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Damn. I try to lock down those thoughts.
I’m not doing this.That. Him.
Nope. No strangers. Hell, no men. I’m detoxing from men. Men suck.
They’re a distraction, and I don’t need any of those.
“Oh...” I laugh. “That’s cute. You think—” I laugh a little harder. A little more forced for his sake and maybe the sake of my dignity. “No.Sorryto disappoint, but I wasn’t apologizing to you. I was apologizingforyou. You see, I was taught eavesdropping on private conversations is rude. Obviously, you skipped the day manners were handed out growing up.”
If it’s possible, that damn smile grows a little bigger and a whole lot cockier. “Oh, darlin’, I’ve never had anything handed to me. And my momma made sure I have excellent manners. She also taught me never to brag.” He looks over at Maddox, who’s moved on to the other end of the bar, where he’s helping the co-eds who just came into West End. They’re probably ordering some froufrou drink, hoping one of them will get to go home with him at the end of the night. “Real men don’t need to brag. But hey, if you want to check out his hard inches, go right ahead.”
He leans his head in conspiratorially toward mine and crooks his finger. “Fair warning, though. If a man’s got to brag, he’s usually full of shit.”
Wow. He even smells good. Sandalwood and something else.
“Did you just sniff me?” he whispers, and I laugh.Hard. No force needed this time.
“Sorry. I’ve been on a bit of a cleanse. And you...” I bite down on my bottom lip. “Well, you’re like a big old, tempting piece of chocolate cake.”
For a second, he looks at me funny. Maybe he thinks I’m crazy.
At least, that’s what it looks like to me.
But seriously, who am I to guess what a complete stranger is thinking?
I lean my elbow on the bar and rest my face in my hand. “Who are you?”
“According to you, I’m a piece of chocolate cake,” he challenges with a fucking twinkle in his eye. Good lord, he’s twinkling. It’s like a neon sign screaming—Stay away...Stay far away.Trouble ahead.But I’m pretty sure I’dreallyenjoy his brand of trouble.
And like a moth to a flame, I think my wings are about to get scorched.
Cross
The bombshell in the little white sundress stabbing the pepper slices in her drink with a tiny little straw looks at me with vibrant turquoise eyes, a beautiful mix of green and blue. She drags her teeth over her pouty pink-glossed lip before she shakes her head slowly. Shiny long blonde hair falls in waves around her face. Thick and glossy and sliding over her bare shoulders. She looks like she belongs in a shampoo commercial. Or bent over my bed with that hair wrapped around my fist.
“Did I mention I love chocolate cake?” she murmurs, and I laugh. “I just know it’s bad for me, so I’m trying to...”—shemulls something over for a minute, then smiles—“abstainfrom cake. All desserts really... At least for the summer.”
“Seems like a waste of a summer, if you ask me,” I tell her, even though flirting with this woman is the last fucking thing in the world I should be doing.
She nods slowly. “I think you might be right.”
The bartender with thehard inchesand hard-on for the blonde, heads back our way and raps his knuckles against the bar. “Food should be up soon, man. Sorry about the wait.”
“No problem.” I watch the guy walk away, then look back to the bombshell next to me. “He your boyfriend?”
She runs her finger along the salty rim of her glass, then sucks it between her lips.
Fuck... No way she doesn’t know what she’s doing.
“No,” she says slowly. “Just a friend. More like an annoying little brother who I’m not exactly related to.”
I must make a face because she smiles and adds, “Let’s just say my family is big. And mostly annoying. And Maddox belongs firmly in the family category.”
“Good to know.” I look down at my phone and see a text notification from my own annoying family. My brother, Ares, and I flipped a fucking coin to decide who had to pick up dinner tonight. I lost. Although, right about now, it feels more like maybe I won.
Ares
Dude. I’m fucking starving. Where’s dinner?
