Her breath hitches, and I know my girl isn’t done with me yet either.
6
Tilly
“Look who decided to join us,” Izzy says, twisting a red straw between her fingers and wearing a smug grin. “Thought you two would never come up for air.”
My cheeks heat, and I realize everyone around the table knows exactly what we were doing.
The embarrassment only lasts a moment until Angelo squeezes my fingers. “Shut it, cousin,” he tells her, but she throws him a wink.
“I think we have another Suzy Sunshine on our hands.”
I snort. “I’m far from innocent, and so is she.” My gaze moves to Suzy, who’s draped across her fine-ass husband, looking just as frisky as I felt before Angelo showed up.
“Are we enjoying ourselves?” Slate, the owner of the club, asks as he steps closer to the table.
Angelo’s arm snakes around my waist like he’s claiming ownership and needs to mark his territory. “It’s an interesting place.”
We’re in the public bar area, and a majority of the people sipping their fancy drinks probably have no idea what’s going on on the other side of the wall. I’ve passed by this building at least a dozen times since I moved to Chicago, and never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined what was going on inside.
Slate moves closer to me, and Angelo’s arm tightens. “You’re welcome here anytime. If you’d like to experience the club in a more personal way—” his gaze dips to me and then to Angelo “—I’d be more than happy to make your fantasies a reality.”
Oh shit. This can’t be good.
Angelo shifts, moving me to his other side and putting distance between Slate and me. “My woman enjoyed herself, but I’m not sure we’ll be coming back.”
My skin tingles at the way he says my woman. It’s a little barbaric but hella sexy, especially with how hard he’s holding me against his body.
“Slate,” the man sitting next to Izzy says. There’s a warning in his voice, and the glare he’s giving Slate is so icy cold.
Slate throws up his hands, but there’s a smile on his lips. “I mean no harm, James. You know damn well she isn’t my type either. Well, I have a club to run. Drink up. Everything’s on the house. By the way—” he turns his attention to Vinnie “—it’s nice to see you back again.”
That statement earns Vinnie a quizzical look from Bianca. She stares at her man’s profile with her mouth hanging open and her eyebrows furrowing, moving like she has so many questions she wants to ask, but she stays quiet.
“Thanks, man. It’s nice to be home again,” Vinnie tells Slate before he disappears through the velvet curtain and back to the front of house.
Angelo pulls me into his lap as he sits. “I don’t like that man.”
James laughs and swipes his hand across his face. “He likes dick, so he’s more interested in you,” he says to Angelo, “and not Tilly.”
Roger quietly excuses himself and heads toward the same door Slate just walked through. Everyone’s so busy talking, they don’t even notice his sudden disappearance, but I do. Does he know Slate, or is he interested in the man?
“Now what?” a man asks as he kicks back, sliding his arm around Angel’s chair. I assume the tall, sexy drink of water is Thomas, her badass private investigator husband who used to work for the DEA to bring down biker gangs.
Angel rests her head on Thomas’s shoulder, staring up at him, batting her eyelashes. “I know we were supposed to party separately, but we’re childless tonight. I don’t want to waste this opportunity. We should all party together,” Angel says, looking around the table for backup.
“Everyone feel that way?” the man with Suzy in his lap asks.
I stare at him, taking in his chiseled features, handsome face, and tattoos peeking out from underneath his shirt. I can see why Suzy Sunshine went from an innocent to a dirty girl in a hot second. The man looks like sin and sex, dripping confidence and swagger.
“Yes, Joe.” Suzy bounces slightly, and his hands move to her waist, stopping her movement.
“Sugar, don’t do that, or I’ll have to take you in the other room and finish what you’re starting.” There’s a small smile playing across his lips, but I bet he’s not joking.
Suzy waggles her eyebrows. “Is that a promise?”
I laugh, enjoying their lightheartedness and the love that comes off them in waves. It’s like that with everyone at the table. Every couple is connected in some way—holding hands or touching each other somewhere. There’s no distance. Only love.
