A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,55
him. He wasn’t letting Thursday night stop him from remaining her friend. She wished it wasn’t such a big deal in her mind. “Okay,” she said. “Let me go change again.”
13
Dallas could tell Emery was self-conscious about being recognized. Although she was friendly to Gavin and Eli, she was quiet, and he caught her surreptitiously glancing around at the crowd every few minutes.
“You okay?” he murmured to her as he relinquished his cue stick to someone in the party waiting to use the table after they were done.
They’d just finished their third game of pool. Emery was terrible at darts and not much better at billiards. She admitted she hadn’t played either game very often, so Dallas hadn’t been surprised. She was a career girl. He couldn’t see her spending much time hanging out in bars or billiard halls. But she was his partner, which meant Gavin and Eli slaughtered them the first two games. The third game, Dallas managed to play better than he’d ever played in his life—and his brothers probably weren’t competing very hard—so he managed to pull out a win. They were going to try beer pong next. But he could tell Emery was slightly reluctant to go over to that corner of the bar, where there were a lot more people.
He was tempted to take her hand, to offer some support and reassurance. But after Thursday, things were different between them. He was careful not to touch her, and he could tell she was being careful not to touch him. They had to get back to where they’d been before they let their relationship turn physical. Otherwise, he was afraid it would destroy Emery’s recovery. He was beginning to understand that it could mess him up, too, although he wasn’t entirely sure how or why.
“I’ll buy the drinks,” Eli announced, and Dallas didn’t argue. Eli and Gavin had lost; they were supposed to buy. Dallas had picked up the first round and Emery the second.
“I’ll be right back,” he told Emery and Gavin and took a bathroom break while Eli went to the bar.
He expected all three of them to be waiting when he returned, but only Eli and Gavin were there, lounging against the wall, talking and drinking a beer. “Where’s Emery?” he asked.
Eli angled his head toward the dance floor, and Dallas followed his line of sight to find her in the arms of some big, bulky dude he’d never met before. “Who’s that?”
“Beats me,” Eli replied. “Came up and asked her to dance.”
Dallas told himself he didn’t mind seeing her with another guy. Why would he? He was glad she felt safe enough to get out there. They were only dancing, anyway. It wasn’t as though that would make him jealous even if they were a couple.
But when he found his gaze migrating back to the two of them again and again, that tingle of awareness—that sense that she might mean trouble for him in some way—ran through him again. Could it be that Thursday night had meant more to him than it should have?
“How long is this song?” he suddenly blurted out.
Gavin and Eli blinked at him. Only then did he realize he’d interrupted a conversation he’d been pretending to listen to.
“Why are you in such a hurry for it to be over?” Gavin asked.
Dallas scowled to cover the gaffe. “I just... I thought we were going over to play beer pong.”
His response sounded weak, even to his own ears.
“There’s still plenty of time for that,” Eli said. “What’s the rush?”
“There isn’t one,” he mumbled. After that he didn’t dare show any impatience for fear his brothers might misconstrue his concern.
The song finally ended, but another one started and Emery remained on the dance floor. It was really starting to bug Dallas because the guy she was dancing with kept pulling her up against him, and she’d have to readjust their relative positions, over and over, to get more space. Then he saw her break away as if she’d been patient long enough, and the dude grabbed her arm and whipped her back around to face him as though he wouldn’t let her leave.
A murmur rippled through those who’d noticed, and other people began to stare as it became apparent they were having a problem.
Dallas stalked over. “Something wrong?”
The guy’s head swung toward him like a bull spotting a red cape. “Nothing that’s any of your business,” he said with a sneer.