Page 31 of Protected
Jealousy overcame him and before he knew what he was doing, he stood and headed for the bar.
“Darci, I see you’ve met my friend Samuel. He’s slept with half of D.C., so you might want to ask for test results before you go home with him.”
Her mouth fell open and for a minute, he thought she might throw her drink in his face.
Samuel glared at Bradley and turned back to Darci. “My apologies for my friend being an ass, Darci. It was nice to meet you. Same to you ladies. You’re welcome to join us for the evening.”
“We can’t.”
“They can’t.”
Bradley and Darci spoke in unison as they stared at each other.
One of the women he didn’t recognize hooked her arm through Samuel’s. “Come on. Introduce us to your friend over there. We already know Gage, of course. We’ll leave these two to their fight.”
Samuel smiled and picked up her hand, kissing her palm. “My pleasure, Olivia.”
Darci followed her friends, but Bradley put a hand on her shoulder. “Darci wait. Let me apologize. Samuel was right. I’m being an ass.”
“As long as you’re smart enough to recognize it.” She faced him with an annoyed expression and damn it he wanted to kiss it right off her.
“I’m sorry. Come enjoy a night out with my friends. It’s a compromise on dinner.”
Darci laughed, though there was little humor in the sound. “The girls have already decided we’re staying, and I can’t abandon them, so I don’t have much of a choice.”
Bradley pulled out his phone. “I can call my driver and have him take you home if you really don’t want to be here. But I would very much like it if you stayed.”
“Put your phone away. I’m staying. Just don’t expect me to go home with you at the end of the night.”
***
Darci sat next to Carrie and watched Olivia and Elise flirting shamelessly with Gage and Samuel. Samuel’s friend Garrett was the quieter of the bunch, but Darci suspected he was a good friend to have. Something about him screamed protective and dangerous.
Bradley kept glancing at Darci while he talked with Garrett about a merger in the telecommunications sector as if he wanted her to jump in, but running in to him had put a damper on her mood while also recharging her libido. The man oozed sex appeal, and she hated how attracted she was to him.
“You seem down. What’s going on?” Carrie squeezed her shoulder.
Darci smiled up at her. “Just in a funk. I need to get my groove back. I’ll be OK.”
Their server approached and picked up the empty glasses. “Another round for everyone?”
Olivia drained her half-full glass and handed it to the server. “Every seven minutes until someone passes out.”
The server looked between her and Samuel who just nodded. “I’ll keep her safe.”
Darci recognized a woman who was drinking to forget. Had something happened between Olivia and her mystery man?
“You know who she’s been seeing. What’s going on with her?” she asked Carrie.
Carrie made a zipping motion across her lips. “I don’t know anything. Let’s just say she thought he was coming home, and he changed his mind.”
Darci winced. “Poor girl.”
Elise jumped up and clapped her hands. “Let’s do it.”
Darci groaned. “Ten bucks says we’re about to hit a nightclub or something equally atrocious.”
Carrie laughed and kissed her cheek. “I can pretend to be sick and you can take me home.”
