Oblivious to the attention she’s pulling, she slams her clutch on the counter to the left of me.
“Hey, boo.” She looks from me to Cam and back again. “Oh shit,” she says under her breath, clearly picking up on the hostileenergy. “What did I miss? Do I need a shot for this?” She waves over the bartender. “Three shots of tequila, please.”
“Make that four,” Ezra interjects.
“Who’s he?” She peers over my shoulder, checking out the new guy.
“Ezra.” He holds his hand out.
“Nice to meet you.” She presses her palm to his. “I’m Millie. I take it you belong to him?” She nods to Cam.
“I guess you could say that,” Ezra laughs.
“All right,” I say. “Now that the introductions are over, we’ll be on our way.” There’s got to be more than one bar at the resort.
“What?” Millie yaps, holding out two of the shot glasses the bartender slid her way. “We just got here.” Head held high, she hands both shots of tequila to Cam.
“Millie,” I urge, unsuccessfully trying to catch her eye.
Either she’s not picking up what I’m putting down or she’s deliberately ignoring me. Knowing her, probably the latter.
“Yeah, Joey,” Cam says. “We just got here.” He undoes the top button of his shirt, showcasing a smattering of dark hair, then rolls up his sleeves. The move reveals a collage of tattoos on his corded forearm that did not exist last year.
Fuck, this cannot be happening.
“Plus,” he adds, “it’s karaoke night.”
Millie squeals beside me. Shit, that’s it. I’m never getting out of here. I don’t wait for anyone to make a toast before I throw back my shot.
The four of us relocate to a table near the stage where the staff is setting up for karaoke. After two more shots of tequila, I order a vodka tonic with lime, feeling much more at ease than I was thirty minutes ago.
“Easy there, sweetheart.” Cam drapes his left arm over the back of my chair.
Sitting next to him means I can avoid making eye contact forthe most part, but the proximity and the heat radiating from his body are dangerous for my libido. It’s said that energy isn’t exchanged from one person to another during sex, but that’s hard to believe when I’m this close to this man. We exchanged something a year ago, and it’s still trapped inside me. The question is, how do I get it out?
“Don’t tell me what to do,” I sneer. I dig through my clutch for a hair tie, then secure my hair in a low ponytail.
“If I recall correctly, you liked it when I bossed you around,” he whispers, gently tugging at my ponytail.
Thankfully, Ezra and Millie are locked in a heated discussion about which songs are best for karaoke and aren’t paying us a lick of attention.
“The best ones are the crowd pleasers,” Millie states. “People want familiarity.”
“I disagree.” Ezra crosses his arms. “The best are the unexpected ones. People want to be wowed.”
“And you would know this because?”
I tune them out and turn my attention back to Cam, keen to change the subject. “How’s Little Miss Pearl Necklace?” Sure, I’m prying, but I don’t care.
He shrugs. “Last I heard, she’s back in DC. We didn’t keep in touch after…”
Despite my best efforts, my heart aches just a little for him.
“What about you?” He shifts in his seat. “Please tell me you didn’t take that asshole back.”
“Don’t call my husband an asshole.” I sit straighter and square my shoulders. “Our daughter would be very offended.”
His jaw drops so far I worry it’ll detach completely. “Wha?—”
