Page 24 of Venus
Venus is light on her feet. I fumble over and over, but she pulls me right back in each time like she’s tethered to the beat itself. The crowd is clapping along, and someone yells my name when I manage to dip her without dropping her.
That part? I didn’t rehearse. Pure instinct fueled by a little too much rye whiskey.
She gasps a little when I catch her just before her head hits the floor, eyes wide, mouth open.
And then she laughs like it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her.
Nothing makes me feel more like a man who's got it all than hearing that sound come out of her.
“Careful,” she whispers when I pull her back up. “You do that too well.”
“Guess we’re both full of surprises.”
We keep dancing, even when we’re clearly off the beat. At one point, we’re barely doing square dancing at all. She breaks into a poor attempt at the robot, just to get a reaction out of me. She succeeds.
We’re sweaty and out of breath by the time the final round finishes, and we come in third behind the elderly couple whose house burned down a few weeksago. They moved like they were possessed by the ghosts of competitive dancers.
Fair.
Just kidding. That shit’s obviously rigged, but for good reason. When they won, the entire bar donated to the prize pool fund to help them with rebuilding their lives.
“That was fun,” Venus says, wiping sweat from her forehead as we collapse into a booth.
“See? You were so worried I’d embarrass you.”
She eyes me. “Don’t let it go to your head, Vulcan.”
She leans back on the bench, looking up at the neon signs overhead. Her smile softens into something quieter. Content.
And suddenly, I want to ruin the mood by saying something honest.
I can’t help myself. So I do.
“You make it really hard not to fall for you,” I admit, with my head resting on my hands as I stare at her like a lovesick fool.
She freezes. Her entire body goes rigid. “Carter…”
“I’m sorry,” I say, fast. “I’m not trying to scare you. But we promised we’d keep this real, right?”
She stares at me for a long moment, like she’s trying to decide if this is the part where she runs.
Maybe she feels bad for me, because she does her best to relax.
“You should stop talking before you ruin it,” she says. It sounds harsh, but I know she didn’t mean it like that.
She’s just protecting the parts of herself she’s so convinced can’t be happy. I get it, I do. But I’m more of a wear-my-heart-on-my-sleeve kind of guy.
Even if that means she might be the next one to break it.
Before I can open my mouth and ruin it some more, she grabs my arm and pulls me out of the booth and out of the door.
Chapter 14 | Vulcan
The second we step out of the bar, the air hits us like a wall—thick with the first taste of autumn clinging to everything it touches. The neon sign behind us gives one last flicker before fizzling out, like even it’s too tired to pretend anymore.
We don’t even make it half a block before Venus grabs my shirt and pulls me into her. And I meanintoher, like she’s afraid I’ll start talking again and needs to make sure she shuts me up.
I kiss her back, memorizing the taste of lemonade and vodka on her lips, mixed with fruity ChapStick. She’s delicious. Every bit of her. It makes me crazy for more.
