Page 14 of Thirst For Me
At last call, the ladies all throw back a round of Sea Haven violet gin, the bride’s arm slung around Sierra’s neck as they cackle at some shared joke.
The music mellows out a bit, and toward the finale of a passionate group singalong to Kacey Musgraves’s “High Horse,” the party finally starts to slide out of hand.Party Animalclimbs up on a table singing lead, followed closely by Sierra andTroublemakersinging backup, and while Jace applauds along with the rest of the crowd, Evan and I exchange a look. We set down our drinks, get to our feet, and approach the party.
“Sorry, ladies,” Evan announces, his booming ex-military voice carrying easily over the music, “but you’ll need to come down from there. For your safety.” He offersParty AnimalandTroublemakera hand, and they appear eager to comply with his request.
Evan has that effect on women.
Sierra stops sing-shouting along to the song, looking affronted as Evan helps the others climb down. “Don’t let men rain on your parade, ladies!” she shouts—into her microphone/cider bottle. “Don’t give away your power! You are perfect just the way you are—!”
Then she notices me standing directly below her. She stares, open-mouthed, as I offer her my hand.
She takes it and jumps down, stumbles, and falls into my arms.
My pulse races at the unexpected full-body contact.
She blinks up at me, cheeks flushed, her green eyes bleary. “You came back,” she gushes. She feels hot and damp, and I wonder if she realizes that she’s smushed herself right up against me, her breasts flattened against my chest.
My cock has definitely noticed.
“I own the bar,” I remind her.
“Oh. Right.”
“That was quite the performance.”
“Oh, I knowallthe songs,” she says. As “High Horse” ends and “Hotel California” starts playing, she grows heavier as she sags against me, staring up into my eyes, and the room around us gets blurry again, like no one else exists except as some vague concept.
Maybe I’m just drunker than I thought.
“Water.”
Her gaze drops to my mouth. “What?”
“Have you been drinking water?”
She blinks. “I think so. Maybe?”
“Let’s get you some.”
“Okay.”
She makes no move to extract herself from my arms or support her own weight.
The tempo of “Hotel California” kicks up and she starts to sway a little, moving with the music. And singing along, though she clearly doesn’t know all the words.
I resist as she tries to dance with me, my pulse thudding and my cock inconveniently hardening. “I should really help close up the bar ...”
My staff don’t need my help. But I am trying to be a gentleman here. She isverydrunk.
“Please?” she pleads.
A shiver runs down my back and my nipples actually harden.
When my feet remain rooted to the floor, she pouts dramatically.
The second I let her go, Jace swoops in to dance with her. She smiles, delighted, as he whirls her away, and irritation climbs up my spine one vertebra at a time, finally lodging in my throat as I watch them dance.
Jealousy.
