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“What am I thinking right now?” I asked Laney.
“That you want to kill me.”
“Yep.”
“Good thing I know a lawyer.” Laney tipped her chin in Taylor’s direction, and I rubbed at the heartburn lingering in my chest after downing my drink. I caught Taylor’s eyes, that unceasingly dark gaze like a fathomless lake threatening to drown me, and her lips parted as if she might say something, but Kennedy spoke up again.
“So, you guys have known each other since high school? That’s cool.”
I let Laney and Ethan take over the conversation with Kennedy, my mind still reeling over this quiet, almost demure version of Taylor Novak next to me. I don’t know if I liked it.
“You all right?” I asked, knocking my knee into hers.
She dropped her attention down to where our legs touched then back up to my face. “I’m fine.”
“You’re awfully quiet.”
“That’s how it usually goes with me and my sister.”
I crossed my arms across my chest. “Me too.”
She wrapped her fingers around her glass, swirling the clear liquid. “I guess I should say happy birthday.”
“I guess I should say thank you.”
The corner of her mouth lifted, and I shifted in my seat, that hint of her genuine smile doing something funny to me.
“So, you’ve been in a bad mood lately? Seems like your usual mood to me,” I said.
She angled her head to the side like a viper ready to strike but didn’t respond, and I took a moment to study her face. She was a bit paler than normal, with dark circles under her eyes. Like she needed a good nap.
“You feeling all right?” I asked, and her nostrils flared.
“I’m fine.”
“You sure—”
“I’m fine,” she snapped, and I leaned away from her, only now realizing how close I’d moved toward her.
“Maybe your sister was right. Youarein a bad mood.”
“And here I thought we’d play nice since it’s your birthday.”
“We’ve never played nice,” I said, my gaze slipping to her mouth, where her tongue dragged along her bottom lip.
“You wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if I were ever nice to you.”
“You’re right,” I agreed.
She brought her drink to her mouth, polishing it off, her delicate throat bobbing on a swallow before our eyes met again.
“Then again, I don’t think you know how to be nice. Women like you don’t get where they are because they’re nice.”
She conceded my point with an unrepentant smile. “True.”
“Never change, Novak.”
“Don’t plan on it, Hargrove.”
