“I had fun the last time I was here.” He popped a cheese curl into his mouth.
“We don’t have any rule that men can’tjoin,” someone said.
“I thought he was a friend of yours,” another woman chimed in.
Clearly, Pam hadn’t made the connection that the guy I’d needed to follow in her car that one night was Wes. And I was a little relieved. Either Pam hadn’t seen the news about us, or if she had, she was good at playing dumb. But the fact that she’d invited him tonight made me pretty certain she was clueless about my identity.
Wes smiled over at me as I took a seat in the circle of chairs. Since I was late, the book discussion was already underway.
One of the members tilted her head. “Wes, as you were saying…before Juliette arrived…”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I think the concept of a why-choose romance makes a lot of sense. I mean why choose one when you can have both hot guys?”
I rolled my eyes.
He reached for the book he’d placed under his seat. “I actually annotated my favorite parts.”
To my shock, there were, in fact, colored tabs throughout the paperback.
He flipped through the pages. “Pink for sex scenes, blue for parts that made me swoon, and green for things I was curious to get your thoughts on.”
I sniffed the air, noticing a familiar smell. “You brought smoked sausage, didn’t you?”
Wes grinned. “How did you know?”
“I can smell it.”
He nodded. “Stopped in West Hollywood to get it.”
“Better here than in my fridge.”
He smirked, and I rolled my eyes before someone interrupted our moment.
“What was your favorite part of the book, Wes?”
Without skipping a beat, he shifted gears. “I loved how Aiden actually helped Marina see Adam’s perspective when Adam fucked up. Aiden convinced her that sometimes lies of omission aren’t personal. Sometimes they’re meant to protect. Adam was doing what he had to, but Marina took it personally, when she shouldn’t have.” He looked over at me. “That said, she was totally right to be angry with him. But Aiden helped her see that Adam really loves her and never meant to hurt her. It surprised me, though, that it was Aiden who stepped up to help Adam when they’d originally been competing for her love.”
He grinned and bit into a piece of chocolate. “I thought maybe the two guys were going to start fucking after that, but realized this wasn’t that type of book. It’s MFMM—not MMMF.”
I turned to him. “Impressed that you know the lingo…” I wanted to be angry, but there was something truly adorable about the fact that Wes had read this book cover to cover and done his research. I also couldn’t help but notice how damn hot he looked tonight. He seemed more tan and less stressed than he had when he was working for my father.
But that reminded me ofwhyhe’d been so damn stressed while working for Vince; Wes had been lying to me the entire time. I sighed.
After the book discussion, I went over to the appetizer table and begrudgingly took a piece of the smoked chorizo Wes had brought. As strong as it smelled, it did taste damn good.
He came up behind me. “Happy you’re still willing to eat my sausage, despite everything we’ve been through.”
I glared at him.
He raised a brow. “Too soon?”
“Much too soon.” I lowered my voice. “Seriously, what do you think you’re doing infiltrating my book club?”
“How else am I gonna get to see you? And there are no five-minute timers here.” He winked. “Is that a hint of a smile?”
I pursed my lips, staving off any shred of amusement that tried to peek through. “No.”
Wes raised his chin. “If you hate me so much, why are you wearing my cock and balls around your neck?”
