My mouth dropped open.Fuck and double damn. What the hell was he doing here? Of course, the answer to that question was fairly evident. Jake was a soldier. Max was a soldier. Although I’d spent much of this week convincing myself otherwise, they must’ve known each other after all, if Jake was here at the party for their family and closest friends. Panic gripped me as I realized what that meant. If they knew each other, they might have talked about things like hook-ups and random sex and what had happened last Friday night.Shit, had Jake told him about me?Had he used my name?
“What are you doing here?” Jake spoke in a whisper, voicing the same question I had for him.
“I make it habit to crash random parties, just to check out the food.” Sarcasm was my fallback, as always. “What the hell do you think? Samantha is my best friend. We used to share an apartment.” I pressed my lips together. “I assume you work with Max?”
“I’ve known Max for a long time. Yeah, we work together, and we’re friends, too.” A tic jumped in his cheek. “Did you—”
“Harper!” Samantha appeared at my side, her face alight with happiness and excitement. “When did you get here? I’ve been looking out for you, maid of honor.” She hugged me and then stood back, taking in my outfit and smiling even bigger. “Damn, girl, you look good. I forget how nice you clean up sometimes.” She leaned forward to kiss my cheek and seemed to realize that we weren’t alone. “Jake! Hey, there. I didn’t see you, either.” Her glance darted from his face to mine. “Do you two ... know each other?”
We spoke at the same time, but unfortunately, we didn’t use the same words.
“No!” My reply was quick and vehement.
“Yeah.” Jake’s was just as fast, but a whole lot less sure.
I skewered him with a glare guaranteed to melt steel. “No, I just introduced myself as your friend when I stopped to get a drink and he was standing here.”
Jake coughed. “Yeah, that’s what I meant. I just, uh, met her. Just now. Here. Not before.”
Sam frowned, and I knew she wasn’t buying it. “Oookay ...” She narrowed her eyes, watching me, and I saw a glimmer of realization began to dawn on her face. “Harper, this isn’t—is he—did you—”
Because God is merciful, despite my many shortcomings, before Samantha could finish that question, Max called her name from across the room. When she looked at him, he beckoned her over, probably to meet the couple with whom he was speaking, I guessed. She nodded her acquiescence and began to walk toward her fiancé, pausing long enough to turn around to face Jake and me once more.
“You two—I’ll be back.” She pointed at us. “Don’t think I’m going to forget. I want the dirt.” With that parting threat, she pasted on her pretty bride-to-be face and went to join Max.
I wheeled around to face Jake. “What the hell were you thinking? Why did you tell heryes, that we knew each other? Are you out of your fucking mind?”
He gave his head one quick shake. “No, of course not. I didn’t know what to say, because how the hell do I know what you’ve told her? I know about women. I know how y’all talk. I didn’t want to say we’d never met if you’d told her about what we—about what happened. Between us.”
“Like I’d give her a name? Be serious. What kind of an idiot do you think I am?”
With a low growl that reminded me all too vividly of our night together, Jake gripped my arm and tugged me toward him. “I don’t want to have this conversation here. Come on.”
He led me through the kitchen, which was covered in platters being filled by one startled caterer as we stalked through. I saw her open her mouth to speak before she caught sight of Jake’s face. Then she shut her lips and looked away.
He dragged me out onto the small wooden deck and shut the door behind us, then dropped his hand from me, crossing his arms over his chest.
“What did you tell Samantha? I mean, how much did you tell her?”
I mimicked his stance, defiant. “None of your damn business. I didn’t give her your name, so there’s no way—” I stopped talking. “Don’t worry. If she’s suspicious, I’ll convince her otherwise. Your secret is safe.”
“Hey, it’s notmysecret. I would’ve told her the truth in there. I would’ve said we hung out last weekend after we met at the bar. You’re the one making this a bigger deal than it has to be.” He cocked an eyebrow at me. “What’s the matter? Doesn’t yourbest friendknow that you like to hook up with random guys and do kinky shit?”
“Fuck you,” I hissed. “No—I mean, yes. She knows I hook up. I don’t pretend to be someone I’m not. I don’t do that with Samantha or with anyone else, because I’m not ashamed of who I am. But I also don’t need her deciding to play matchmaker and trying to throw us together, if she figures out that we already had, uh ...” I tried to think of how to phrase it. “Chemistry.”
“Why would she do that?” Jake was honestly clueless, and I felt sorry for him, poor dumb fuck.
“Because she’s been nagging me to find a nice guy in the service like she did and settle down so we can be Army wives together. She and Max are always pestering me to let them set me up with his friends. If she thinks we already have something in common, even if it’s just the fact that we had a one-night stand together, she’ll never let it rest.”
Jake shook his head. “I don’t get it. Can’t you just tell her that neither of us is interested in that? Tell her that we wanted no-strings fun. What can she do? She can’t force us to, uh ...” He rolled his hand. “You know. Date or whatever.”
I shook my head. “Clearly you have no concept of a woman in love who wants all of her friends to find themselves in the same state. She’s like a pit bull, and she won’t let it go. Trust me. This is why she must never guess that you’re the guy I told her about.” I could’ve cheerfully cut off my own tongue for having said anything to Samantha about last weekend’s fun.
“What exactly did you tell her about me?” Now he no longer looked worried; instead, he was intrigued.
“I told you, it’s none of your business.” I felt my face heat up and hoped he didn’t notice the flush.
Jake stepped a little closer to me. “Did you tell her it was the best sex of your life? Did you tell her I fucked you so good, no other man will ever measure up?”
