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Tess must agree. She throws me a funny look.
Matilda is already finished with this conversation. She notices Charlotte chasing Total around the dining table so she runs over there to make sure no one has too much fun.
Out on the patio, Gage has the fireplace going and the screen set up. Alta and Dani have already wandered outside.
Tess lingers by the buffet table as the first notes of the national anthem blast from the television. “Are you guarding the food?”
I take a step to the right. “Help yourself.”
She selects a celery stick and swirls it in a puddle of vegetable dip. She watches my face as she flicks out her tongue andveryslowly licks the dip off.
FUUUUCK.
And just like that I have a semi.
She sucks the stick for a few seconds before allowing it to pop out of her mouth. Then she smiles, like she’s just won a contest.
I’ve been wondering nonstop how things would be the next time I saw her.
Now I have the answer.
She’s been thinking about that night a whole lot and she wants me to know it.
Playing it cool in case someone is looking, I snag a handful of honey roasted nuts from a ceramic bowl. “Campaign going well?”
“The most recent polls are favorable.” She cocks her head and holds my eye. “Unfortunate for the opposition, losing their campaign manager so late in the game. Apparently two broken legs are an impediment to job performance.”
“Two broken legs, huh?” I toss a nut in my mouth and crunch. “Poor guy.”
Pierce Carrington was unhappy to confront a squad of men in ski masks just outside his penthouse condo when he ventured out for his daily early morning run. I could have handled the task myself but wanted to make the ordeal extra terrifying for the bastard so I paid off three pals from the gym with the cash from my last fight.
Money well spent.
We dragged him to the nearest stairwell and tossed him down a narrow flight. When I was sure he wouldn’t be walking again anytime soon, I crouched down by his ear while he cried so I could let him know where things stand.
“Count yourself lucky, motherfucker. If I ever hear about you trying to drug another woman I’ll be back. And next time I’ll take your shriveled balls as a souvenir.”
Then I flashed a knife just to make him scream.
Which he did.
He also pissed himself so that was a bonus.
I figured he’d never tell the truth and risk rumors of his misdeeds. He knows he had this coming. The story he fed to the press was that he tripped over his shoelaces. Just a clumsy accident,HAHAHAHA!
Tess appears unbothered by the fate of her archrival. She presses her lips together to try to keep from smiling.
Dani pops her head inside. “Game time. Can you guys grab the chips?”
Tess smiles at her best friend and struts to the patio with her arms around a bowl of potato chips. I hang back and admire the shape of her ass.
Maybe Total is offended by my crappy manners. He trots over and fires a volley of ear splitting barks up at me.
“Micah, you have to sit with me.” Charlotte starts pushing me out the patio door. Total bites my ankles on the way.
There’s no shortage of comfortable seating on the patio. The sun is on its way down and the temperature is about to drop by about twenty degrees so there’s good reason to have the fireplace going.
Tess has chosen the cushioned chair closest to where Dani cuddles on a loveseat with Gage. Charlotte insists that I need to share the hanging porch swing with her. Total wedges his furry body between us.
