Page 101 of Rising Heat

Her hand lingers against Mack’s arm.

“You coming to the afterparty?”

“Nah.” His answer comes easily. “Got plans.”

His eyes flick to mine so quickly I almost convince myself I imagined it.

“What about you, Ty?”

Tyler glances.

“Nah.”

“No?” Both eyebrows lift. “Since when do you skip the afterparty?”

He shrugs.

“Thought I’d change things up.”

She studies him for a second, then looks between the three of us. Something unreadable crosses her face before she smiles to herself.

“Well,” she says, giving Mack’s shoulder one last pat as she steps back, “don’t be strangers.”

Then she’s gone, disappearing back into the crowd.

I stare into my beer, tracing a finger through the condensation gathering on the glass.

Plans can mean a lot of things—going home, going to bed, not wanting to spend the rest of the night with a redhead they clearly have some sort of history with.

None of that automatically means me. I know that. It just doesn’t do a damn thing for the tight little knot that settled somewhere between my stomach and my ribs.

I have no claim to either of them.

I’m here as…what?

A friend?

A neighbor?

The girl they accidentally adopted during a snowstorm?

“Don’t mind them.”

Tyler’s voice pulls me out of it.

I look up to find him already watching me.

“I don’t,” I lie smoothly. “It’s totally fine.”

“Mhm.”

He takes a sip of his beer, mercifully letting me keep what little dignity I have left.

“But…” I glance toward the crowd where the women disappeared. “Can one of you explain the bunny thing?”

Mack’s head dips, the closest I’ve ever seen him come to laughing.

Tyler, meanwhile, looks one sentence away from completely losing it.