The moment he saw me, his gray eyes turned a shade darker, and his gaze lingered on my legs before coming back up to my face.
“Hi,” I said, stopping in front of him.
“Hey, Ivy,” he said in his velvety voice, and I felt it right inside of me. I was pretty sure I was already wet.
“Thanks for doing this.” I smiled.
“No problem.”
“Hi! I’m Sophie.” My friend came up to Jamie and stuck out her hand. I’d filled her in on what’d happened between him and I. As expected, her reaction was mercenary.Look, I’ve never met the guy. My dislike of him was completely secondhand. If you two are cool now, and he can give us a fun time, I’m ready to be his new best friend.
Zoey was next. “I’m Zoey, Ivy’s roommate.”
Jamie dropped Sophie’s hand and shook Zoey’s. “Nice to meet you.”
The rest of our party all seemed a little stunned as he introduced himself to them. The girls didn’t strike me as metal heads, so I was sure it wasn’t because they recognized him from his days in Ritual Disruption. He was just the kind of hot that made you forget how to string words together. When I caught Shel obviously checking out his ass, I glared at her.
“You ready to go inside?” Jamie asked, directing the question at me. His lips curled into a grin.
I nodded and stepped closer to him. “Lead the way.”
He rapped three sure knocks against the door. A tiny speakeasy window swung open—it had completely blended into the wood when it was closed—and an eye peeked out. “Password.”
“Well-watered,” Jamie said.
The window slammed shut with a dull sound, and a deadbolt clanked on the other side before the big door opened. A man in a dark suit and a tie stood past the threshold. “Welcome to the garden.”
Excited, hushed sounds came from the girls behind me, but I was determined to play it cool in front of Jamie. He glanced over at me as we walked down a short stone path toward another door, just in time to watch me stumble when my heel plunged into a crack.
“Careful,” he said, swiftly grabbing my elbow and curling his other hand around my waist.
“This is what happens when I make stupid wardrobe choices,” I muttered, my cheeks warming under his watchful gaze. I tugged on the heel, but it remained stubbornly stuck.
He chuckled. “I don’t think you made any stupid choices tonight. You look beautiful.”
I stole a look at his face, forgetting about the heel for a moment. A subtle tension marked his forehead as the remnants of his smile slid away. His chest rose before he dropped his gaze to my foot. “Let me help you.” He squatted down and patted his shoulders. “Hold on to here.”
I did as I was told, immediately taking note of the unyielding hardness of his muscles, and how they moved beneath my hands. I bit on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing when I saw the face Zoey was making, and Sophie mouthingDamn, bitchto me.
Jamie wiggled my shoe. “Okay, try pulling now.”
Immediately, the heel sprung free. “Thanks,” I said, hesitantly releasing his shoulders when he rose back up.
He offered me his arm. I took it.
“Did you use to come here often?” I asked. We were almost at the second door.
“Before I moved to LA, I’d come here whenever I was in town. I haven’t been back since the move though.”
“You’ll stick around, right?”
He knocked on the second door and looked down at me. “I wasn’t planning on it, to be honest. I was just going to go say hello to the manager, Darren, before heading home. I’m sure you and your friends don’t want some random guy joining your night out.”
“You’re not a random guy.” I met his gaze and dropped my voice. “I know you better than three of the girls here with us. I think it would be fun to hang out.”
His free hand rose to tug on his collar. “I don’t know, Ivy—”
“Really, I insist.” I wanted to make sure he knew I wasn’t just being polite.
