“Better not,” I said, meeting his eye. And then—and I swear it wasn’t my intention—my gaze dropped and I looked at his lips. He had a very nice mouth, with full lips. I didn’t know that I’d ever seen Stick smile. And just as I was thinking that thought, his mouth lifted into a wide—and oh-so naughty—grin. I looked up to his eyes, and they were staring down at me. Mischief and…something else, something very raw, shining through.
“When have you ever done the smart thing, Jane Winters?” he said as he bent and kissed me.
The flashbulbs ratcheted up to double time, and I closed my eyes to block them out. And, okay, yes, to better feel Stick’s kiss.
He tasted like champagne. And he smelled like fine wool and some expensive cologne. It was like kissing a rich Bribury boy. And Stick was most definitely not a Bribury boy.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to him, we were jostled by another couple. I opened my eyes, slightly dazed, and looked around.
The couple that moved me out of my kissing haze was Grayson Spaulding and his wife. He gave me a pointed look.
Yep, into the fire.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said to Stick. He seemed a little dazed, too. And there hadn’t even been any tongue.
He took in the photographer frenzy and looked back to me. “No, probably not.” Then that grin came back and he added, “Wanna do it again?”
I barked out an unexpected laugh. And realized how good it felt to laugh. It’d easily been since before I left for break that I’d had a good laugh.
Not a lot of chuckles around my mom these days as she seethed about the idea of the Stratton family wedding, of which she would not be a part.
And that it was Stick of all people who had delivered my first laugh in…days?…weeks?
That thought pissed me off. I didn’t even like Stick. He was a car thief, for God’s sake. He was responsible for Lucas being arrested, which in turn broke up him and Lily. At least for a while. I did not want Stick to be the one to make me laugh.
And certainly not the one whose kiss made me just a bit too tingly.
Putting my armor back in place, but keeping my smile on for the photographers, I said, “So, does Lucas know you’re Grayson Spaulding’s spy? That you’re keeping an eye on him and Lily?”
Which still didn’t explain what he was doing here tonight, with no Lucas or Lily in sight.
“Lucas is aware of my…employment with Spaulding.”
That took me aback. Until… “Oh, you’re both playing him? Take his money, but report back to him only what Lucas wants him to know?” I kind of appreciated that—it was a move worthy of Grayson Spaulding himself.
“No, Jane,” he said, exasperation in his voice. The song ended, and couples filed off the dance floor, but Stick held me firmly in his arms and waited until the band struck up the next song, also a slow one.
He began moving me around the floor again as he said, “You’re the one who jumped to the ‘spying on Lucas and Lily’ conclusion. You’re way off base. Spaulding has accepted that Lily is dating Lucas. I don’t think he’s thrilled that his princess is dating a dropout townie…but he accepts it.”
“So what are you doing for Grayson, then?”
He looked away from me, not meeting my eye. He pretended he was looking at the other dancers back out on the floor, but I think he was just avoiding my gaze.
Finally a shrug, and a sigh, then he looked back down at me. “I’m doing various special projects for him.”
“Since when?”
“Since shortly after Lucas was arrested.”
I shook my head, confused. “I’m not getting it.”
Another shrug. “No reason why you need to. It doesn’t concern you.”
Well, now that just pissed me off. “And what special project needs to be done tonight? At my…Betsy’s wedding?” He noticed the stumble in my words (it was still hard to call Betsy my sister) and seemed to be mentally filing it away. Damn him. I’d be wise not to underestimate Stick.
“Does somebody here need a car stolen for them? Is that why you’re here? Call in a professional? There must be some primo cars in the lot tonight.”
“Get in the barbs now, and make up better ones than that lame-ass one. ’Cause I am…extricating myself from my former profession.”
