And he couldn’t fucking do that from here. “Look, Hilary, you’re a beautiful woman, and I enjoyed our…encounter, but this isn’t going to happen.”
Her smile faded, and she slowly straightened. “I see.”
“I apologize for any hurt I’ve caused. That was never my intention.”
“Avery, I’m not a child. I make my own decisions, so don’t apologize for having sex with me. Frankly, that’s insulting. We both wanted it.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I wanted more, so maybe I came on a little too strong. I do that sometimes. But if you’re not down to fuck, all you have to do is say so.”
Dumping her ass on the floor and running out of the club wasn’t enough?
He met her gaze head on, looking for signs of tears or anger. Nothing. Could it really be that simple? “I’m sorry. I’m afraid I don’t.”
“That was easy, wasn’t it?” She patted his chest. “Let me know if you ever change your mind.”
With a wink, she left him to follow her. At the end of the hall, she turned left, and he veered right, shaking his head. Fucking weird.
As Avery skirted the crowd, his gaze roamed the gambling tables, trying to catch a glimpse of Jo. Her red hair. That fucking hot red dress. He’d been looking forward to taking it off her all night.
“Over here.” Marcus called from up ahead, where he, Spencer, Nick, Bryce, and Maverick stood like sentinels, guarding a small alcove where his parents held court with their friends.
Avery fell in line beside them. “Have you seen Jo?”
Spencer pointed to a spot Avery couldn’t quite see. “The girls need to go to Vegas. They’ve been killing it at craps.”
One more step to the right, and the view opened up. Some twenty feet away, Jo, Olivia, Kate, Melody, and Charlotte huddled close together at a craps table, their expressions comically serious. Someone handed the dice to Jo. She shook it in cupped hands and let it fly. Cheers went up around the table, and the girls jumped up and down.
Jo’s laughter filtered through the noise, soothing the churning in his gut. He loved her laugh. The real one. Raspy, soft, and so infrequent that it never failed to take him by surprise. He wanted more of that one.
Her gaze lifted, and those glacial blue eyes met his. Her smile faltered for a second, then slowly widened, her expression soft, almost shy, with just a hint of flirtation.
He winked.
She blushed.
He laughed under his breath.
Her brow spiked.
He waggled his.
She rolled her eyes, and the way her lips parted just the tiniest bit, he knew she’d done that clicking thing with her tongue on the roof of her mouth. His dick celebrated that little move with a kick toward his cummerbund.
Someone passed between them, and the moment was lost. When the view cleared, the dealer was handing Jo the dice to start the game again. Avery preferred theirs.
Nick leaned in, his voice low. “Hardy called me.”
Jo blew on the dice in her hands, and Avery’s dick stretched another inch. Maybe they could sneak off and break her rule one more time before midnight.
“Did you hear me?” Nick growled.
“Yeah, you said he had nothing new earlier, and you were going to try to get something out of the commissioner.”
“Harris didn’t have anything new but promised to let me know if he had anything concrete to share. I haven’t heard back from him. But Hardy called about thirty minutes ago.”
That was enough to drag his attention from Jo to his brother. “And?”
“A witness came forward.” He held up a hand. “No names were divulged.”
“Lenny maybe?”
