Private (Private 1)

I had ever been to a dance before.

“Well, someone should be dancing,” he said. “And I think that

“Why don’t you just go ask him to dance?” Constance said.

someone is Reed Brennan.” He smiled slowly and offered both his

“Uh, no one else is dancing,” I said.

hands.

“Well, then, at least go say hello,” Constance said. “C’mon. We Damn.

need some romance around here and it can’t be me since I have,

“But . . . no one else is dancing,” I said.

you know, Clint. I need to live vicariously through you.”

“What’s the matter? You scared?” he asked.

“Look, I never even said I liked the guy,” I said.

I narrowed my eyes. “Please.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, right. It’s, like, so obvious.”

I took his hands and he backed toward the dance floor, watch-

Oh, God. Was it? How humiliating.

ing my eyes the whole way. Everyone in the room stared. The

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Missy said, horning in on the teachers looked almost disgusted that someone actually had the

conversation. “Go up to him already. He’s just a person.”

gall to dance at this dance. The guys seemed merely intrigued, but

104

K A T E B R I A N

I could practically taste the jealousy radiating off the female population. The hottest guy there, the only guy with the guts to actually dance, had chosen to dance with me.

Thomas paused. My heart pounded in my every pore. Without a

word, he lifted my arms and placed them around his neck. Then he DANGEROUS?

slid his arms around my waist, his hands resting lightly just at the small of my back. His eyes never left mine. As we started to step from side to side, my breath grew short. Every inch of me ached to touch him. Arms and hands were not enough.

“What are you thinking?” he asked me, his voice sending

I had been hoping that Thomas would actually show up on time for reverbs through my chest.

morning services, wanting to see me as much as I wanted to see

I flushed. “Nothing.”