twitched. “Y’all seem to talk about me an awful lot.”
Mia’s cheeks flushed, but she refused to let him change the subject. “Is she right? Don’t you ever want to get away from it for a while and have some fun?”
“I’m having fun right now.”
Pleasure bloomed in her chest as his eyes gazed into hers, dark and hot and unambiguous. Something that looked like hunger flashed across his expression, and the warm, glowy feeling in her chest traveled down to her thighs in a molten rush.
She dropped her gaze, the energy between them making her feel unsteady. What happened to no distractions? Was she really going to lose her head over a man in cowboy boots?
Yes.
She wanted him to touch her so badly she might actually explode with longing. Josh made her feel weak in a way that scared her—but also somehow oddly brave too. If he didn’t kiss her, she might have to grab him and take the initiative herself. Which wasn’t like her at all, but he made her feel strong enough—or maybe just needy enough—to do it. He made her feel a lot of things. Shaky. Eager. Beautiful. Reckless. Safe.
The toe of his boot tapped the gravel next to her foot. He leaned in close to her ear, and a shiver rolled through her as he asked, “Is that a tattoo?”
“Yes.” She pointed her toe, rotating her ankle to give him a better look at the ink visible between the straps of her sandals.
“What is it?” he asked. “Is that math?”
“It’s Euler’s identity. The most beautiful equation in mathematics.” She shrugged, slightly embarrassed. “I got it in high school.”
“You got a math tattoo in high school?” There was a smile in his voice, but it wasn’t mocking. He almost sounded impressed. “What makes it beautiful?”
Her gaze lifted to his, and he met it with earnest curiosity. Mia felt herself grow even braver. “Because of its perfect simplicity, and the fact that it contains five of the most important mathematical constants: zero, one, pi, the imaginary number i, and Euler’s number, which is the base of natural logarithms.” She looked down at her foot, remembering the youthful exuberance that had inspired the tattoo but now felt a bit corny. “It’s been compared to a Shakespearean sonnet. I guess I thought it was romantic.”
Gently, Josh’s hand touched hers. A shower of sparks traveled up her arm as his fingers slowly curled around hers. He didn’t speak. Just stood there lightly playing with her fingers as they watched Wyatt’s band play a Blink-182 song.
It was one of the most erotic things she’d ever experienced. Which was funny because she didn’t even like Blink-182.
“Hey, it’s Waldo!” someone shouted drunkenly at one of the tables on the patio, breaking the mood.
Josh’s whole body went rigid and he dropped her hand.
“What’s wrong?” Mia asked.
“Look, everyone, I found Waldo,” the drunk guy shouted. “I should get a prize.” The other people at his table laughed along with him.
Josh didn’t answer her. All the blood had drained from his face. The hand that had been holding hers a moment ago was clenched into a fist.
“Hey, Sexy Waldo, where’s your hat?” The guy seemed to be shouting in their direction. Some other people had joined in, chanting “Waldo” and banging on the table.
Mia touched her fingers to Josh’s arm. “Is he talking to you?”
“Ignore him.” His eyes were focused on the stage, but they burned with barely controlled anger.
“Come on, Waldo, do a dance for us.” The drunk guy had gotten up and was staggering toward them, egged on by his friends. “Show us your sexy Waldo dance.”
The other people near them began edging away. Mia had a similar instinct. She wanted to grab Josh’s arm and drag him as far away from here as possible. But something told her it wouldn’t work. Josh wouldn’t let himself be dragged, and the drunk guy wouldn’t just let them walk away undisturbed.
Josh still hadn’t moved or even looked at his heckler. “Give it a rest, Aaron.” His voice was pitched low, but loud enough to carry and dangerous-sounding.
“Or what? What are you gonna do to me, Walllldooooo?” Aaron dragged out the name in a mocking, singsongy voice. “You gonna make me?”
Everything seemed to have gone quiet around them, and Mia realized the music had stopped. All the other conversations had stopped too.
Josh slipped his beer into Mia’s hand with an apologetic look and turned, stepping forward to confront the drunk Aaron.
The air seemed to crackle with tension as the