Page 112 of Lovestruck at Sundown
“Here goes.” Joel restarted the song for the second time. “Try to keep up, Liam!”
“Oh, shut it,” Liam replied. Nina laughed.
Joel and William started their moves, and I focused on him alone. William knelt on one knee in front of me and slid forward, grabbing the chair’s legs. He pushed himself up and sat on top of me, slowly grinding against me to the rhythm of the music. He parted my legs with his knees and took a step on the chair, only to jump back on the floor. He started pulling on his sweater, revealing part of his abs and chest, but released the fabric and kept it on.
I was already drooling, mouth agape, watching with fascination. This was full-on choreography. They weren’t kidding around. And the fact that they still remembered it was both funny and impressive.
William turned his back to me and squatted, and before I realized what he even did or how he did it, he was sitting on top of me again, giving his back to me, his hips gyrating hard against my thighs.
“What the hell was that!” I heard Liam shout. I would’ve laughed, but I was too shocked and beyond entertained watching William dance to even bother.
William stood and removed his sweater. Tossed it on the floor beside him. He grabbed the back of my chair and rotated it 90 degrees, then tilted it back until he gently but quickly settled it on the floor. I let out a short but loud scream, and so did Lily.
But I couldn’t see her or anything else happening around me because of how they moved the chairs around and the fact that William was now crawling behind my head, stopping until he grabbed onto the edge of my seat. He placed each knee beside my face, and all I could see was his crotch moving up and down my face, all perfectly timed to the music as he pulled and pushed the chair back and forth. His hands grabbed mine and slid them up and down his chiseled abs.
Before I could take another breath, William grabbed the chair’s backrest and lifted me back to a sitting position. My hair was a tangled mess, and my jaw ached from smiling, gaping, or both.
He pulled me up from my seat, turned me around, and bent me over, placing my hands on the chair for balance. “William!” He placed his hands on my hips and pulled them against him to grind on my ass, every move perfectly coordinated with the song. His fingers bunched my hair into a fist and straightened me.
“It’s midnight!” Lily shouted.
William stopped the choreography. He slid his hand around my waist, pulling me flush against his chest, moved my hair to the side, and whispered, “Happy New Year, baby,” before spinning me around and lifting me off my feet to kiss me.
William put medown, and I hugged Lily and Joel, wishing them a Happy New Year. William embraced Joel next. When I turned around looking for Liam and Nina, I saw her sitting on top of him. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and Liam’s hands cupped her cheeks as they kissed.
I tapped William’s arm so he would notice, and he started whistling. Joel joined in, making Liam and Nina break off the kiss. He rested his forehead against hers and smiled. She smiled too. I was thrilled for them.
Liam stood and helped Nina to her feet. I hugged them both and wished them a Happy New Year. William popped open the champagne and messily poured it into the flutes on the kitchen counter.
We all took a glass. Lifted them. Made several toasts.
“Now yours,” William said to me. “The one from your birthday.”
I lifted my glass again, and everyone followed. I took a second to look around at the faces in front of me. I smiled, feeling grateful and whole, wishing I could hold on to the intense feeling of happiness filling my chest forever. Hoping it held on to metoo.
“May our worst nights be like this one.”
“Skål!” We shouted and drank in unison.
“So, Liam,” Joel said. “How many seconds into the song did you give up on trying to follow the choreography?”
We all laughed, and Lily whispered in my ear, “I do love it, but pretend like I don’t so Joel will keep doing it and trying to convince me that it’s good. But don’t tell them!” She took a sip of her champagne. “The movie is crap though.” She didn’t monitor her volume for that last sentence.
“That reminds me,” Joel said. “I saw Steven Soderbergh in L.A. a few weeks ago. And he mentioned he’s working on a male stripper movie with Channing Tatum, so …”
“Oh, I love Channing Tatum!” Nina said.
“Say the word, and I’ll introduce you to him,” William teased.
“No, you certainlywill notdo such a thing,” Liam warned, standing behind Nina and running his arms around her waist. He kissed her cheek softly and whispered something in her ear, making her blush.
A heavy knock on the door took us by surprise. “It’s Aaron!” he yelled.
William rushed to open the door, and Aaron stepped in, rolling Naomi’s suitcase behind him. Naomi followed after him in silence, but she looked pissed and sad.
Aaron wished us all a Happy New Year, grabbed himself a glass of water, and excused himself to his room. Naomi said something in Hebrew to his back as he walked away.
“Right back at you, little witch,” Aaron replied without turning around, and I gasped. This was the second time I’d heard him call her that. He turned right toward the guest bedroom and closed the door behind him.
