“Are you marrying her so you can gain your inheritance?” I said softly. “Does that have anything to do with it?”
“Why do you care?” he asked me angrily.
That made me even madder. I couldn’t believe he’d had the gall to ask me why I cared when he was still trying to get into my pants. Didn’t he realize how fucked up this situation was? What sort of girl did he think I was if he thought this was okay? What part of this situation was okay in any way?
“I don’t care, Xander,” I huffed out. “Just leave me the fuck alone, okay? You’re the one who keeps coming after me. I’m not the one coming after you. I’m done with your bullshit, okay? It’s not cool for you to keep trying to get into my pants and then question me when I try to figure out what’s going on with you and Gabby.”
“You didn’t care who I was or what I was doing last weekend.”
“That was last weekend.” I folded my arms. “This is this weekend. And this weekend, I’m not interested in you and your crap.”
“Me and my crap?” His lips twitched as if he wanted to laugh.
That infuriated me even more. How dare he think that this was a funny situation?! How dare he look so superior and smug while I was fuming on the inside?! My fingers itched to slap him. He wouldn’t be looking so cocky if he had my palm print across his cheek.
“Leave me alone, Xander. I am done with you.” I poked him in the chest. “I’m going out in my slutty dress, and I’m going to do what I want. Maybe I’ll meet an even better man, and then I can hook up with him and forget I ever met you.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that.” His lips thinned, and he grabbed my wrists. “That’s not the answer to any of this.”
“Well, that’s not your problem, is it?” I smiled at him widely. “I can do what I want.”
“Liv.” He said my name slowly, and his gaze was intense as he stared at me.
“Yes, Xander?” I said lightly.
I wasn’t going to lie. I was getting off on our conversation. I was getting off on the fact that I could rile him up by talking about other men. I was loving the fact that he was acting jealous. The only problem was, he wasn’t giving me what I really wanted. He wasn’t breaking up with Gabby and telling me he had fucked up. He wasn’t pulling me toward him and telling me he wanted me and only me. He wasn’t telling me that Gabby and his family fortune meant nothing to him. All he was doing was showing me he was horny for me. And, well, I’d already known that.
I wanted more than that from him. I wanted him to look at me with more than lust. I wanted to look into his eyesand see something akin to love. I knew that was an unrealistic expectation. He barely knew me, and I barely knew him, but that was what I wanted. That was what I hoped to see. I wanted to see a real emotion. A real, pure, heart-stopping emotion that had nothing to do with lust.
“Have a good evening,” he said finally and turned away. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he said and then walked back into the living room.
I stood there, feeling gutted and rejected. I could still feel his lips on my neck. I still felt branded by his touch, and I hated myself for it.
“You ready?” Alice walked out of the living room, her eyes bright, and I nodded.
“What did Aiden say?” I whispered to her as I pulled up the Uber app on my phone.
“Nothing good.” She sighed. “He just asked me to make sure that you didn’t get into too much trouble.”
“What?” My voice rose. “I swear, he’s the most annoying man. I know you like him, but, ugh, Aiden is so annoying.”
“I think it’s cute that he’s so protective.” Alice looked wistful.
“Trust me, Alice, you won’t think it’s that cute if you’re dating him.” I shook my head. “He’s bloody annoying. And yes, I’m channeling my best British diva.”
“Cheers.” Alice giggled as we took another tequila shot and then raised our glasses of vodka and Coke up in the air. “Here’s to the men we’ve loved, the men we’ve lost, the men we’ve screwed, and the men we’ve booed. Here’s to the men to come and to the men who make us come.”
“Alice.” I laughed out loud. “You’re so bad.”
“I’m not done.” She winked at me, and her voice rose above the sound of the music. “Here’s to the men to come and to the men who make us come. Here’s to the men who last all night and the men who make our days bright. Here’s to the men we’ll ultimately marry, but their cock had better be bigger than a ferry.”
“Bigger than a ferry?” I said and then chugged my drink down along with her. “How can a cock be bigger than a ferry?”
“I don’t know. What else rhymes withmarry?”
“What about … hmm, let me think.” I paused and danced along to the music in the club, my mind spinning as the alcohol settled in my bloodstream. “What about dairy?”
“Dairy?” Alice giggled. “How can a man’s cock be bigger than a dairy?”
