“You’re not together anymore?”
Woah. He sounded way more interested and enthusiastic than I liked.
“No … why?”
He raised his hands in appeasement. “Hold up, I’m not asking because I’m interested or something. I have a girlfriend. I don’t care, trust me. Look, my boy over there noticed you, and I actually wanted to ask you to talk to him as a favor because he—”
“So why didn’t he come here himself?” I watched Craig carefully, my eyes narrowing.
“Because I kind of told him not to. I thought you and David were still dating.”
“Definitely not.”
“In that case … would you do me a favor and come over there with me? Just talk to him real quick? I promise he’s not a dick.”
I eyed Craig. He was a reasonably decent guy, but then again, my radar seemed to be shot anyway, so what did I know?
Fuck it.Time to find out what my not-so-secret admirer wanted.
Two
Dom
Anger still buzzed subliminally deep in the pit of my stomach over Craig stomping on my act. Not that anyone but me would notice, I was extremely good at hiding almost all of my emotions behind my easy-going demeanor.
Years of practice, perfected smirks, and tone-shifting charm had made sure of that. This wasn’t my turf — yet — so it’d been wiser to back off.
The room was dim except for flickering colored lights from the DJ booth, bouncing off chrome barstools and glass beer pitchers.
Somewhere across the way, a girl screeched when a drink got dumped down her shirt, and the crowd roared like it was halftime at a game. The air smelled like cheap tequila, fried onion rings, and too many bodies packed too tightly together.
And it looked like we were back on track because the blonde I’d been watching since we’d arrived was following behind him.
Her legs were even longer than I’d thought.Fuck yeah.
Every guy in her vicinity turned to look at her, and I couldn’t blame them. The skin-tight dress she was wearing left little to the imagination.
I tore my eyes away from her for a split second to zero in on Jax right next to me. “Make sure she doesn’t find out who I am or why I’m here tonight from either of you, and I’ll sign.”
His auburn eyebrows disappeared beneath the brim of his baseball cap as he leaned against the barstool, nearly knocking over someone’s abandoned beer with his elbow.
“Are you serious, kid? You’re really going to let this ride onthat? That’s what fucking seals the deal?”
Behind him, someone yelled “CHUG!” and slammed a pitcher onto the sticky table. The beat of the music dropped so heavy it vibrated the soles of my sneakers.
Yeah, I was serious.
My gaze had already snapped back to her approaching form, as if magnetically drawn to her. I shrugged. “I thought that was what this was about? Getting me to sign? There you go — take it or leave it.”
“Holy fucking shit. You’re batshit crazy.” He drained his beer, saluted me, and got to work.
Not a second too soon because Craig and Blondie were already standing in front of me. Fuck me, she was even more perfect up close. Her sharp eyes pierced me appraisingly, and an involuntary grin spread across my face.
Blondie raised a shapely eyebrow as she looked up at me. She was tall, but not quite tall enough to avoid having to look up, heels or no heels. I just knew this irritated her.
Without taking my eyes off her, I turned to Craig. “I take it you’ve sorted out whatever it is you wanted to sort out?”
“Yup,” he pursed his lips and shrugged. “Anyway, this is—”
