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Oh, big rock on her finger. Correction: fiancée.
Zee eyed Piper carefully but spoke directly to Mikah. “Introduce us to your date.”
Francesca, Zee’s fiancée, touched Zee’s chest for attention and cupped her hand over her mouth. She rose onto her tiptoes and whispered something to Zee.
Never good.
Zee arched his eyebrows. “Or is this a new friend?” The implication was that Mikah didn’t know her name.
Piper’s insides tensed. Not good to dislike a guy’s family even if she wanted to. Momma would say, Win them over. Piper pulled up a friendly smile and held out her hand. “Piper Amvehl.” Good, she only sounded a little tipsy. “Did y’all want a two-drink…a drink?” She’d been freaking explaining the two-drink freebie all night so that fell out of her mouth. Great. At least she didn’t have to offer them the dense condoms, that would have been a family-first-meeting memory for the ages. She should have had Dahlia pay her double for distributing the prophylactics.
Francesca opened her palms and shrugged. “I have rounds in the morning.”
“Francesca’s in med school,” Zee said, as if Piper would have guessed some other circular occupation. “We’re here checking out residency programs at the med center.” Zee tilted his chin. “We’ve got to get back, charter leaves tonight. It’s why I didn’t call first.”
Mikah said nothing.
“Then, I thought, I know where my little brother will be. Why not swing by his usual haunt on our way to the airport?”
Mikah crossed his arms over his chest. “All the team’s here.”
Zee half-winked and made a clicking sound. “I’ll go say hey to Dodo. He’s always trying to pull me over to the Snowers. I hate to disappoint him.”
Francesca rubbed Zee’s chest with her left hand, making her engagement ring more prominent. The stone rivaled Dahlia’s. “Smart, never miss a networking opportunity.” She gave them a fake smile. “You two enjoy your night.” She waggled her finger at Mikah. “But not too much fun. Remember, one water between each beer, and use protection.”
The couple moved on. How did some jackals have the gift to turn a room cold and suck the fun from the night? Come on. They had icy blue strobe lights, heart-pumping rock music, happy partiers. Piper had had a hot guy with clever hands. Chemistry had enveloped their bodies in an intimate cocoon. Now…the energy around them was weird and flat. How to recapture the mood?
Mikah returned his hand to the small of her back.
Okay, that was a good start. Piper curved into his side and put her arm around his waist. Better. No one felt like this guy, tall, strong. Now would be a good time to go.
A quick glance at the dance floor showed the rest of their group doing the conga. Their shirts served as flirty whips to smack each other’s butts. She’d picked the winner on this crew. Unlike the other guys, Mikah had kept his shirt on all night. Now he’d be rewarded with a private unbuttoning session. Hello. She licked her lips.
“Ready?” Mikah’s voice was low, deep, and hot.
He could ask her that all night long. “Yes.” Her voice came out husky and layered with her intentions.
Mikah cocked his chin up, nodding. “I didn’t think you were one who needed a ring on it.”
Whoa. Her head jerked up. She didn’t need a ring. But what? Had he just said that to her? Out loud? Like she was an easy lay? Piper froze. Their warm connection vanished. She dropped her arm.
The goaltender, Liam, bounded up to them, his liquor-tanked-up green eyes gleaming, his bulked-up arms around a metal condom dispenser with a chunk of drywall stuck to the top and the bottom. “We have all the condoms.” Liam lifted the prophylactic vending machine overhead, making his biceps bulge. “Over here, I’ve got you covered. Eh?”
CHAPTER 6
Dahlia appeared with the bar manager at her side, neither wore a smile. Dahlia gazed at Liam like he were a wild prairie wolf who’d roamed out of Canada and landed in the south. She brushed at the crumbling plaster on the prophylactic dispenser to make the scene more palatable and turned to the bar manager. “Of course, we’re paying for the condoms…and the wall. And by ‘we,’ I mean Liam.”
Liam flushed harder. “The one I was getting got stuck. I shook it, and the machine came down.” He shoved at the lid, which was tipped partway off.
“Ice. Ice.” Kiernan circled his shirt overhead and strode toward them. “I’ll take two.”
Liam, looking like he couldn’t help himself, stuck two fingers into the lid and wiggled out a handful of condoms. He tossed them to Kiernan, and then glanced sheepishly back at Dahlia. “They’re paid for.”
“Best call it a night, boys,” Dahlia said, though the whole team couldn’t hear her over the noise. “Piper, can you help me spread the word?”
Yeah, she could. She stepped away from Mikah.
* * *
