Angelfire
Page 66

I had to hand it to Josie. She knew how to throw one hel of a party.
Kate grabbed my hand and we pushed our way out into the writhing mass of waving hands, swinging hips, and stomping feet. We danced until Landon pul ed Kate away. I danced by myself and with random partners for a few minutes until Evan and Rachel joined me. After a while I took a break, squeezing my way back to the front of the hal to the buffet table ful of candy and hors d'oeuvres. I munched on cut strawberries, stil dancing to the music. I felt a warm body behind me and smel ed the musky, spicy scent of Wil 's aftershave. A flood of boldness swept through my chest and stomach and I closed my eyes. I stepped back into him, swinging my hips, trying to coax him into dancing with me, but he didn't. Instead, his hands ran down my arms, and he dipped his face over my shoulder until his cheek brushed mine.
"Having fun?"
I spun around and grabbed his hands, swaying from side to side with the beat. He didn't give in, but that didn't stop me from trying to dance with him. "Dance with me."
He held my hands stil and his green eyes pierced mine.
"Sorry, I'm not a dancer."
I pul ed my hands away and put them around his neck.
"Six hundred years old and you never learned to dance? I think it's about time you lived a little."
"I know how to dance," he assured me with a handsome laugh. "Just not to this kind of music."
"It's easy. Just move with it." I placed his hands on my hips and tried to get him to fol ow my rhythm.
He pul ed away, and he wrapped a hand under my chin and lifted it. The movement was slow, sensual, in rhythm with the music, his fingers sliding across my skin, and I felt electricity pass from his touch into me. I inhaled and closed my eyes at the intensity of it. Every single inch of me was coming alive. I didn't know if it was the adrenaline from the party that made me react so strongly or if it was something else. A stab of fire hit me when I felt his lips slide along my jaw to my ear, and I took a slow, agonized breath.
"Forgive me," he whispered.
I opened my eyes and he was gone. I spun around, looking for him everywhere, but he real y was gone. Frustration boiled through me and spil ed over. What was my problem? What did I expect from him?
I shook my head, trying to forget about him and enjoy myself, but something stirred in my gut that I didn't like. I stuffed my face with another strawberry and scowled at nobody in particular.
Kate swayed up to me by herself, laughing and singing along to the music. She grabbed both my hands and swiveled her hips with the beat. She turned around, leading me back into the crowd, and we danced for a while longer, but I couldn't get my mind off Wil . I could stil feel his touch on my face, even though only a dul tingle remained. Dressed elaborately as Marie Antoinette--complete with a fril y thigh-length blue dress, a floral fan, high stockings and garters, and a white powdered wig--Josie found us and gave us both enormous hugs. "I'm so glad you came!" she shouted over the music, in that fleeting, oblivious way of hers.
"Amazing party as always!" Kate assured her, smiling. I nodded. "Yes! The DJ is amazing!"
"Thanks!" she said, smoothing out her skirts and fluttering her pretty fan. "He works for MTV!"
Not surprising. She danced with us for a while, the music rocking through us as if the mansion were coming down on our heads, before she twirled away.
23
I TRIED TO RID MYSELF OF ANY DOUBT AND NEG-ativity and enjoy the night. I only paused when a boy walked up to Kate and me; he was wearing a white mask that concealed half his face like the Phantom of the Opera. The half of his face I could see was breathtaking. I had never seen any boy so beautiful. His pale gold hair was combed neatly back with only a few escaping wisps, and he wore a black tuxedo beneath a cape. Something about the exquisite fabric of the tuxedo told me we hadn't gotten our costumes at the same place. Of course he must want to dance with Kate. I began to step away from them, but the curve of his lips made me hesitate. He lowered his head to a very excited Kate, whose face washed blank when he asked her, "May I cut in?"
She stepped aside and the boy took my hand, immediately drawing me close to him. His presence wrapped around me, electric and inviting, and he spun me around the hal in a waltz that fit poorly with the music playing, but somehow he kept us in rhythm. Before I was aware of it, the music and commotion had sunk into a dul roar until I couldn't hear anything at al . I looked nowhere but up into his eyes, which were the most fiery opalescent hazel I had ever seen, practical y inhuman. His dancing was like water, powerful and unyielding, yet fluid and smooth through every movement, like a river fol owing its predetermined course. I let him lead me through the crowd in a state of shock and bliss twisted together, unable to perceive anything but his face. I wanted to take off his mask to reveal the beauty beneath. We danced until the end of the song, and stil he held me to his chest, his mouth curving into a delicious smile.
"Come with me," he pleaded and took my hand.
I nodded like an idiot and let him lead me across the hal , back toward the archway we had al entered through. The hideous feeling of Wil 's rejection washed away as the mystery guy led me off the dance floor. I was too eager to fol ow him, too eager to make myself feel worth something. For an instant I wished Wil had seen me leave with this boy. Maybe a spark of jealousy would prompt him to make a move.
The Phantom boy stopped me on the other side of the wal and toyed with one of my curls as he studied my face with a look of both awe and amusement.