Ryan Hunter

her, “Yeah. Philip is her husband. He’s cool. You will like him.”
    As the stomping beat grew louder the farther we walked down the windowless aisle that was dimly lit by neon bars, Liza pulled on my arm and stopped me. “I don’t think I should be here,” she whined. “On second thought, you shouldn’t be here either.”
    “You worry too much. ” I pulled her on, giving her no chance to back out. “I’m here almost every weekend. Everyone knows me. And no one will bother us.”
    I pushed the thick metal door in front of us open. A cloud of dry smoke and sweat immediately stabbed us in the face. The strobe light made focusing impossible, but I knew my way around here and maneuvered us through the bumping and grinding crowd of clubbers. “C’mon, let’s dance.”
    The word dance shifted down a gear in Liza’s pace, but I came here for a reason, and feeling her body close to mine was definitely one of the most important. Holding her hand tight, I dragged her along onto the middle of the dance floor, then I turned her around and pressed her against me. Her skin and hair were the only things smelling good in this place, and I dragged in a deep breath when I lowered my head to hers. “Loosen up, Matthews. You’re supposed to have fun.” Giving her a soft push, I twirled her under my arm, then caught her again, and pressed my lips to her ear. “Or at least look like you do.”
    Liza laughed, but I could also feel her shivering slightly every time I hugged her tight against my chest. Mmm, it was just the way I wanted her to react to me. Spinning her around, I caught her with her back to my front, running my palm from just underneath her breasts down over her stomach until my hand lay splayed over the small strip of naked skin on her belly. With gentle moves, I made her roll her body with mine to the music.
    “What are you doing?” she shouted over her shoulder between hiccups of shy laughter.
    Nuzzling her temple, I said in her ear, “Distracting you.” I moved her again and loved how her body rubbed against mine, making me go wild for her.
    It was probably a good thing that Phil came in at that minute and motioned for me to come over as our gazes caught across the room, because otherwise I might just have dragged Liza back out into my car to fucking make out with her for the rest of the night.
    Liza smoothed her clothes, that had turned into a mess from my holding her, as we headed over to the oblong bar where Phil served some drinks to a couple of patrons. When they left, he grabbed two cans of Coke from the fridge and placed them in front of Liza and me. Since there were no speakers above the bar, we could talk in an almost normal volume back here.
    “Phil—Liza,” I introduced them. “Liza, this is Phil, my older sister’s husband.”
    Liza shook hands with him then guzzled down what seemed to be three quarters of the Coke on one go. I helped her onto one of the high, leather bar stools and took a casual stance between her legs, turned to face the bar.
    Phil knew that whoever I brought with me to this club wasn’t my girlfriend, so he asked, “You know each other from school?”
    “Sort of. We play soccer together now,” I told him. “New co-ed team.”
    “Really? That’s cool.” He turned an interested face to Liza and pulled his shoulder length hair into a pony tail. “Do you like it?”
    “Yeah, it’s great. Love the training.”
    What did she just say? Slowly to make an impact, I turned toward her, raising one brow.
    “What?” she mouthed, returning my look with an irritated one of her own.
    Our gazes locked for the length of a heartbeat, then I tucked her soft strands behind her ear and leaned closer. “I still have the text where you say you’re done with soccer, Liza.”
    I realized how she swallowed at my taunt. But then she leaned back just a little and looked me sternly in the eye. “Did you really not know my name before I sent you that message?”
    Ah, girl, if only you knew. But I wouldn’t tell her. Not now, anyway. With a laugh, I shrugged it off. “Why, Matthews? You were devoted to Mitchell. What would I care?”
    That earned me a hard shove against my shoulder, but she grinned, anyway. “You’re such an ass, you know.”
    “I ’ve been told girls go for that,” I mocked her. If a smile from me could make her dreamy, I wondered what a wink would do. I tested that then drank from my Coke, but with my eyes still on her face, and enjoyed how her cheeks