Page 51 of Defend Me
He chuckled, then bit down on my shoulder before he took the seat beside me. I touched the spot, then grabbed my beer so I had something to do with my hands.
Not that it was anything new, but he looked dreamy tonight. His casual black drop-shoulder shirt had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and it was unbuttoned enough to draw attention to his collarbone. With his ripped blue skinny jeans and black canvas shoes, combined with his messy bun, I had a hard time stopping myself from ogling.
“I’ll take one of those,” Brooks said, nodding to my drink. “And four shots of your best vodka.”
“Jesus,” I muttered. “Going hard today.”
“We.”
“No. Don’t say that.”
“Two of those are for you. I need to know who Tilian Holloway is when his inhibitions are loose.”
“And I need you to never know that.”
“Mm, what if I say please?”
His smile only revealed part of his teeth and the tips of his canines. It was a dangerous expression. Tempting, for sure.
“Fine,” I sighed. “But I’m not getting hammered.”
He winked at me and pulled out his card. It was sleek and black, which just felt fancy.
“You have a tab?” he asked. I nodded. “Can you transfer his to mine and don’t let him pay for anything, no matter how cute he is.”
Remi looked amused as he took the card. “I wouldn’t dream of it. If a guy treated me like that, I’d marry him.”
“Does that mean you’re single?”
His brow raised and he glanced from Brooks to me. “By choice. I’ll get those shots.”
When he moved away from us, Brooks leaned in. “What about him?”
“What about him?” I asked.
“He’s hot and you’re single.”
“So are you. Uh, single, I mean. You could go for him is what I’m saying.”
Smooth, Tilian.
“He’s relationship material,” Brooks mused. “And he was flirting when I came in.”
“I don’t know. He’s just nice.”
“You were flirting back.”
Thank god Remi showed up with the shots at that moment. I grabbed one immediately and knocked it back. The burn helped me reorient myself, which wasn’t a good sign since I’d probably need to do it multiple times tonight.
*****
I threw my arms around Brooks with a laugh. The women across the pool table from us looked upset to lose again. They weren’t very good, so I don’t know why they were surprised. Maybe they expected us to go easy on them or something. From the way they’d looked at him a few times, I figured they were interested.
He held me against him, his shoulders shaking with his amusement.
“I can’t believe you made that,” he said.
Pulling back, I brushed my hair away from my forehead. “Clearly, I’m a god. Get on your knees and worship me.”
