The hairs on my arms stood at attention. It was as if someone was watching me.
Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Damn, I did it.
I turned and looked toward the bar. My gaze collided with Curtis’s, kicking my heart rate into a gallop. I sucked in a smallbreath and rubbed my chest. Why did he have this effect on me? The powers that be were cruel. Hadn’t I suffered enough?
He was with his brother, and while the family resemblance was clear when they stood next to each other, Curtis was by far the hotter of the two—not that Jack wasn’t nice to look at. I wasn’t the only one staring. They had the attention of half the women in here and some of the men. My body felt like it was going to combust—I definitely wasn’t cold anymore. Before I creeped him out, I turned away. “He wasn’t invited, was he?”
“No. Bosses don’t mix with the crew. Queen Victoria once explained that the execs would stay on their own tier, so as not to play favorites or get too friendly with anyone, so that if anyone needed firing, there wouldn’t be a conflict of interest.”
I hugged myself and pretended to shiver. “Wow, she’s colder than a snowstorm on an iceberg.”
Destiny put her cupped hand next to her mouth as if she was telling me a secret, then shouted, “I’ve heard she pees ice cubes.” We burst out laughing.
I knew I shouldn’t, but I glanced toward the bar again. He was gone. I wasn’t disappointed. Not in the slightest.Ahem.
Destiny cocked her head toward the bar. “Let’s grab a drink.”
The next few hours went by in a noisy blur. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had this much fun. Even Kali was getting into it. She’d had a few drinks and was wiggling her butt to the music and grinding on some guy from two tables down. Garth had kept his distance, although he did stare at me from time to time. I ignored it. If he had a thing for me, he’d soon get over it. And chances were, he didn’t, and I was being paranoid. Maybe he was just wondering why I was such a bitch?
I’d even managed not to seek Curtis’s whereabouts every five minutes. It was more like every ten—my self-control was legendary. He and Jack were huddled together at a high top in the corner. A steady stream of women surrounded them, but eventually,they all walked away. The part of me that shouldn’t be jealous breathed a sigh of relief. Argh, I was such a disappointment.
At one point, the brothers looked as if they were having a very serious conversation, Curtis’s expression pained. It was probably rich-people, company-owner problems—he wanted a yellow Porsche but could only get black. His housekeeper had missed a dust mote on the light above theMonet. He couldn’t stop having nightmares about non-company-style margins, inefficient PAs, and said PAs ruining designer ties with icing and sprinkles. I sniggered. Yep, I did that, and I hadn’t even been trying.
When I looked at the beer glass in my hand, I realized that other than the stubborn little bit of white froth clinging to the inside, it was empty. I tipped the glass up to my mouth and sucked, trying to coax the little guy out. Nope. He wasn’t budging. Bummer. I was considering putting my finger in to swipe him out and suck him off, and that wasn’t dirty because I was talking about beer froth. That meant I was probably already buzzed.
Hmm. Should I buy another beer? It might push me over the edge into bad-decision-making and headache-tomorrow territory because keeping my finger out of that glass meant I wasn’t quite there yet.
Destiny shoulder bumped me. “Time for another drink?” And didn’t she have impeccable timing.
“Yeah, sure!” I grinned. Who was I kidding? Clearly, I was already into bad-decision-making territory. After the week I’d had, surely no one could blame me.
We toddled to the bar, and I was vaguely aware of men watching. Maybe they could smell an easy target—it had glassy eyes and reeked of alcohol. Pfft, I wasn’t that drunk. Like I said, it was a light buzz. As we reached the crowd at the bar, Destiny knocked into me again, but this time it wasn’t on purpose. She laughed and swayed, grabbing my shoulder for support. “Oopsie.”
I laughed because it was funny she thought I was a good optionfor keeping her upright. Just to make sure, I planted my feet a bit wider and lessened our odds of ending up on the floor.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder. “Hey, gorgeous, can I buy you a drink?”
I turned. A tall guy with blond, curly hair looked down at me. The top two buttons on his shirt were undone, and he was sans tie. He wasn’t bad-looking but had black shoes and a tan belt, which gave me the ick. Sometimes, it didn’t take much, but seriously, match your shoes and belt. Come on.
It didn’t matter how intoxicated I was—and I wasn’tthatfar gone—I was not accepting drinks from men because God forbid, they’d think I owed them something. “Ah, no thanks. I’m good.”
“Are you sure?” He gazed around the bar before looking back at me. “If you’re not quick, someone else will get lucky.”
“Great for them.” I wanted to be polite and pacify him, but that normally just prolonged the inevitable. Instead, I tried something new and turned my back on him. Destiny’s eyes were wide as if she’d just witnessed something groundbreaking.
“What the fuck?” He grabbed my upper arm and jerked me around to face him. “Don’t turn your back on me. All I did was offer you a drink, and you’ve been nothing but a bitch.” He squeezed harder and stared at me with wild eyes.
I glanced back, but no one from our group was watching. “You’re hurting me. Let go.” If I’d had my Docs on, I would’ve kicked him by now. If he didn’t let me go soon, I’d do something. I just wasn’t sure what yet. My brain wasn’t exactly sharp after all those beers.
He shook me and was about to say something when a menacing presence wrapped around our group. It was as if the air grew thick with danger.
“Take your hands off her. Now.”
Destiny’s eyes widened, and her mouth made anOas she looked at my savior.
Bosshole.
The dickhead hadn’t released my arm, and it was still painful, so I dug my nails into his hand. He just tightened his grip while staring at Curtis in challenge.
