The music was slow. Sultry. Which meant his request was a dare. Like I’d dared him to play a game we shouldn’t have played. I wanted to say no. I wanted to tell him to go put his hands on anyone else—or preferably, on the one person he wanted them to be on. But I wasn’t going to make a scene. The argument Truck had caught us in the night before had been bad enough.
My magenta dress that was supposed to ward off confrontation wasn’t doing its job. True, Georgie had chosen the color for the bridesmaids’ dresses, but it was still supposed to send signals of peace and not conflict. Peace was the last thing I felt as I let him take my sweaty, sticky hand in his.
I let him lead me to the dance floor, and I let my traitorous body tuck itself up against his. I could feel eyes on me again. This time, they weren’t his. It was Mac and the others. When we twirled, I looked over Nash’s shoulder to where my brother had Georgie pulled up against his chest. Our eyes met over the distance, and I knew exactly what Mac was thinking. It was the same thing I was thinking.
What the hell was I doing with Nash Wellsley?
Nash twirled me back the other way, and all I could see was a vacant table at the corner of the yard. “What are you doing, Nash?” I sighed, and before I could stop myself, I added on, “Shouldn’t you be dancing with Tristan?”
He frowned as if my words confused him and then said, “You keep running away before I can say what I want to say,” he said.
I stiffened. “I haven’t been running.”
“You forget, I’ve been trained to stalk, hunt, and chase. I know when someone’s running. Especially from me.”
I rolled my eyes. “I swear to God, you Otters have bigger egos than politicians.”
“Confidence isn’t the same as ego.”
“Potato, potahto,” I said.
“Are you ever going to let me apologize?” he asked, his voice going down a notch, causing my loins to squeeze together reflexively.
“God. It was sex, Nash. Good sex, but that was all it was. I’m sure you’ve had more than your fair share of it. Isn’t the SEAL mottowomen, beer, and fun?”
“It wasn’t good sex, Athena.”
I wasn’t sure what hit me the hardest—the denial we’d had good sex or the nickname he’d started calling me last weekend. I wasn’t sure I could handle either. It hadn’t been just sex to me. It had been one of the best sensual experiences of my life. He’d brought me to the brink over and over more damn times than any one man had done before. Not on his own. Not without me directing exactly what I needed and wanted. So, for him to think it had just been ho-hum…it stabbed at the wound I was already trying to heal.
Even though I knew my face didn’t reflect my thoughts, Nash read them anyway. Just like he’d found my tells that no one had ever found before. He spoke low again as if he was afraid to say the words. “What we did to each other… I could do that every night for the rest of my life. It wasn’t just good. It was earth-shattering.”
As if to prove his point, I could feel his arousal against my leg as his thoughts went to the same place mine did. To skin on skin. It gave me little pleasure to know his body was as much of a traitor as mine.
I was just getting ready to give a snide remark when Brady tapped Nash on the shoulder.
“Sorry, I’m going to have to claim Dani from you. I have to leave in a few minutes, and I have some business to discuss,” he said.
Nash looked like he wanted to object, like he wanted to punch Brady square in the nose, but then Tristan came up to us as well. Hannah was passed out on her shoulder, and Tristan had the diaper bag in her other hand, clearly on her way out.
“Is it okay if we leave?” she asked Nash.
His face was unreadable as his arms dropped from my waist, taking my soul with him. I felt empty and small without his arms around me. I felt vulnerable.
“Sure,” he said. “Let’s just say goodnight to the old married couple.”
He turned back to me and said, “Goodnight, Dani. Be well.”
Then he left, and Brady took his place, and nothing felt the same. It took me a minute to collect my thoughts, to recover my brain, and to take possession of my body again. Brady seemed to understand I needed a second, because he didn’t dive in until I met his eye.
“Did my brother send you to save me?” I asked Brady.
He smiled. “No, not at all, but I could tell he wasn’t too happy with you. What’s that all about?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
My whole body screamed I was lying, but I shut it off, shut it down, and turned my entire attention to the blond country star in front of me.
“What business could you possibly have to discuss with me?” I asked him.
