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She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a sweet-talker.”
“You want sweet, Baby? I can give yousweet.” He sauntered closer, then rested his hand lightly on her hip.
Tingles skated over her skin. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Did she want sweet? No. She wanted Ryan, always had. After over twenty years of friendship, she knew him well enough to know he was a lot of things: funny, arrogant, sexy, talented, intelligent, fucking diabolical, but not sweet.
Still, she didn’t bother with a response. Ryan had been saying outrageous things to her since they were teens, but he’d never acted on them. Ryan’s girlfriends were typically blonde, waif thin and big busted. Both Cassie’s long dark hair and small body were curvy. Ryan had written her off as friend material years ago. She’d accepted her plight.Mostly.
“Relax.” He tugged at her hair.
The slight pull sent sparks of pleasure pain through her scalp and straight to her core.Get it together, girl.She snatched another glass of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray. The only defense for the way Ryan made her feel was to get too drunk to think about it.
Ryan cocked a brow as he watched her down the glass in a few quick gulps. “That kind of night, huh?”
Swallowing down the last drop, she nodded. “I’m tired of talking about Levi. I’m tired of people asking about him or telling me how sorry they are. I’m sorry too. Sorry I wasted the best years of my life on him.” She lifted a hand to her swimming head.
Ryan grinned, his dimples flashing in his tanned cheeks, revealing straight white teeth. If she were ever granted a do-over for her life, she’d be the kind of girl who took what she wanted. Right now, for instance, she’d lean up and press her lips to Ryan’s and kiss him until he didn’t know anything but how much he wanted her.
“What do you say we get out of here?” he whispered, his tone serious now.
Blinking, she asked, “What?”
“Remember that time we snuck a bottle of liquor during the party and went down to the boathouse?” he winked.
Yeah, they’d been sixteen. “That was the first time you hooked up with Lana Andrews.”
He rolled his eyes. “And that was the night you finally agreed to date Levi.”
Because she’d tried working up the nerve to flirt with Ryan only to end the night watching him make out with her friend.She knew then she’d never look like the picture-perfect princesses Ryan preferred. As much as she wanted him to like her, she couldn’t deny her love of chocolate and carbs.
“Looks like we were both idiots,” she confessed.
Ryan narrowed his gaze, then he shook his head as if coming out of a fog. “Yeah, yeah we were.”
Silence descended between them even though the room was filled with laughing guests and loud music.
Finally, Ryan took her hand. “Let’s go.”
Without a word, he led her away from the party, slipping into the kitchen unnoticed. He grabbed a bottle of champagne from the caterer’s refrigerator, then shot Cassie a wink. Laughing, they slipped out the back door onto the empty deck overlooking her parents’ vast lawn and lake beyond. Snow had started to fall from the dark, cloud-heavy sky. Cassie shivered in her tiny dress.
“Come on.” Tugging her hand, Ryan stepped carefully over the slick steps to the lawn.
When they reached the soft earth dusted with snow, her heels sank into the grass. Stuck, she tried to free her foot. Holding onto Ryan’s hand, she yanked her heel out of the ground, but on the next step she sank in again.
“Son of a bitch,” she growled.
Beside her, Ryan’s full lips turned up in a sexy grin, his dimples caving so they bracketed his sinful mouth. Then he bent and effortlessly threw her over his shoulder like Santa’s sack.
“Oh my God. Ryan McLeod, put me down.” She beat her fisted hands against the muscles of his back, but he only laughed and smacked her playfully on the ass. She squealed, but the smack made her core throb.
“Fuck Cass. Are you wearing…?” His hand slid up her leg, over the smooth satin thigh highs she wore, to the bare skin above. As he held her secure with one arm, he pulled at the garter belt, then let it go with a snap against her flesh.
She cried out, more from shock than pain, but like the first unexpected slap on her bottom, this sent a jolt straight to her clit. She wiggled, trying to find something to relieve the building tension between her thighs.
“You’re not trying to get away, are you?”
God no.If she had her way, she’d never get away from Ryan and the rough scrape of his hands.
As he stepped onto the wood planks of the dock, it swayed softly. When he was steady, he slid her down his body to the dock below. Each inch of her chest slid along his rock-hard body. She stumbled slightly, dizzy from being upside down. With his hands on her biceps, he steadied her. But when he looked into her eyes with his own hooded gaze, her head spun all over again.
