I nodded, a little disappointed. “I get it. But hey, tomorrow will be fun.”
“It will.” He gave me one more kiss. “Bye, baby.”
“Bye,” I got out and waved as he pulled out of the driveway.
I wondered if Tim had a date for the ball tomorrow. Was he going to go with Gemma Reardon?
Why did I care?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Tim
The next night at the Orchid Ball, I was wearing an old-fashioned tux that was supposed to give me vampire vibes. I wasn’t sure I was pulling it off. I looked more like a lumberjack stuffed into a really old tux.
It was Halloween weekend, so Carrie had worked it into the theme. Everyone wore formal wear that could also technically be some sort of costume. I couldn’t wait to see what Natalie was wearing.
I hit the bar kind of hard, my eyes glued to the entrance. I was waiting for Natalie to come through with her surgeon.
God. Why did he have to be asurgeon? I knew I was an engineer and that was nothing to sneeze at, but still. Plus, Harrison, who had a luxury car dealership, said he’d sold the guy a ridiculous number of cars over the past few years.
I drove a Ford F-150. It was nice. But it wasn’t a Maserati or whatever the hell Heath drove.
“Can I get you another, handsome?”
I turned to see a very busty, very pretty bartender. “Yes, please,” I grinned at her. I totally wasn’t going to hit on her, but it was okay to flirt. I could appreciate beauty without wanting to get with her. I took the drink, stuffed a twenty in her tip jar, and turned back to watch the door.
And I perked up. Natalie walked in with Heath. I didn’t see Heath after the first seconds because my eyes were glued to Nat. She looked gorgeous. Her long, dark hair was pulled into a complicated twist of some sort. She never wore much makeup, but she was tonight. Her eyes popped, and I could see their intense color from here. And her lips—the dark raspberry color had me wanting to kiss her senseless. I wanted to taste her. No—Ineededto taste her.
She had on a shiny light blue dress with a low, tight bodice that was doing very naughty things to her cleavage. The skirt of the dress was full and covered in little crystals that caught the light every time she moved. She had on elbow length gloves, and when she lifted her skirts to show Alexis her shoes, I saw that they were ‘glass’ slippers.
Ah. She was Cinderella. Or at least had a Cinderella vibe. It was then I turned to Heath to see what he was wearing assuming he was her Prince Charming. And I saw that he’d caught me staring at Natalie. His eyes were slightly narrowed, and I saw that pleasant, friendly Heath could be… less so.
I gave him a chin nod and held up my glass to him. He gave me a terse nod, purposely gave Nat a kiss where I could see, then moved his hand to the small of her back to guide her towards the dance floor.
I had just gotten another drink when Carrie came up and asked me to dance. I tossed back my drink. “Gladly, my dear.” I gave her a stiff bow, and she laughed at my impression of a vampire.
I danced a couple of dances with her, and a few with Sadie’s other friends. I even danced once with Gemma Reardon but avoided her after that. If I’d ever worried about myself being too handsy during a dance, I was nothing compared to that woman. My God. I felt somewhat violated.
I hurried away from her and almost ran right into Natalie. I gave her my deep vampire bow. “A dance, dear lady?”
She tried to hide her smile. “Are you trying to be a vampire?”
“You got it! You’re the first person to get it right.” I swung her onto the dance floor, my hand firmly at her back, pulling her as close to me as I could get her.
“You would have done better imitating the Count fromSesame Street.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of mean?” I faked a hurt look, and she laughed.
“Only you.”
I swung her around and around the floor, and we laughed and talked about everything we’d missed out on for the past week since we hadn’t seen each other that much.
I happened to notice Heath standing across the room with an attractive, wealthy-looking older couple that must have been his parents. “Don’t look now, but are those Heath’s parents over there?” I swung her around where she could see without being obvious.
“That’s them,” she said.
There was something in her tone that had me looking down at her. “What? You don’t like them?”
