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I chuckle and steal the seat. She makes a move to sidle past me, but I loop my arm around her waist before she can and keep her there, right beside me. I won’t force her to sit down, but I want to test her, goad her into stepping out of her comfort zone. If she wants to.
She turns stiff as a board for a second, warring with herself. She looks back at me, and we’re nearly eye to eye even with me sitting down. I raise a brow in a subtle challenge and she eases up, leaning her weight back into me as I shift her down onto my thigh. She’s not fully on my lap, tilted toward Anthony with her feet on the ground. It looks casual, but it’s definitely not.
Inside, my body is raging like I’m a preteen with a girl on my lap for the first time. My heart hammers in my chest.
“Have you seen the design for our jerseys for the Games?” Anthony asks.
“No.”
“They’re retro-inspired. Pretty cool. Let me get my phone, I’ll show you.”
He stands to go retrieve his phone and Raelynn wiggles on my thigh, trying to get more comfortable, and I swear to god all the blood leaves my head.
This probably wasn’t a good idea.
“Will you stop moving around?”
“I feel like I’m going to fall off your lap,” she protests.
I tug her back even farther so her butt nestles in the groove between my thighs.
There’s no way she doesn’t feel the fact that I’m turned on right now. From this.
Jesus. I’d wipe a hand down my face if it wasn’t so obvious.
“Don’t you think this is a little inappropriate?” she says, angling her face toward me.
“No one is paying attention to us.”
“Everyone is paying attention to us.”
“Don’t worry about them.”
“Well it’s either worry about them or worry about…”
She adjusts her position on my legs again, and I’m fucking dying here.
“Are you purposely trying to kill me?” I ask, tightening my arm around her waist, trying to get her to hold still.
“That is not my fault.”
“It feels like you’re giving me a lap dance.”
She laughs. “Maybe you haven’t had a lap dance in a while, because this is definitely not one. I’m barely moving.”
I narrow my eyes, and she laughs harder.
“You’re the one who put me here. I was going to walk over and talk to Leanna.”
“Just stop moving.”
“Or what?”
“Little Bird, you don’t want to go down this road.”
She turns and leans into me, pressing her hands to my chest as her weight leans farther onto my hard length. “Don’t I? I’m here, aren’t I? On your lap…drinking your wine…sharing your food…”
As she talks, her eyes drift across the expanse of my chest, but when I speak again, they flit back to my face.
“I thought you were mad at me for the other night.”
“I am mad at you.”
“Then stop gripping my shirt like that.”
Her sharp blue eyes narrow. Her anger is showing, and I like it.
She doesn’t release my shirt. In fact, one of her hands skates down my chest, over my abs, and lower, until she’s teasing the hem of my shirt and drawing it up a smidge, just enough to touch the bottom of my abs. I wonder if she’s had a little too much wine. I wonder if I should stop her. Then she leans in and her mouth is against the shell of my ear, and all of my willpower goes out the window.
“Maybe I can be mad at you and want you at the same time.”
“Little Bird…”
She rears back, angrier than ever. “Stop calling me that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re leaving in thirteen days. You don’t get to call me pet names.”
I smirk, and her hand on my stomach curls in until her nails scrape against my skin.
“Here’s the jersey design,” Anthony says, coming back around with his phone.
Raelynn slides off my lap and stands, straightening her short dress. “I’m going to tell Leanna you’re driving me to my car.”
She walks away without waiting for my response, and I watch her go like my life depends on it. I memorize the subtle sway of her hips, the tantalizing length of her legs.
Then Anthony snaps his fingers in front of my face, and I yank his phone out of his hand to look at these damn jerseys I don’t care about.
“Jesus, you’re in trouble.” He laughs.
Raelynn stays over chatting with Leanna and Trey until our waiter arrives with the to-go bag for me. Not everyone is ready to leave, so I slip him some cash to cover my portion, including a hefty tip, and then I curve around the table toward Raelynn.
She sees me coming and crosses her arms over her chest. I try to read her expression, but it’s hopeless. I never know what she’s thinking from one second to the next. There’s no sense in trying.
