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Sloane barely looked at it before striding toward them and plopping between them, nearly sitting in Ari’s lap. “Cheers,”
she said, clinking her glass against Ralph’s before leaning over to Ari.
Time stopped while Sloane watched her, waiting for her to o er her glass in the time-honored, celebratory tradition.
Ari was transfixed by her tired, hazel eyes. After a day of wear, the make-up didn’t cover the evidence of exhaustion.
What are you doing here?
Instead of toasting, Sloane moved like a close-up magician. Before Ari knew it, she was holding Sloane’s beer and Sloane had her cider.
“What’s this? It looks delicious,” Sloane asked, taking a sni like a German Shepard circling a suspicious bag at the airport.
“Pear cider,” Ralph replied in open confusion. He wasn’t the only one mi ed by her behavior.
Staring at him as if waiting for him to crack, Sloane slowly moved the glass to her lips.
Is she waiting for him to knock it out of her hand? Does she really think he’d poison me?
Without breaking eye contact, Sloane took a huge gulp of the cider. “Oh, this really is good,” she decided, turning her head to the side to look at Ari. “You don’t mind if I keep it do you?”
At a loss for words, Ari made a noncommittal sound that vibrated in her chest but didn’t quite escape her lips.
“You’re such a doll,” Sloane said with a smile before turning her body to the side and pushing her butt against Ari’s bent leg, stopping just short of her crotch.
Ari’s body responded with an automatic rush of heat at the incredibly intimate contact. In a mild panic, she tried to slip her leg out from under Sloane’s body, but there was no way to do it without being awkward, so she su ered the painful proximity.
“I’m so glad you could make it,” Ralph said after a very long swig of his drink. “I thought you were otherwise engaged this evening.”
The chilly formality was almost hostile, but Ari was too distracted by trying to look comfortable with Sloane all but sitting in her lap.
“The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had to cancel. Arwyn and I have been so close since law school.”
Sloane reached back, draping her arm across Ari’s thigh as she leaned her body weight into her.
The warm weight of Sloane’s body resting against Ari’s chest and legs was heart-stopping. Her nostrils were filled with the clean scent of Sloane’s hair spilling onto her blouse.
The floral perfume she so often hated was invading her senses and forcing her to imagine what it was like to nuzzle her neck. She was no doubt leaving her mark all over Ari’s body . . . not unlike a bear marking its territory, she realized.
“Really?” Ralph’s eyes darted to Sloane’s hand on Ari’s outer thigh before clearing his throat. “I had the impression you two weren’t exactly friends.”
“Oh yeah,” Sloane replied after another sip. “She just likes playing her cards close to the chest.”
Some small part of Ari was screaming for her to react. To say something. To extricate herself from under Sloane and move to her own chair. But she couldn’t make herself move.
The moment was too surreal. Too strange. Too addictive. She let Sloane spin the facts of their fictional law school friendship using the chipper tone she hadn’t heard since she started at the prosecutor’s o ce.
The conversation between Ralph and Sloane was happening around Ari. Their words were foamy surf crashing noisily against a rock face. Ari was the rock, unable to join the ebb and flows. Powerless to do anything other than be submerged.
“Do you want another?” Ralph pointed to the glass he’d emptied painfully fast.
Sloane glanced at her smartwatch. “Sure,” she replied, handing him her empty glass.
They looked at Ari in unison as if awaiting her verdict, but her warm beer was still nearly full.
“Are you feeling okay?” Ralph’s eyebrows knitted together.
Hmm. Am I feeling okay? No. Not really. My sworn rival, who I used to have a massive crush on before she turned into a nightmare, is at present strewn across me like a blanket. I have no idea why she’s here and I have even less of an idea why she cares so much that you seem to have a misguided crush on me. I’m feeling bewildered, vexed, and uncontrollably aroused. But you know what, I’m not feeling: okay.
