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“Where were you?” Ashley asks. “Did you get some?”
“Your lips are swollen,” Gert says dryly.
“Nothing happened.” Warmth bubbles under my skin. “He’s a nice guy.”
“There he goes.” Jordan motions to the entrance. “You can still catch him.”
“He’s…not my type.”
“Sav,” Gert says, “that guy is everyone’s type. He’s masculinity personified. Unless you’re looking for a beta.”
I shake my head. “I’m not looking for anyone. He’s a nice guy. We kissed a little, and that was it.”
Ashley stands. “If you don’t want him, I’m going after him.”
Jealousy spears through me, but what can I do? He had to call a cab, so he’s probably still outside.
Once Ashley’s out the door, Gert turns to me. “You’re not going to let her do that to you, are you?”
“She’s not doing anything to me.”
The words are bitter on my tongue. Already I feel like Falcon is mine. Apparently he didn’t feel what I felt, though, as it seemed only too easy for him to stop that soul-wrenching kiss and walk away.
Just as well.
I don’t need a one-time thing. Sure, they can be fun, but I’m twenty-seven years old, and it’s time to start thinking about long-term choices, not quick rolls in the hay.
Ashley is blond and gorgeous, and she will catch Falcon’s eye.
Or will she?
He turned and looked at my friends more than once while we were sitting at the bar.
When Ashley doesn’t return right away, though, I know the truth.
The kiss was just a kiss to him. And that fuck up against the wall that didn’t happen? It would have been just a fuck.
Ashley is no doubt inside his cab right now, going…well, somewhere. To his place, I guess, since Ashley lives in San Antonio.
“You can still go,” Gert reminds me.
I shake my head, just as Ashley walks back into the bar.
A concrete block rises from my shoulders. I don’t know why it should matter, but I’m giddy that Ashley isn’t with Falcon in his cab.
“How’d it go?” Jordan asks.
Ashley shrugs. “He’s not my type.”
“Right, Ash,” Gert says. “That’s why you hightailed it out there after him.”
“I’m thinking maybe you’re not his type,” Jordan cajoles. “Your lips aren’t swollen like Sav’s are.”
I absently bring my finger to my still burning lips.
“What’d he say?” Gert asks.
Good. She asked. I sure wasn’t going to.
“Said he had to go. Had an appointment first thing tomorrow.”
“Oh? What kind of appointment?” I ask.
“You mean he didn’t tell you?” Ashley scoffs softly.
“I didn’t ask.”
“Oh…so you’re really not interested in him?”
I simply shrug. Whether I am—and I am—or not doesn’t matter. Falcon is gone now, and I have no way of getting in touch with him. One thing’s for sure, though. If I say I am interested, Ashley will go out of her way to find him and seduce him.
Though she didn’t seem to have much luck tonight.
“How about another round, ladies,” Jordan says. “This one’s on me.”
“Yes, please.” Ashley draws in a breath. “Make mine a double this time.”
Ashley was outside for over ten minutes, and though I’m dying to know what she and Falcon talked about, I will not ask. Not in this lifetime.
“What else did you talk about?” Gert asks Ashley.
Good old Gert. Always dependable. I nudge her thigh under the table.
“Not much. He’s not real talkative.”
I resist raising my eyebrows. He seemed talkative to me. He told me about his tattoos. Of course, I asked.
He did seem preoccupied, though. Perhaps he does have an appointment tomorrow, and whatever it is must be weighing on his mind.
But that kiss…
That was not a kiss of someone who was thinking about something else.
Not until he broke it, anyway.
No.
That kiss was rabid. Primal. A kiss of yearning and of need.
It was far from one-sided.
I sigh and paste on a smile.
“Well, ladies,” I say, picking up my wine glass. “Here’s to another night out.”
4
FALCON
No one knows what to say to me. Makes no sense, since they all had plenty to say when I pleaded guilty. But now that I’m home? No one knows what to say.
It’s the elephant in the room.
Not just my incarceration…but the reason I’ve been released early. I was due to get out on parole for good behavior anyway, but my release was expedited.
I’m about to see that reason now.
My sister Raven lies in her hospital bed, her normally rosy skin pale. Her long dark hair, normally lush and shiny, is gone, and her lips are dry and cracked. Don’t they have lip balm here? Damn.
But she manages a smile.
“Falcon,” she says softly.
“The one and only.” I touch her cheek. “I’d gladly stay locked away for the rest of my life to spare you all of this.”
“I can’t thank you enough.” Raven grabs my hand from her cheek and squeezes it.
“Where are Mom and Dad?”
“They haven’t come in yet this morning.”
“They’re avoiding me, you mean.”
“No. That’s not it. I think they wanted me to be able to talk to you alone.”
