“Who’s the lucky man?” I surveyed the dance floor, searching for the copper hair, long limbs, and devious smile that had weaseled its way into my dreams far too often this past week, but he was nowhere to be found. Probably off hooking up with someone in a coat closet.
I swallowed down the burn clawing at my throat. It didn’t matter. He was free to do what he wanted. That door was locked and bolted.
“Ben,” Brian answered, dipping his head to judge my expression.
I threw my head back and laughed. “Hilarious.”
“I’m dead serious. That man has a serious thing for you,” he said.
I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off. “His eyes didn’t leave you the entire ceremony. You should see how he’s looking at you now. Like he’s imagining pulling you into the coatroom and ripping off your dress and—”
“Shut up. He is not.” I looked around, finally catching a glimpse of Ben.
He was staring at me from across the room. Well, glaring at me. He looked decidedly pissed off.
“He looks like he wants to pin me against a wall and strangle me, not pull me into the coatroom.”
“Oh honey. That dark and broody thing he’s doing? He’s most definitely imagining pinning you up against a wall later.” Brian’s eyebrows raised suggestively.
I glanced toward Ben again, trying to find the lust-filled gaze Brian seemed to see.
“You know what your problem is?” Brian asked. He didn’t wait, answering his own question for me. “You two need to bang out all the built-up tension.”
I snorted. “When has that ever worked for anyone? It’s never just banging out the tension. Feelings get involved. Someone gets clingy. Someone thinks it’s more than it is.”
I didn’t want to tell him I would most likely be the one catching feelings.
Ben was a player. Plain and simple. And as much as I wondered what a night with him might be like, watching him with some other woman next week might bruise my ego a bit. I wasn’t a clingy woman, but I also usually didn’t have to watch my one-night stands hit on other women right in front of me, either.
Brian waved away my concerns. “You said yourself that now isn’t a good time for you to start a relationship. You’re going to be working pretty much nonstop over the next six months. You need some unattached fun.”
“And Ben should be my unattached fun?”
“Yep.” He nodded, sure of himself.
“WhyBen?”
Couldn’t he pick someone,anyoneelse? This room had to be full of eligible bachelors, wanting a night of fun with a bridesmaid.
“Because I promised I’d find you someone to give you a good dick down to break this bad sex hex you have going on, and that man has big dick energy written all over him.”
A laugh burst through my lips. Brian was ridiculous. Absolutely insane. The idea of me and Ben. Together. In bed.
The smile slowly faded from my lips as I watched Ben, remembering the firm grip of his hands on my hips, how his fingertips skated up my ribs, and how his hands had felt hooked around my waist the other night.
“You want me to go up to the man I’ve been torturing for the last six months and proposition him for sex?” My voice squeaked, my nerves getting the best of me.
“Jesus, Eve. You act like you’ve never tried to seduce someone before. I’ve gone with you to the club. I’ve seen you pick up guys plenty of times. It’s not rocket science.”
My brows pulled together in thought as I considered my options.
“If all else fails, use your boobs. Straight guys are easy like that.”
“Right. Not nearly as complex as you?” I rolled my eyes at Brian.
“I am a deep, deep sea of complexities. You could get lost in the murky depths of my soul,” he said with mock sincerity.
I huffed out a laugh. Brian might be a good friend, but when it came to men, he was shallow and frivolous. There was a reason I told him I’d let him pick the next guy for me. I wanted something fun, and Brian—for all his lack of serious relationships—knew how to pick someone to have a good time with.
