I hope to hell she’s asleep.
I don’t trust myself at this point not to kiss her, or touch her. With my dick driving my desire, I’d be all in with little regard for my friendship with her brother.
Kendall shrugs. “If you change your mind, let me know.”
Scooping up the money, she sets off toward a table surrounded by men in suits.
“I doubt like hell Drake would mind if you took her home,” I offer.
“I’d mind.” He sets a hand on my forearm. “You’re too immature to understand that.”
I laugh. “You’re what...four or five years older than me?”
“Three.” He waves three fingers in my face. “I’m three years older. That means I’m wise enough to know that you didn’t drag my ass down here to talk about work. What’s going on?”
The change in his tone sets an alarm off inside of me.
I know what he’s thinking and he’s so far off base that I stop him before he can dive headfirst into the one subject of discussion I want no part of.
Gavin is a healer. It’s in his blood. If he sees someone in pain, he wants to step in and do his part.
He helped me when I needed it, but I’m not looking for his sympathy tonight.
“Emma,” I spit out her name. “Goddamn Emma Owens.”
He sits back on the stool. “You fucked her?”
My gaze darts to his face. “Hell no.”
He laughs. “You want to fuck her.”
“Hell yes,” I admit.
“You’re worried about Drake.” He points out the obvious. “You think he’ll be pissed.”
“He will be pissed,” I spit each word out slowly. “Do you remember what happened when I took Annabeth Carson to bed?”
“I don’t believe you shared all the details.” He chuckles. “I vaguely remember you got laid and that ended with a black eye and a broken nose.”
I was twenty. Annabeth was a year younger and the sister of a guy I knew named Aaron. Drake was a better friend to her brother than I was, but that didn’t matter to Aaron.
The strength behind the punch Aaron threw that connected with my face said it all. He saw my actions as a betrayal.
Drake took Aaron’s side in that battle. He railed on me for fucking a friend’s sister. It took months for us to get back to where we were before that.
I promised Drake I’d keep my hands off the sisters of all of our friends.
That vow means that I can’t get any closer to Emma than I was tonight.
“That was almost ten years ago,” Gavin points out. “Drake hasn’t exactly been following any fuck rules the past few years. You do know he screwed one of my exes, right? He fucked Kaia.”
Every time Drake brought up another conquest, I’d tune him out. I doubt like hell the women he was mentioning by name signed off on him sharing what they like in bed.
The only reason I recalled Kendall’s name is that he talked about how they got along when he stopped after work for a beer. She was a friend to him before their one night stand.
“That doesn’t give me a pass,” I say tightly.
Gavin taps the back of my head with his palm. “Stop this shit.”
