Page 45 of Big Stick Energy
“Five stitches later…” He laughs.
“Yeah, yeah. I just…” I close my eyes against the sunshine. “It was a reflex. I don’t like people messing with my teammates.”
“Teammates,” DeLuca says slowly, as if he’s amused by my choice of words. “I don’t think it’s like that.”
“Of course it is,” I insist.
“You forget how well I know you. And I’m willing to bet you’re still thinking about that message Darcy sent you.”
Get out of my brain.“In my defense, she gave me a very detailed outline. It’s hard to forget.”
DeLuca gives me a sideways glance. “Well, yeah. And that part about the bow tie, right?”
I cover my face with my hands.
He laughs. “Maybe you should just take her up on it.”
“That’s not on the table,” I insist. “It would just be really fuckinghelpful if she were less sexy.” Every time I close my eyes, I see Darcy in that dress, gazing at me as we cha-cha. Makes me want to reenact that entire scene fromDirty Dancing. Or, like, the whole film.
Plus a few extra scenes with light bondage and a little spanking.
“Whatever you say, bro. But then you’re going to spend the whole evening averting your eyes, because she’s right over there.”
I assume he’s messing with me, so I don’t even look. But then he follows it up with, “Nice bikini, too,” and a low whistle.
That’s all it takes. I sit up like I’ve been cattle-prodded and then wait for his laughter. But there she is. Unless I’m hallucinating, she’s walking up the beach with Zoe. “Oh shit.”
“You should see your face right now,” DeLuca says. “Your tongue is practically hanging out.”
I groan. Darcy’s bikini is emerald green and no tinier than the rest of the bathing suits on the beach. But it doesn’t matter. My thirst has just reached a new peak, because now I know the precise shape of the waist I want to wrap my hands around, and the exact sway of her hips as she moves closer. I can’t look away.
She doesn’t notice, though. She doesn’t turn this way, which is probably for the best. I need a moment to get over my surprise. Although the rental house was Merritt’s idea, and his girlfriend, Zoe, is Darcy’s best friend, so I should have seen this coming.
“Oh, buddy.” DeLuca chuckles. “You’ve got it bad. Maybe the two of you can bang it out of your systems.”
I lie back down onto the sand and groan. “No fucking way. Weworktogether. It could all go wrong, and we’d end up like…”
“Like you and Mona?” he scoffs. And the sound of my ex-hookup’s name is a buzzkill.
“Yeah, like that.” Mona wanted a relationship, and I didn’t. The problem was that I kept removing all her clothes whenever we both got horny.
“Buddy, Darcy is nothing like Mona. In the first place, she has too much self-respect to keep chasing you if you’re not interested.”
“Well, sure. But it could still be awkward as fuck.”
“Are you sure about that? I think youreallylike her. That’s why you came up with this goofball, fake boyfriend shit in the first place. Your subconscious tricked you into asking for what you need.”
“Which is what? An awkward four-day wedding?”
“No. Some naked attention from a woman you already respect, who just happens to enjoy being tied up.”
I lie back on the sand and throw an arm over my eyes. “I think you’re overestimating my subconscious. Most of the time it just craves potato chips.”
“Maybe,” he concedes. “But you still have a problem. You’re either going to that wedding as her boyfriend or not. So what’s it going to be? You’d better talk to her, don’t you think?”
“Yeah.” I sigh. And then I picture her in that green bikini and realize how challenging it will be to keep my eyes to myself.
“Let’s go inside,” he says, slapping my arm. “I need a sandwich after that run, anyway.”
