“Not a lot,” Julia says quickly, her cheeks turning pink. So she’s been talking about me. That’s good. Very good.
“A little,” Heidi amends. She drops my hand and motions to the other woman. “Nic is my wife. We’re both so curious to meet Julia’s mate! It’s such an unexpected thing, isn’t it?”
I nod. “That’s putting it mildly. But I’m glad it’s Julia.”
“Huh.” Nicole, for her part, looks a lot less friendly than her wife, her dark brows drawn together as she angles her body so she’s partially standing between me and Julia. Her lips bunch when I offer my hand to shake, but she takes it grudgingly. “We’ll talk later.”
“Sounds good,” I tell her, meeting her skeptical gaze so she knows I’m taking this seriously. “Can I get you ladies some drinks while you find a table?”
“I like him already,” Heidi announces, linking her arm through Julia’s, who darts me a shy look. “Rum and Diet Coke® for me.”
“Me too,” Julia says. “Thank you.”
“Same,” Nicole adds.
While they head off to find seats for us, I order their drinks, plus a draft ale for me, from the satyr bartender.
“Which one’s yours?” he asks as he pulls the beer, following my gaze to the table where Julia is settling into her seat. I’m happy to see that her friends have left the chair next to her empty. I must have made an okay first impression.
“None of them, yet.”
“Better work on that,” he advises with a leer. “Don’t sleep on the MILFs. There’s still juice to be squeezed.”
“Wise words,” I say dryly. He’s really living up to the lecherous reputation of his kind.
“Start a tab for you?” I nod, and he slides a bowl of maraschino cherries next to the drinks. “On the house. Take it from me, the ladies love ‘em.”
Sure enough, when I arrive at the table, the cherries earn me some squeals. Julia adds three to her drink. Across the room, the bartender gives me a thumbs up, and I have to laugh.
“I added our names to the list.” Heidi holds up her phone so I can see the app on her screen. “What song do you want?”
“Something with howling,” I joke, hoping to make Julia smile.Success.
“You should do ‘Hungry Like the Wolf.’” Nicole snickers into her drink.
Julia makes a face at her. “That’s a little rude, isn’t it? Just because he’s a wolf—a wulver,” she corrects. “Doesn’t mean he should only do songs with wolf references. That’s like saying I should only do K-pop.”
“You literally picked a Jennie song! Anyway, he’s the one who started with the wolf jokes.”
“I like the song,” I break in, hoping to ease the tension a little. “I love ‘80s music.”
“Before your time,” Julia teases, leaning to bump her shoulder against mine. The backs of our handsbrush together, the electric shock of her skin against mine freezing me in place.
“Got here as soon as I could,” I murmur so only she can hear. I hope she understands my double meaning. I’d give anything for a time machine so I could go back and tell her to wait for me.
“Julia, you’re up next!” Heidi announces, pointing at the digital display above the stage, where an LED ticker spells out her name and song choice.
She jumps up, mounting the steps to the DJ booth to check in as the current performer launches into their rendition of a classic Beatles song. Julia holds the hem of her skirt and takes the stairs extracarefully, her delectably thick thighs pressed together to preserve her modesty.
Right, her panties are still in my pocket. I reach in and rub the silky, peach fabric between my fingers while I think about the fact that she has nothing on underneath her flippy little dress. I am a fucking pervert, but this might be the closest I ever get to her.
“She’s a really special person,” Nicole says, eyeing me like she can see inside my skull. I pull my hand out of my pocket, feeling irrationally guilty. “You better not fuck this up.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I shake my head and take a swig of my beer. “I told Julia this afternoon that I don’t want her to go through with his if she’s going to be hurt by it, and you know what she said?”
“I can guess.” Heidi, who’s sitting opposite me, leans across the table. “She said not to worry about her.”
I nod. “Not in those words, but yeah. She said love hurts because you always lose it, but that’s okay because it’s worth it.”
