My Ryan.
I swallow down my nerves, holding his gaze. I’m having this man tonight.
43
“Hey everyone,” Shelby sings, walking up with Tess. “Having a good time?”
“We’re having a great time,” Doc replies.
“I love your costumes by the way,” Shelby adds. “So clever. Who thought of it?”
“Jake,” Sanny and Doc say at the same time.
Behind them, the man himself enters the circle. “That would be me,” he calls. “Pretty awesome, right? At first, I wanted to do Jungle Book and make Mars be the bear, but Cay refused to put on the red speedo—well, he refused to wear it in public,” he adds with a wink.
Sanny glares at his partner. “You know I can withhold sex from you, right?”
“Yeah, but you won’t,” Jake replies, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “You like it too much. And I don’t blame you. I’m pretty great in bed,” he says at me.
“I don’t need to know any of this,” I mutter.
“Are they always like this?” Shelby asks with a giggle, looking at Tess.
“Um, this is actually pretty tame, honestly,” she replies. Her cheeks are flushing pink. She’s trying not to look at me. Trying not to think about me.
Good luck, sexy devil. Before I’m done with you, I’ll be the only thing on your mind.
If I stare at her a moment longer, I may just self-combust. “Well, I’m gonna go get some food,” I say to the group. “I made Shelby an oath to try her Southwest egg rolls.”
“Yesss,” she slurs, saluting me with her wine glass. “And don’t forget about the chipotle mayo dipping sauce!”
I nod and bow out, not sparing Tess another look. I duck through the kitchen, exchanging the beer I don’t want for a bottled water. Then I pass into the dining room. I’m not hungry; I’m just trying to distract myself. I’m maintaining forward motion. A shark always has to keep swimming, right? If I stop moving, I’ll think about Tess. And if I think about Tess in those black fishnet stockings, I’ll get hard. And if I get hard, I’ll scare the rookies.
I’m turning the corner into the front hall when I feel a tug at my hand. Eagerly, I spin around, ready to pull Tess into my arms. I stop short when a girl in a bedazzled black wig steps into my space.
“There you are,” Cleopatra says. “Come dance with me.” She presses in, her body rubbing against mine.
“Whoa, I think you might be lost, sweetheart,” I say, trying to take her hands off me. But she has two and I only have one. The other is holding my water bottle. Just as I bat one of her hands down, she puts the other one on me.
“I waited and waited for you,” she whimpers. “I want you so bad.”
“Unlikely, as I’ve been here all of fifteen minutes,” I reply. “Okay—fuck—” I drop the water bottle to the floor, grabbing her with both hands. Gently as I can, I spin her around.
She’s still wiggling, pressing in at me with her ass. “I just wanna dance—”
“No, no, no.” I bend away from her. Fuck, she’s drunk. She doesn’t know what she’s doing at this point. “You know what I think we should do? Get an Uber and go to your house.”
“My house?”
“Yeah, let’s blow this party. Do you know where your house is?”
“Yeah, but I’m allowed to stay out all night,” she says, trying to put her arms around me again. “We can go to your house. I promise it’s okay.”
I groan. “Jesus, how old are you?” If Patty brought an underage girl to Shelby’s birthday party, I’m gonna cross check him to death.
“Nineteen.”
Thank God.
“Come on,” I grunt, trying to get her to walk in front of me without our bodies touching. “Fuck—stop—”
“Ryan?”
I go still, glancing over my shoulder to see Tess looking at me, her eyes wide. Actually, she’s not looking at me, she’s looking at us—me and Cleopatra, my hands clinging to her as she pushes her ass against me, wiggling like a fish. I say the only thing I can think to say. “Help me.”
She blinks. In moments, her look of hurt surprise vanishes and she’s rushing forward. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s just drunk,” I say, grateful that she’s not questioning me. “She showed up with Patty. I don’t know where the hell he is. If you see a tall, blond gladiator, punch him in the face.”