“But I need a shower.”
“I have a towel and a spare T-shirt you can borrow until you get your room back.”
“Stop being so nice. It makes it harder for me to resist you.”
“You know my thoughts on that.” He smirked.
“Ugh. I can’t believe Bailey has done this.”
“Come on, Rhea,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. “We’ve always made a point of saying that if anyone hooks up, we go back to our place instead of the guy’s anyway, right? It’s safer that way. Bailey is only following the rules we set. She hasn’t done it to piss you off.”
“You’re right,” she grumbled before she gestured down to her soaked outfit. “But of all the nights she chose to get down to business with him in our room. Look at me.”
“We could always skinny dip in the ocean,” Jace offered. “Clean you up real good.”
Rhea just sighed, unable to hide the twist of her lips. “You’re relentless.”
“You have no idea.” He chuckled. “But the offer of my apartment is there, Ree-Ree.”
“It’s up to you, Bee,” she said, eyes on me. “Where you go, I go.”
The humour slid off my face in an instant. I had no desire to spend the night counting down the hours with Rhea and Jace until Andy and Bailey were… ‘finished’. All I wanted to do was sneak away with the man standing beside me, but I had no idea how to get out of Rhea’s protective embrace in order to do that.
“Didn’t you just say you fancied one last nightcap before we left, Phoebe?” Henry asked, clearing his throat and rubbing the back of his neck roughly.
I took him in, blinking several times before I caught on to his plan. “I did, yeah. Why? You wanna join me, Cohen?”
His nostrils flared at my purposeful use of his last name, but he pressed his mouth into a flat line and smiled anyway. “I suppose I could go for a tequila or two.”
“And I suppose your company will do for an hour.” I turned to Rhea. “How about you guys?”
“Hell, no. I’m beat,” she said with a sigh before she looked at Jace. “Fine. We’ll go back to yours. Just no funny business.”
“Funny, ha-ha, or funny”—he thrust his hips forward—“you know?”
“Never, ever do that again.”
His eyes twinkled with mischief. “Not even if you beg me for it.”
Rhea sputtered out a laugh. “Yeah, right, okay.” She spun back around and pointed a finger at Henry. “Look after my girl.”
“Will do,” he responded with no emotion whatsoever.
When Rhea came to give me a parting hug, though, I didn’t miss the knowing look she flashed my way. A look that told me that if I got the chance to make a move on Henry, maybe I should go for it. A look that said she suspected more was going on here, but she wouldn’t push in case I retreated. A look that made me feel like my best friend had a way of seeing into my soul that, quite frankly, terrified me.
I didn’t want any of this to be exposed. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
As mine and mine alone, it felt sacred.
Shared, it made me feel wrong.
Before she could say anything, Jace threw his arm around Rhea’s shoulder and guided her away from the bar. Less than a minute later, they were completely out of sight.
It took only a second for Henry’s lips to meet mine in a kiss so needy, it made a squeak of surprise fall free as I clung onto his wrists and leaned into him, letting him have my whole body, mind, and soul while he held me in his hands.
When he pulled away, we were both gasping.
“You’re taking too many risks,” I told him, dazed and blinking. “They could have seen us.”
