When he leans down, I prepare my lips with a quick lick before meeting his . . . or at least, that’s the direction I hope this dream is going.
“I was thinking—”
“Yes?” My gaze floats from his mouth to his eyes again.
“We’ve been at this a while. Maybe we should get you off the floor?” His head tilts to the side, and the industrial lights above him shine bright in my eyes, almost like a place of business, a restaurant, or a bar would hang. My senses begin to return, starting with the stench of old beer scenting the air.
“Yuck.” Next comes a wave of cedar-y cologne and salty air. That’s a scent I approve of, but that’s when something else hits me. What if I’m not dreaming?
“Up you go,” he says, shadowing me again as he tries to lift me to my feet.
I don’t budge. “Dream or not, I quite enjoy being horizontal with you.”
“Are you always this, should we say, flirtatious?” he asks, laughter punctuating his question.
“Not when I’m awake, no.”
As if he couldn’t be more gorgeous, little lines whisker from the outer corners of his eyes, enticing me to drag my fingertip along each one. I don’t, but I want to. “Are your eyes hazel or brown? It’s hard to tell in this light.”
“Brown.”
“Brown does them a disservice. A kaleidoscope of colors is trapped inside them. I’m going to need a closer look in the sunshine.”
“The sun will be setting soon.”
“Then we should hurry.”
A restrained chuckle wriggles his lips. “You can stare into my eyes, but I have to warn you, once you do, you’ll fall madly in love with me. And I’m leaving tomorrow, so if we’re falling in love, you better get to the loving part since you’ve already fallen.”
“Good point.”
“Get up, Natalie,” my best friend says, rudely barging into my fantasy and peering at me from beside his shoulder. “The floor is filthy! Now you’re going to have to wash your hair.”
My eyes shift her way. “Please go away and let me have this one little dream, Tatum.”
Snapping her fingers twice in front of my face has me jerking my head back. “You’re wide awake and making a fool of yourself.”
Noise from the crowded bar filters into my consciousness. Instead of looking around to confirm, I stare into Dreamy’s eyes a moment longer and then exhale as embarrassment becomes reality, returning me to the present. “You’re real, aren’t you?”
A slow nod accompanies a smug expression.
The heat of my cheeks has me pressing my hands to them in hopes of cooling my skin down. “Do you mind helping me up?”
“I need to know something first.”
“What?” I ask, knowing I should leave before I’m sober enough to realize how absurd I’ve been behaving.
Still holding me in his arms as if I’m light as a feather, he leans closer with his eyes on my mouth. When his gaze rises to meet mine, he asks, “Did you fall in love?”
My heart rate spikes, and the sound of it beating whooshes in my ears. Maybe I did hit my head because I swear at that moment, the one with my dream man so close I can kiss him or even lick him if I want, I can answer honestly.
Despite all the physical signs of me feeling otherwise, I reply, “You know. I think it’s time for me to go.” Before the last few minutes really sink in.
My feet are set on solid flooring while his hands remain on the underside of my forearms to steady me. Like the perfect gentleman. “I wish—”
“Nat,” Tatum says under her breath. She moves in and grabs my hand.
“What?”
Her hair catches the light when she flips it over her shoulder, an exhausted sigh following right after. Every blonde needs a brunette bestie, and Tatum Devreux was destined to be mine since our mothers exchanged silver spoons from Tiffany’s as baby shower gifts. I’m not exactly the calm to her wild ways, but she can out party me any day.
“A party on a yacht down in the harbor. We have to go now, though.”
Panic rises in my chest. I know I should want to hightail it out of here to save myself from further mortification, but I don’t want to go. I’m perfectly content right here.
I’m not shy about it. I look straight at him, but I’m smacked with a dose of candor I wasn’t ready for, my ego crushed under his expression that mirrors pity. Now I regret