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Out with the words and in with her smell, I held her body to mine and kept it there until she started to giggle.
“Kline.” I struggled to remove my face from her hair and my hands from her hips, but she helped it along, turning her body to include her friend in the conversation and making my hand slide along the skin at her back. “This is crazy Cassie.”
“Crazy Cassie?” Cass squawked. “Is that my given name now?”
“Yes,” Georgia challenged adorably.
“Ohhh, okay then,” Cass conceded with a gleam in her eye. “I see. I’m a little slow, but I get it now.”
Her hand reached for mine and I took it without question, giving it two quick shakes. “Hi, nice to meet you,” she said.
I smiled.
“I’m Crazy Cassie. You must be Big-dicked Brooks.”
Thatch spewed his whiskey everywhere, coating us all with a layer of spit to complement the shock courtesy of Cass.
Georgie squealed and Cassie just laughed, and through the chaos my eyes met those of an amused Will. He raised his glass in a gesture of confirmation.
Wild.
And unpredictable and funny and completely apathetic.
Good God, the people in this party were going to make this one interesting night.
I hoped we all survived.
I grabbed some napkins from the bar and handed them to Georgie, watching closely as she wiped Thatch’s half-drunk whiskey from her cleavage. She shook her head slightly to let me know she’d noticed, and I felt my face dissolve into an outright smile before I turned back to Cass.
“That’s me,” I told her. “It’s a wonder your friend is still alive.”
Thatch and Cassie burst out in hysterics as Georgie slapped at my chest and Will covered his ears playfully.
“Kline!” Georgie screamed.
“Come on, baby. Let’s go sit down,” I told her, scooping her into my arms before whispering in her ear, “My legs are tired from carrying this thing around.”
“Kline!”
“It’s a real problem, Benny.”
“Kli—” she started to chastise again, but I didn’t give her the chance. Sealing my lips over hers, I licked and sucked and nibbled out a real hello. The night had just started and the implications of my lies hadn’t even begun to be realized.
But God, I’d missed her.
And right then, in my mind, that was all that mattered.
“Where’ve you been all my life?” I asked against her lips as our kiss pulled to a close.
She smiled just for me, lust and like and maybe a little bit of love lighting her eyes and reflecting into mine. She rubbed the bridge of my nose with her own as I settled her into my lap, finding a space on a couch by sheer miracle. Hell, for all I knew, someone had moved at the last second to avoid having me on their lap. I wouldn’t have noticed.
“I’ve been—eeeep!” she squeaked as she was ripped from my arms.
For a full second and a half, I feared for every single patron, a hulklike rage overwhelming my emotions and tensing the seams of my clothes.
“Relax, K,” Thatch teased, cooling my rage but stoking the fire of my aggravation. “Just rearranging the seating chart.”
My eyes narrowed as he set Georgie down on the sofa across from me and pushed me back to sitting next to him.
My thoughts were nearly murderous.
“Sheathe your claws, buddy,” he cooed in my ear. “You’re gonna have to get over your tantrum because old Ruck here needs some information and there’s no one else to give it to him.”
Goddamn, I hated when Thatch was right. And I hated it even more when it meant Georgia’s ass couldn’t be in my lap.
I looked at her, across from me, and found startled eyes bouncing back and forth between Thatch and me. To her, we were both a significant part of her life. It felt weird and I felt jealous, but mostly, I just felt bad. Bad for lying to her and bad for putting her through the confusion she felt now.
The responsibility for all of it sat squarely on my shoulders, and believe me, I could feel the weight. The sooner tonight was over with, the better.
“Cassie, right?” I heard Thatch ask above the ringing in my ears.
“Yeah.”
“You know,” he pushed, clearing his throat. “You look familiar.”
“You too, actually. You look very Ruckish or Rucklike or something.”
I shook my head and glanced at my panic-ridden girlfriend. She couldn’t see it like I could—she was too nervous. This was like watching a bad spoof film of Ruck’s and Rose’s lives where the blind were leading the blind. We would never have reacted like this to seeing one another. Not in a million years.
Thatch’s laugh was boisterous, his body nearly falling into my lap with the action. Turning his face to mine, he mouthed “name” quickly. I had to fight the urge to sigh. If it wouldn’t have been a spectacular failure and an embarrassment for Georgia, I would have told everyone to give it up right then.
