over the world, G,” Jordan said, coming to his feet and pulling me up, too. “You and Cézanne together would burn it down.”
“Then I definitely want to meet her,” Georgia said conclusively.
“Dance with me,” Jordan said with a laugh.
I followed him out onto the dance floor. It was slammed with people now. The music had a heady beat, and we were pulled into the flux instantly.
“Your friends are nice,” I told him.
He slipped his hands around my waist, sliding down to my ass and pressing me against him. “They’re ridiculous.”
“They love you.”
He nodded. “They do. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed them. It’s so easy to be around them.”
“Like with Jen and Sutton.”
“Just like that.”
Jordan took my hand, twirling me in place so that my ass was back against his hips. Then he bent me forward slightly at the waist. I flipped my hair and shook my ass. I could feel every single inch of him press against me as we danced seductively to the music.
His hands slid up my bare thighs, hiking my skirt higher and higher up until it was nearly around my hips. I shivered as his hand slipped under my dress and ran along the seam of my thong. I gasped, but it was lost to the music and the press of bodies around us.
He didn’t go any further. Just danced and teased and worked me up into a frenzy. I supposed I deserved it after teasing the shit out of him earlier in the hotel room, but damn! If it wasn’t rude, I’d ditch all of his friends and head straight back to the hotel.
I turned back into his arms, letting my skirt fall back into place. “Tease!” I accused.
He laughed, as carefree as I’d ever seen him. “From the queen of tease, that’s a compliment.”
“Was this really your life?” I asked into his ear as we swayed to the music.
“Yeah. It’s strange to look back now, but I was always the one pushing everyone to go out.”
“Doesn’t seem like the Jordan I know.”
“I think I was looking for something,” he admitted. “I was chasing the high I get every day with you.”
My heart constricted around the words. “Jordan.”
“I kept coming out, dancing, drinking, sex. But it never filled me up, so I did it over and over again. Relationships fell through my fingers like sand in a sieve. I thought that was just me, just who I was. But here, with you, I don’t feel like that at all.” His hands tightened around me. “I don’t feel like you’re set to slip away from me.”
It was a dangerous thing to say, considering that I had every intention of leaving Lubbock and going away for residency. But right now, it felt like we could make anything happen. That we could survive anything. And I didn’t want to crush that thought by bringing in reality.
“I’m not slipping away,” I told him.
After a few songs, we headed back to the booth, staying until close, drinking and reminiscing. If we were going to be in Seattle longer, I would have been happy to go to one of Tye’s shows and meet his husband, Logan. To see the new art opening that Georgia’s sister, Tosh, was having next week. To talk doctor to doctor with Cush about what it was really like in surgery. But we didn’t have more time. We only had tonight.
So, we made the most of it and then pulled each of them in for a hug before leaving.
“We’ll come back, I promise,” I insisted as I hugged Georgia.
“You’d better,” she said. “Pick Seattle, so we can see you all the time.”
I grinned. “That’s the dream.”
Jordan hugged Georgia one more time, punched Cush on the arm, and nodded at Tye before piling us both into the car and returning to the hotel. I leaned my head on his shoulder as we drove back. I was little bit past tipsy and straight into drunk, but it was a happy, lazy drunk. A great-night drunk.
Jordan kissed the top of my head.
“I’m glad you invited yourself to my interview.”
He chuckled. “I’m glad, too.”
“Would you ever want to move back to Vancouver?”
He ran his fingers in circles around my knee. “It’d depend.”
“On what?”
“Where you were.”
I looked up at him and pressed my lips to his. He drew me in deeper, his tongue opening the seam of my lips and massaging my own. I groaned into his embrace. I wanted nothing more than to climb into his lap and fuck