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“Damn, that was the best roast pig I’ve ever eaten,” AJ exclaimed, sighing as he rubbed his flat belly beneath his skin-tight dark green Henley before grabbing his fifth beer of the evening and raising it to his mouth to drain it. Across the table from him, Maeve—invited by Anna, who was eagerly growing her “girl posse”—stared appreciatively, her cheeks turning a delightful shade of pink she would probably hate people seeing.
But Sly saw it, and he recognized it for what it was: attraction. Damn, his assistant was ga-ga over his business partner—not that he was going to do or say anything about it. Though, he was curious about where it would go—if shy, quiet Maeve would ever make a move on outgoing, up-for-a-good-time AJ Mendez.
A hard jostling against his shoulder jerked him from his random thoughts.
“Do you want more to drink?” Anna asked, her open, friendly gaze putting him at ease all over again.
When he’d first accepted Blaze’s invitation to dinner at his apartment with his girlfriend, AJ, and Sally, he was more than a little…uncomfortable. This was his first sit-down dinner party since his divorce, and the first one—ever—that he actually wanted to participate in. What would it be like for the billionaire business mogul to spend a few hours hanging out—as paired couples—with people he worked with every day? It was a new one for him; Loni loved dressing up and being his arm candy for media-hounded charity events, but quiet dinners at the homes of their mutual friends? Never. They didn’t even have mutual friends. And that was one more ugly truth he’d just discovered about his own marriage; aside from their love for Jake, there were few they could both call friend. Loni had her friends—primarily social media influencers like herself who were her friends to her face but back-biting bitches when she turned around. And Sly had his work colleagues, employees, and the occasional acquaintance from his years at Yale with Jake. Sadly, since those connections had been wrought through Jake, they’d fallen to disrepair once Jake died. Not since Jake had he even bothered forming attachments because attachments meant personal, emotional risk, and he didn’t want to know the pain of that again.
Until a gorgeous, curvy Latina caught his gaze across a crowded bar, and his life turned upside down and inside out.
“I wouldn’t mind another beer,” Sly answered, watching as Anna picked up his empty bottle and headed into the kitchen.
“So, Sly, now that you know the sordid details of how I finally got Anna to give me the time of day, I am curious as hell to know how you got our Sally to even look at you again.”
Sly chuckled, knowing full well he wondered the same damn thing every day. He was a lucky son of a bitch to have Sally sitting beside him, smiling at him, pressing herself against him after all the shit he put her through.
Leaning back in his chair, he planted the palm of his hand on the hardwood dinner table and blew a raspberry, tilting his head from side to side as if giving it deep thought.
“I have no fucking clue, brother. All I can think is that someone upstairs is listening and granting me wishes because I know I do not deserve this woman right here,” he answered honestly, draping his arm around Sally’s suddenly tense shoulders.
Turning to look at her, he saw her thin-lipped smile and wondered what the hell he did this time.
“You’re damn right,” AJ exclaimed, leaning back in his chair and carelessly throwing his arm over the back of Maeve’s chair. She stiffened and blushed, but AJ didn’t notice because he was too busy spearing Sly with a piercing gaze. “My sister is a goddamn queen, and she deserves the world, especially after all she had to go through to wear her crown.”
Tensing beside him, Sally shot her brother a menacing glare.
AJ glowered back. “Don’t look at me like that, Sis. You are the strongest woman I know, and that means you need a strong man to take care of you.”
Sly grunted, agreeing, but he didn’t speak; he was too caught up in the play of emotions flashing across Sally’s face. Anger, pain, love, hatred…a beautiful harmony and melody of expressions he couldn’t tear his eyes from.
“How many beers have you had, bro?” Sally asked, her voice stern. AJ shrugged, his broad shoulder bumping against Maeve, who only seemed to turn redder.
“A few. Not like I’m going anywhere tonight—not like I have anyone to go home to like ya’ll do. Gonna crash on Blaze’s couch, so don’t worry ‘bout me, little sister.”
From the pinched expression on her face—and Anna’s—there was plenty of worry there, and not just for AJ.
Recalling what AJ said about Sally, Sly determined to ask about it later when there wasn’t an audience. What happened to her? What was AJ alluding to, and why was he making a point to speak of it now?
“How can I not?” Sally asked, clearly both annoyed and concerned about her drunken brother.
AJ snorted, dropping his chin to his chest to stare at her with a blurry-eyed gaze. “Stop worrying about me, Sis. I know how much you worry, how you’ve always worried. How you’ve hidden things from me and acted like all was well in the Hell Kingdom of House Dupree.”
Sally gasped, her beautiful caramel skin paling. “AJ…” she whimpered. Sly reached out, gathering her against him and kissing her temple.
“AJ, brother, I think you should head to the guest bedroom and sleep this one-off,” Blaze interjected, his words flowed with command rather than supplication.
Seeming to snap from whatever was haunting him, AJ shot up from the table and glanced around the room at those gathered, watching him—though he barely even looked at poor Maeve who’d taken the brunt of AJ’s rapid movements, her chair bumped and then scraped across the floor from the force of AJ’s change in position.
“Shit,” AJ grunted. “I’m sorry…I—” He pushed shaking hands through his hair and groaned. “Yeah…I think I’ve had too much to drink. I’m gonna head to bed and sleep this shit off.” He met Sally’s concerned gaze and offered a lopsided smile. “I’ll call you tomorrow, yeah?”
Sally nodded, swallowing hard.
AJ hadn’t left the room for a second before Anna squatted beside Sally’s chair, her hand on Sally’s thigh.
“What was that all about, sweetie?” Anna asked, her voice laden with concern and confusion.
Sally shook her head, sighing. She reached for the nearly empty glass of wine on the table and threw it back before sighing once more.
