Page 78 of The Love We Make

But Ty didn’t move. I was sandwiched in between them. My hands holding on to Ty’s arms and Ethan’s hands on my hips. I looked up to Ty and my eyes widened as Ethan leaned his mouth to my ear and said, “We need to talk.”

He said it loud enough for Ty to hear him, but Ty waited until I made the decision to move. He knew Ethan and I was friends, everyone told him as much. So if Ethan was here, it shouldn’t have shocked Ty that he wanted to talk.

Hell, it shocked me more than it should have shocked him. It’s not like he knew our deal or that we had made love two weekends ago.

I nodded to Ty and backed up into Ethan a little. He moved to give me room and with the distance from both of them, I was able to fake a smile.

“Ty, this is my best friend Ethan. Ethan this is Ty.”

They shook hands but kept their eyes hard on each other. Like some weird dick measuring contest. I didn’t fully understand the reasoning for the theatrics. Ethan and I weren’t a thing, and Ty and I were even less of a thing. I could only see Ty’s face, but I knew Ethan’s matched by the way Ty held the look.

Ty waited a minute and then nodded. “I’ll be at the bar.”

“Some of the guys are up in the VIP if you wanna say hey,” Ethan said.

Ty and I both looked up and sure enough, there were a few of the Atlanta Kings posted up in the higher section of the bar.

Ty looked back to us and smiled at Ethan, “Good idea. I know a few of the guys.”

I had yet to look at Ethan but I could still feel his fingertips on my waist. They dug in as Ty turned to leave.

As the back of his head got to the edge of the dance floor, I started to turn to face Ethan. But his grip tightened and he stopped me.

“No, Maddy. You can’t look at me. Or see me.”

“What?”

“That was your deal. You have two more weeks. Remember?”

“But you already saw me, Ethan.”

“I agreed that you wouldn’t see me for a month. I’m keeping my promise.”

I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me. “What are you doing here?”

“First of all, I didn’t plan on running into you here tonight. The guys all decided to come out after the game and I tagged along. That’s it. I promise.”

I believed him. This didn’t feel like a stalk and he wasn’t a liar. Plus, I knew the team went out together when they could.

“What do we need to talk about?”

“First, you need to start dancing. We are on a dance floor, Maddy.”

He pulled me closer to his body and started moving. Ethan wasn’t ever a huge dancer, but he did know how to move when he wanted to.

My ballet games paid off.

He started moving behind me to the beat—a slow but upbeat song I was unfamiliar with.

“How do you know Tyson Black?” He asked once I was dancing in sync with him.

“I met him the night I got mad at you and Chase for stalking me, then again at Chase’s golf tournament.”

“You know he is bad news, right?”

“Geez Ethan, not this again.” I started to walk away, not wanting to hear him “big brother/daddy” me again. But he pulled me back.

“I’m not doing anything,again. Just wondering if you know that about him.”