I’m dehydrated.
Which could also be why I’m breathing erratically. Glancing over my shoulder, I see him walking away from the booth where his brothers and Frankie and Tempest are sitting.
For the love of all things good and holy, please don’t let him walk over here… no, let him walk over here. Please, God. Let him walk over… okay, yeah, he’s definitely walking over.
I know I came here to see him but now that I’m here and he’s here and he knows I’m here, I can’t do it. With shaky hands, I pull out a five-dollar bill and slap it down on the table. I realize the water is probably free but I don’t feel right dirtying up someone else’s glass and just walking away without ordering anything else.
Standing, I grip my purse strap even tighter and turn for the door.
“Maggie.”
Oh, God. Ohgodohgodohgod.
Closing my eyes, I swallow hard and try to gather all the strength and cojones I have. Girl balls, as Everly would call them. She claims I have them but they’re buried under all of my manners and good intentions. Before I can turn around to face him, I can actually feel his presence. Don’t ask me how. I have no clue. Which isn’t a surprise because I’m feeling pretty clueless these days, especially when it comes to Vali.
“Maggie,” he repeats. His voice is now closer and low, so low it hits me straight between my thighs. When I turn around to face him, his eyes lock with mine and it feels like time stops.
During the strange time lapse, it dawns on me Vali knows my name. I’ve never even really liked my name. I mean, it’s okay and serves its purpose, but it’s never been one of my favorite attributes. Until now.
“Vali,” I breathe out in response and greeting, brushing my hair behind my ear. “Hey.”
I hope that came off as cool-casual as it sounded in my head, like oh, hey, fancy meeting you here. Except cooler, because who says that? Get it together, Margaret.
When he unleashes a full-fledged smile on me, I’m glad I had a chance to say those two words because they might be my last.
“Hey,” he says as his eyes scan my face and then trail down my body, leaving a wake of heat in their path. “Do you want to come sit with us?” Motioning over his shoulder, I catch Gunnar and Frankie looking this way and my heartbeats triple.
Bringing my wrist up, I glance at my watch. I’ve already been gone over half an hour… but also, I’ve only been gone half an hour. In half an hour, I drove here, parked, found a seat at the bar, ordered water, and now I’m standing here talking to the hottest guy I’ve ever met.
“Sure,” I manage to squeak out, looking back up at Vali and giving him what I hope is a nice smile… not as nice as his, of course, but as long as I’m not competing with the Joker, it’s fine.
Everything is fine.
“Great,” he says, exuding that cool-casual I was going for as he smiles, showing me all of his straight, pearly-white teeth.
Have I mentioned he has gorgeous teeth? I know that might sound crazy. How can teeth be gorgeous, right? But they so are. Not too big. Not too small. Straight, but not fake. And now that I’ve seen them up close, I see he has a small chip out of one of the front teeth and I wonder how that happened?
In a fight, maybe?
When I don’t follow right away, he turns back to me and cocks his head. “You okay?” he asks, his voice rising above the noise of the bar that actually seems to be getting louder as we stand here.
“I’m good.”
He then places his hand on my back to lead me over to the table. Yeah, his big, strong hand is on my back and there’s only a thin layer of wool between my skin and his. When I almost trip over some guy’s boot, I feel him tense as he grabs my waist to keep me upright and I have to force my eyes from rolling into the back of my head.
Did his hand just slip under the hem of my sweater?
Oh, God.
“Hi, Maggie,” Tempest calls out from the booth, interrupting my errant thoughts.
“Hi,” I say, giving them all a small wave. “Vali invited me over.” My fingers are still gripping the strap of my purse so tight they’re tingling. Relax, Maggie. Relax. An awkward laugh escapes me and I’m getting ready to make an excuse to leave when Vali’s hand settles even heavier on my back, reassuring me, silently telling me to stay.
“I’m glad he did,” Tempest says, her smile growing as her eyes move to Vali. “Would you like a beer or something else to drink?”
I look back over my shoulder at Vali who’s waiting for me to slide into the booth. “I’m just having water.”
Being the oversharer that I am, I want to tell her I’ve never had alcohol. There’s no way I’d start tonight, especially since I told my mother I’d be home in an hour and I have to be at work early in the morning.
As a waitress walks by, Vali calls out to her, getting her attention. “Can we get an ice water?”
My cheeks heat up when she gives me a judgy glance and then winks at Vali.
I am so out of my league.
“I’ve never seen you here before,” Tempest says, obviously just trying to make conversation but I literally want to crawl under the table and out of this bar. My cheeks that were only a light shade of pink a moment ago, flame.
Thankfully, the flirty waitress is back with my water and I eagerly accept it, taking a drink and draining half the glass. When I realize everyone is still waiting for my response to Tempest’s statement, I give a small smile and swallow. “Uh, no… I’ve never been here before.”
“Well,” Vali says, his arm brushing against mine and sending an electric jolt through my body. “I think you should do it up right.”
My eyes widen and I try to read into his words. As much as I might know about the world at large, I don’t have a lot of real-life experience. “What?” I ask, feeling my palms begin to sweat.
“We should take a spin around the dance floor.”
I feel my shoulders visibly relax. Dancing is something that I actually know how to do, not because I read about it or watched YouTube videos, but because I’ve done it. My mom and dad love to dance in the living room. When I was little, they’d put on old records and dance the jitterbug and the two-step and everything in between.
“Yes,” Tempest says, turning her attention to Cage. “Let’s dance.”
Even Gunnar and Frankie start edging their way out of the booth to head to the dance floor.
“What do you say?” Vali asks quietly, dipping his head down toward mine. So close… so very close. As the song playing turns slow, he slides out of the booth and stretches his hand out to me. “Can I have this dance?”
Placing my hand in his, I feel that same electricity, a low hum that flows from him to me.
“I’d love to,” I finally manage to say, standing to my full height and realizing something else.
For once, I’m going to dance with someone who’s taller than me. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I’ve been attracted to the Vikings since they invaded all those months ago. I’m not one of those petite girls who fit under every guy’s chin. Out of the two real boyfriends I’ve had in my life, one was shorter than me and one was the same height.
This is different.
Everything about Vali feels different.