“He’s got his very pretty eyes glued to you, Shayne.”
“It like he’s trying to remove your clothes with his eyeballs,” Audrey comments.
“Well, that’s not happening again,” I vow, even though I do not sound at all convincing.
“Good-looking, great guy with a good income—why wouldn’t you want to date him?” Jessie wants to know, her green eyes blinking innocently.
I sigh, loudly, and nervously play with my hair. I can feel his eyes on me. It’s making me warm. “My dad and basically all his teammates were cheaters. I dated a hockey player in college and he was a cheater.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon,” Jessie agrees, but she doesn’t look concerned, which I would if I was engaged to one. “But for every player I know who cheats, I can name two who don’t. I’ve never seen Seb in a long-term relationship, but I know him well, and I’m confident he would be in thedon’tcolumn.”
“And he gives her orgasms,” Audrey adds, crunching on the celery in her now empty glass. I glare at her but she goes on, undaunted.
“Go Seb!” Jessie laughs. “He’s also great at making cocktails. Seriously, Shayne, he’s a catch.”
“Can we talk about something else?” I beg, so embarrassed now I feel like running away. I take a long sip of my Bloody Mary. Audrey rolls her eyes at me but shows me some support and changes the subject, asking Sasha if they have baby names picked out yet. A few minutes later as Sasha is explaining how much Trey loves the name Brandy and how much she hates it, a fresh Bloody Mary is placed in front of me, and the hand holding it doesn’t belong to the waiter. I look up and Sebastian is smirking down at me.
“Thank you,” I say, because I don’t know what else to say.
“You’re welcome,” he replies just as simply, and then he glances at Audrey, Jessie and Sasha with less smirk and more smile. “I ordered another round for all of you too.”
Sasha grins, leans forward and extends her hand. “I’m Sasha, Shayne’s sister-in-law. And thank you. Please join us.”
Ugh!
Sasha slides out of the booth as Sebastian reaches over and grabs a chair from a nearby empty table. “I’ll take that and you can slide into my place,” she offers and pats her baby belly. “I’m running to the bathroom every ten minutes anyway.”
As if to prove her point, she waddles off to the bathroom. He drops his sweet ass into the booth and then leans back and wraps his arm around the back. My stomach does a somersault. God, what a pathetic reaction. The waiter shows up a minute later with fresh drinks for Audrey and Jessie and a Pellegrino for Sasha. Audrey looks back at Sebastian’s friends and points.
“Why don’t you invite them over too?” Audrey asks with a smile. “I can text Josh and Jessie can text Jordan and we can make this a real party.”
“What about shopping and—”
Audrey cuts me off. “My birthday, my plans. And I’m changing them.”
“Bonne fête, Audrey.” Sebastian raises his drink at my best friend, and the biggest traitor in my life, and turns to wave his friends over. As he does, his arm presses more firmly against my shoulders and his fingers graze my upper arm. It makes me tingle—between my legs.
A moment later Michael Choochinsky and Chris Dixon are pulling up some extra chairs and we’ve formed a group. Everyone is chatting at once. Audrey starts talking with Chooch. Dix has two kids, so he starts talking to my sister about formula and baby toys and colic. Jordan shows up and we order another round and move to a bigger table across the restaurant. Sebastian still ends up beside me somehow. Then Josh is there. Everyone is laughing and chatting and another round is ordered. I try in vain to stare straight ahead and focus on what Sasha is saying to Dix, but I can feel the heat of Frenchie’s stare beating into the side of my face, so finally I relent and glance at him.
“Miss me?” he asks, his light blue eyes dancing.
I roll my eyes but can’t fight a bit of a grin myself, because he’s just so ridiculous. “You haven’t been around? Hadn’t noticed.”
Bald-faced lie.
He looks crushed. “Guess I’ll have to work harder at giving you something to miss.”
I wrap both hands around my Bloody Mary, put the straw between my lips and take a long, slow sip. He makes the smallest little noise in the back of his throat that I’m sure no one can hear but me.
“I missed you.” He admits it so easily I’m floored. So floored I have no response. He seems to enjoy that and he leans closer—so close the stubble on his chin tickles my shoulder and I shiver a little. “Why are you so surprised by that? I’m not the one who is against this—us.”
I turn to face him and pull back a little because he’s leaning so close to me that if I don’t our lips will touch. And that can’t happen in public in front of everyone. Or ever. “Because you know exactly where to find me and you haven’t found me.”
His smile softens at that, becoming less cocky. “I thought you didn’t want to be found. At least not by me.”
“I don’t,” I reply softly, and for some reason my brain can’t comprehend, my heart adds, “I shouldn’t.”
“You know what they say, Shay,” he whispers, his stubble once again rubbing deliciously against my skin. “You won’t miss me if I don’t go away.”
