down and sneaking a few swipes under her armpits.
“Okay, this is happening,” I comment.
“What? Nobody likes body odor,” Aria retorts as she sits up straighter and puts the deodorant back in her bag.
I chuckle. “You could have just asked me how you smelt and saved yourself the trouble. You smell nice.”
“My sweat glands are out of control when I dance,” she says in her defense.
I briefly look over to the dance floor. “Yeah, you weren’t exactly holding back over there.”
“Okay, go ahead. Make fun of me.”
My elbow is resting on the bar counter as my temple leans on the knuckles of my fingers. “For once, I wasn’t going to make a joke.”
Aria eyes me suspiciously. “Uh-huh.”
I sit up as I laugh and tip my palms outward. “What, I’m incapable of complimenting you?”
“Yes,” Aria says with a playful smile as she defends her point.
I return her smile, and just as I’m about to respond to her, I’m interrupted by some random guy who slides in at the bar next to Aria.
