Work In Progress (Red Lipstick Coalition #3) - Staci Hart Page 0,110

it and said, “Scotch, if you’ve got it.” Which was Tommy’s way of saying, Yes, sir.

Another curt nod of approval from Court, but a smile flickered on his lips.

“Theo, this is Val and Rin, and Katherine, your date.”

Val and Rin waved their hellos, and Katherine slipped off the stool and strode over with businesslike purpose.

She stuck out her hand formally.

“Hello, Theodore. It’s nice to meet you.”

Theo took her hand with a smirk, but rather than pump it in a shake, he flipped it over and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “Nice to meet you, Katherine.”

The second his lips were gone, she jerked her hand back, discreetly rubbing it off on her thigh. “That’s how the flu spreads, you know.”

One of his brows rose, his smile still in place. “Well, I’d hate to be the cause of senseless virus-spreading. I’m sorry.”

She nodded. “You’re forgiven. I hope you like to dance.”

“I do,” he said, amused.

“And I hope you don’t mind me leading.”

His mouth opened to speak, but after a pause, he closed it again. His brows quirked in confusion.

“Katherine and I usually dance together,” I clarified.

“Some people say I have control issues,” she said with a shrug.

I laughed. “It keeps us from getting hit on, too.”

“They think we’re lesbians,” she explained.

Laughter sputtered out of Tommy, and he laid a disbelieving look on me.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. Pretending to be a lesbian is easier than talking to strange men. Even when she kissed me in front of a hundred people.”

His laughter stopped dead. “I thought you’d never been kissed.”

I rolled my eyes. “That didn’t count. There wasn’t even any tongue.”

A single, bawdy ha! erupted from Katherine.

Court made his way around the island with drinks in hand, passing them off to Tommy and Theo. Val raised her glass, and everyone grabbed theirs, following suit.

“To new friends and old. May we give the love we take and live the love we make.”

Hear, hear, we called, taking our sips.

Tommy caught my eye, smiling with those ridiculous lips I loved.

And I had the unshakable feeling that he loved me too, lips and all.

Sway

Amelia

Sway was swinging.

The club was a feast of sight and sound. Bodies bopped and bounced in waves under the golden Edison bulbs suspended at uneven heights over the parquet. The occasional feet in the air were like whitecaps, and the bounding music was the sound of the tide coming in.

I watched Tommy take it all in, seeing it all for the first time again through his eyes. Faces turned to us as we passed, though no more than usual. The bit of anonymity was a novelty.

The second we reached the dance floor, Sam grabbed Val around the waist and spun her into the crowd like a goddamn pro, the two of them triple-stepping and bouncing their way in circles as Sam whipped her around like she was nothing. And for a few minutes, we all just stood there on the edge of the crowd and watched them, cheering and whooping when he flipped her over his shoulder.

He pulled her close, the two of them locked in an embrace as they danced, laughing and talking and oblivious to the rest of us. Court led Rin into the crowd and twirled her. When he launched into a triple-step, it was with less grace than Sam—I could practically hear him counting from where I stood—but it was with all of his heart and then some. Never in a million years would Court have learned to dance like this if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d do anything to make her happy, even if it meant making an ass out of himself.

That in and of itself was perhaps the deepest declaration he could make.

Katherine grabbed Theo’s hand and pulled him toward the crowd. Her eyes were big and bright, her smile as close to a grin as she ever came. I almost caught a sliver of teeth. Theo, on the other hand, looked mightily unsure of himself.

She stopped, turning to him. “All right, are you ready?”

Tommy laughed. “This oughta be good.”

Theo took her hand, which was out and at the ready, but his other hand, which should have gone on her waist, seemed to find no home. He frowned.

“Put it on my shoulder,” she said.

When he did, his palm swallowed the joint.

The dubious look on his face deepened.

We watched as she showed him how to triple-step, how to twist out. But when she tried to get him in a sweetheart hold—sorta like a prom