Frayed Silk(43)

Laughing, I tell her the same. And she does, wearing a peach-colored sleeveless cocktail dress, the skirt swinging with every move she makes in her white heels.

“Where are the men?” I ask, thanking Fiona when she passes me a flute of champagne.

She waves her hand around, taking a sip from her own. “Entertaining as men do. I forgot the game was on tonight.”

“Not for a few hours yet, so don’t stress. We’ll get bored of them by then anyway,” Lola teases.

“You’re so right.” Fiona raises her glass, and we all clink in solidarity.

Fiona leaves to talk with a few more guests while Lola and I hang out in the kitchen. Where the chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne are, of course.

“Do you think we should go be social?” I ask, grabbing another strawberry from the tray.

Lola pretends to think about it. “Nah.”

We both laugh when Leo and Trey walk into the kitchen.

“There you are,” Leo says, wrapping an arm around my waist.

Lola holds a strawberry up to Trey’s open mouth, giggling as she tries to stop the juice that’s escaped his lips with her thumb from running down into his beard.

Leo turns me into his chest. “Ready to go yet?” His blue eyes heat, and I start to feel a bit lightheaded. Maybe it’s the second glass of champagne that he removes from my fingers and places on the counter behind me. But I know better. He’s had the same effect on me since I first laid eyes on him in my freshman year of college.

“More than ready. We can’t, though.” I kiss his shadowed jaw and go to move away. His hold tightens, and he leans in to place a soft kiss on my lips.

“Delicious,” he whispers to me.

“It’s the strawberries, or the champagne.”

He nudges his nose against mine, shaking his head from side to side. “It’s you. Always you.” He kisses my nose and pulls away.

“And people say we’re bad with the PDA.” Lola smirks over at us.

Trey chuckles. “Yeah, they’re so much worse. Let’s go see where the food’s at and if we can convince Dylan to put the game on after.” He slaps Leo on the back, leaving the room.

Leo’s lips curve into a soft smile as he stares down at me. “Later, beautiful.”

I melt into the counter behind me, wishing I’d taken him up on his offer to go to a hotel instead.

“Ugh,” Fiona grumbles, coming back into the kitchen and grabbing another glass of champagne. “You’d think hosting parties would be fun by now, but it’s a total drag having to make sure you don’t get too sloshed in your own home.”

Lola quirks a brow at her. “Poor baby.”

Fiona slaps her arm playfully. “Shush, give me a strawberry.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Lola passes her the tray, and Fiona grabs the smallest one on there.

“Did you see what Dylan’s cousin is wearing?” she whispers conspiratorially to us, eyeing the doorways to the kitchen.

Lola and I glance at each other. “Uh, we kind of haven’t left the kitchen yet,” I admit.

Fiona laughs. “Oh, my God, come on, you’ve got to see this …” She walks back out of the kitchen, and we both shrug before following.

We spend the next half an hour chatting with some of their family before we all sit down on their huge porch outside to have dinner. But the food is so fancy that I barely even pick at it.

Leo chuckles into my ear. “It won’t bite you, Lia.”

I scowl at him. “I’ll bite you in a minute, Mr. I’ll Eat Anything.”

He wraps his hand around mine on his lap, stroking his thumb over my skin. “You know you’re welcome to bite me anytime, beautiful.”

My cheeks start to burn, so I stare back down at my weird looking crab dinner.

After dinner, I remain outside, chatting and drinking with the girls until I check my phone and see that it’s almost eleven o’clock. The men have long since gone inside to drink and watch the game in Fiona and Dylan’s theatre room. I scoot my chair back. “I’m going to grab Leo; we need to get home so our sitter can leave. She’s got an exam to study for this weekend.”

Fiona pouts. “No, stay.”

“I can’t, I’m sorry. But we should all go out for a girls’ night soon,” I offer instead. “Now, let’s see if I can tear my husband away from the TV.” I shake my head with a laugh.

“He’s welcome to stay, you know we’ve got the room.”

I bite my lip, not sure if I like the idea of that.

“Or he can get a cab later with Trey?” Lola suggests. “I’m going to get going soon too, and already told him he could hang out a while longer.”

I nod, digging my phone out to quickly call a cab. “Okay, I’ll go talk to him.”

Lola walks me inside after I say goodbye to everyone. I finish calling the cab company and find Leo in the theatre room, sprawled out on the couch with his eyes glued to the game on the TV. They all shout and cheer when their team scores, startling us. We laugh and move into the room, getting annoyed glances as they try to see the TV around us.

“I’m going to go. Clare needs to get home soon,” I say, leaning over him. He grabs my hips and tugs me onto his lap. I feel him grow hard beneath me, and I giggle, a little embarrassed. “Leo,” I hiss quietly.