Page 44 of The Spare
An uncomfortable silence wrapped around us. “I’ll get us a couple of drinks,” Ashton said, and made himself scarce.
“That might be considered a little rude.” She stood looking amused. Her bright red lips puckered for a moment, then grew to a smile.
“Where do you find these people?” I asked. The fury suddenly dissipated.
That guy? Really? The idea of Sloan with one of those society types always bothered me.
She closed the distance between us and patronizingly tapped my chest. “You’re welcome to pick my next one.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I had to come; half the firm is here.” She gestured around, as if I would know what the partners at her firm looked like. “Hightower Energy just closed a deal with the firm. The Hightowers are one of the hosts of the event.”
I nodded.
“What areyoudoing here?” she probed.
“I was invited.”
“Where’s your date?” Her tone pressed while her eyes disarmed. She may not have been a litigator, but her interrogation techniques were effective. At least, they were on me.
“No idea.”
“Why did you run off mine?” Her eyes flashed with intrigue, the same look she got when she was about to win a game.
“I did no such thing.” He left of his own accord. It was probably best if he wanted to remain a man with two arms and a pulse.
“So, you wouldn’t mind if I go back and find him?” she asked, probably knowing it would provoke me. When I didn’t answer, she raised her eyebrows and turned to find him, only to be stopped by my hand on her arm.
“Counselor,” I warned slowly. I was jealous, and she knew it. She giggled with delight, knowing she had won, and turned around. She gestured to a bar opposite from where her date had skulked off to.
An hour later, I had successfully stolen her away from her date and found a secluded corner where I had her all to myself. We sat on a plush tufted chaise in the hallway outside the ballroom, her back leaning against the corner. My arm was draped casually around her waist; wherever the appropriate line was, I had pushed it about a mile further.
She didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she encouraged it.
We were both available, and my assumption that time would cure me of these feelings was dead wrong. The boundaries I wasn’t supposed to cross seemed trivial when I was this close to her.
“How do you stomach going to so many of these?” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She didn’t flinch this time. I couldn’t stop touching her or finding ways to be close. I ignored the facts that hurt and leaned into what felt good. She felt good. “At least tonight I have some good company.”
“Well, Xander and I have a game we play at these things.”
“Do I want to know?”
The corners of her mouth tipped up. “It’s called Sip and Seduce. I pick someone for you, and you do the same for me. Whoever has sex with their mark first wins.”
My body went rigid.I’m going to kill Xander.
What the fuck kind of game was that? I didn’t even want to think about what the score was.
“Wanna play?” I couldn’t tell if she was serious. In some moments, her eyes told me everything I wanted to know. The next, they were an abyss.
We’d fallen into a pattern whenever the conversation lulled; one of us threw the other a loop. I would push a physical boundary, and she would push all the others.
“You’re not serious,” I informed her flatly. She would have gone back and found her date if she had been. “You’re trying to bait me.”
“Oh?” A competitive smile crept over those alluring red lips. It took every ounce of willpower not to press my own against them and swallow every sassy retort she had ready. “Why would I do that?”
“Probably the same reason I ran off your date.” I ran my finger along the side of her necklace. Looking back up at her lustrous brown eyes, I drew closer to her and felt her hand gently tug on my lapel.
