“No,” I say instantly, dismissing his request.
His shoulders deflate. “No?”
Stowing my water bottle and towel in my locker, I peel my shirt off, followed by my running shoes and socks, and step into my slides. Once everything’s inside, I shut the wooden door and reset the dial on the lock. “No.”
I can feel his eyes on my back as I walk away, pulling open the sauna’s door and stepping inside. Dry, hot air clings to me as I relax onto a cedar bench, leaning back against the wall with my eyes closed.
For about ninety seconds, I’m alone with my thoughts before the door opens. Sully hasn't even passed the threshold before he’s yammering at me again.
“How could you possibly deny my request when I haven’t even asked it?” He sits down next to me with a thud.
“Because I already know it involves me spending an evening as a fourth wheel, pretending to show interest in some poor girl who bores me, all so you can go home with the heiress you’re attempting to impress. Whatisher name, anyway?”
My eyes are still closed, but Sully hasn’t taken the hint.
“Hera. You wouldn’t be a fourth wheel—you’dverymuch be the second half of a twosome.”
“I’d rather not be any part of the equation.” Bringing my hand to my face, I rub my eyes with my thumb and pointer finger, pressing harder than necessary,but the pressure is welcome, combating against the headache Sully is giving me.
“You’re coming. You still owe me, remember?”
“Owe you for what?” Finally, I open my eyes and give him a pointed look.
His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten!” Sully crosses his arms over his bare chest, and tosses me a lopsided grin—the very grin that he calls “the panty dropper” because of the effect it has on women.
I have no idea why he would think it would work onme.
“There is not a single thing I can think of thatIwould oweyou. You’re the one with the favor list a mile long, amico mio. So please, enlighten me.”
“I didn’t tell on you.”
“Tell on me? We haven’t been in grade school for nearly two decades, Sullivan. Please. Do elaborate.”
A hearty chuckle rumbles through him. “I could have easily told Enzo about you chasing after Vinnie Paladino at the masquerade. But I’m a great friend, therefore, I kept my lips sealed when I easily could have ratted your sorry, traitorous ass out.”
All it takes is for him to sayhername and my thoughts carry me back to this past weekend when I ran into her twice.
A spiral of annoyance, and something else, settles in the dead center of my chest. Quickly, I push the thoughts—and thatfeeling—away.
“Had you told Enzo, I would have sent you tomeet the Lord and Savior well before your time. Not that there was, oris, anything to tell.”
“Aw, Sly! You think I’ll end up in Heaven? I love your optimism.” Sully's tone is mockingly playful. Of course, that’s the part he honed in on.
Standing, I reach my arm across my body, pulling on it with the opposite hand to stretch the muscles. “The answer remains no.”
“It’s just dinner, Sly. I’m not asking you to put a ring on the girl’s finger. You can leave right after we eat.”
“Justdinner?” I question, switching arms to stretch. I don’t believe him for a second.
Sully doesn’t do anything simple. Everything is elaborate and grand. Ostentatious, even. There’s no way all he has planned for the daughter of the biggest hotel chain on the East Coast isjust dinner.
With a wicked smile, Sully stands and stretches his arms overhead. He knows he has me right where he wants me.
On the verge of saying yes.
In fact, I know Sully well enough to know that he turned the wordjustinto the wordyesand heard me say ‘yes dinner’, instead.
Bastardo.
