Page 86 of Ruthless Edge

I look at him.

He doesn't look at me. He puts one hand briefly on my shoulder and walks back into the crowd, and I watch him go. Blake Connelly, who communicates approximately twice a year, just told me she'll come, and for some reason it does more for me than anything Ethan or Jace has offered tonight.

Putting my glass down, I look at the door one more time. Couples. Donors. Faculty.

No Emma.

Fuck.

I'm not standing here while this slips away from me. I'm going up those stairs and I'm knocking on her door and I'm standing in that hallway for as long as it takes, and I genuinely do not care if that makes me look pathetic, because I care more about Emma Lawson than I care about anything else in this world. I push back from the bar and head for the stairs.

I'm three steps up when I look toward the top and stop.

Emma is on the stairs.

She's one landing up and the chandelier light is hitting her from the front and she's in black, fitted through every inch of her, a slit at the left side that moves when she moves, a neckline that I lose the ability to process language over. Her hair is down in waves on her shoulders and she looks like something I would have convinced myself I was imagining if the stairs weren't solid under my feet.

Paige is beside her in pink. Rory in gold, Sienna in deep green. They come down around Emma with the easy grace of four women who got ready together and know exactly what they're doing, and they're each beautiful, and I barely see any of them.

Emma reaches my step and stops.

We're standing on the same stair. She's looking at me with something I've spent all semester trying to get to without knowing what I was looking for.

"You came," I say.

"We're doing this night three years too late," she says.

"Yeah." I hold out my arm. "We are."

She takes it.

Paige, near us, calls out, “Hey, Bubble Butt!”

Turning, I spot my brother Blake, and his eyes have widened. He’s standing next to the wealthy donor who bought him for the night, but hunches over and turns his back to us with a look close to horror on his face.

In response, Paige just grins.

My gaze moves back to Emma, who is staring down at her feet, and the rest of the world fades away once more. I walk her down the rest of the stairs and into the ballroom, and the room keeps going around us, and I don't hear any of it. Nothing else matters anymore. She’s here.

I take her to the dance floor before anyone can interrupt us. The band is mid-song, something slow, and we find the rhythm and she fits against me and I stop pretending I don't know exactly how long I've been waiting for this.

"You look beautiful," I tell her.

"Thank you. You look great too" she says, but her cheeks are red, and she’s not looking at me, even though all I can do is look at her.

Thirty seconds pass.

"You look incredible," I say.

She lifts her head and looks at me with a little smile. "You already said that."

"The dress is going to be the end of me personally."

She tilts her head back and laughs, loud and real, and it makes my whole body feel lighter. Then she says, "Knox," in a voice that means stop, and I say, "I know, I know," and pull her a little closer.

We move through another measure and something shifts in me, and I can't let it sit any longer.

"I need to say something," I say.