The Engagement Gift(10)
He’d been ravenous and harder than I’d ever felt him before. As if he was just as aroused, just as turned on as I was.
But still, that was only pretend. Simply another aspect of our role-playing.
That didn’t mean we had to act on it.
Or maybe, just maybe, it did.
*
I absentmindedly kicked one high-heeled foot back and forth, waiting for Kate in a bar at the Luxe Hotel, a gin in my hand.
I wore a little black dress.
Because that was what fantasies were for.
Little black dresses.
We’d meet Finn at the club, and our friends were coming tonight, too—we operated as a pack.
Kate arrived at the bar, looking fabulous in black strappy sandals, designer jeans, and a silver top.
I gave her an approving whistle. “Sexy babe. You should take the best man home tonight.” I couldn’t resist trying to push them together. That was what friends did—tried to set up their single friends.
She groaned like she couldn’t take it anymore as she flopped next to me. “Don’t you think if it were going to happen, it would have happened?”
I scoffed. “Things happen when we’re ready for them.”
She set a hand on my elbow, her hazel eyes locking with mine. “Let me level with you. Nothing is going to happen with Jake and me.”
I pouted. “Why not?”
She heaved a sigh. “Lily, do I need to spell this out?”
“Um, maybe you do.”
She laughed. “I’m. Not. Attracted. To. Him.”
My jaw came unhinged, then I set the back of my hand on her forehead. “Yes, you do have the flu.”
“Natch, I’m terribly ill for not being into Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome.”
“Aha!” I pointed at her like I’d caught her in a web of lies. “So, you do admit he’s good-looking.”
“Just because I can recognize he’s extremely good-looking doesn’t make him my type.” She nudged my waist with her elbow, her voice dipping. “But maybe he’s your type.”
My brow creased. “What?”
“Aww. That’s cute how you act all innocent.”
“It’s not an act.”
She parked her hands on her hips. “Studies have shown that threesomes work best when the third party is someone you all know and trust.”
The notion was a gong banging, waking me up.
I blinked. Swallowed. My brain went into overdrive.
My mind supplied the image. The man who’d been nameless, faceless, in my threesome fantasies suddenly became flesh and blood.
He became my fiancé’s best friend.
My pulse soared, and my skin tingled. What if Jake was the other man in my dirty dreams?
Would that work? Could that work? What would it do to their friendship if things went haywire?
Kate smirked and twirled her index finger in a circle. “I see the spreadsheet columns in your mind adding up.”
I shook my head. “I don’t speak spreadsheet.” It came out robotically because I was still processing that . . . sum of the columns. That specific sum of the parts.
Had the nameless, faceless man been in front of me all along?
“But I do,” Kate said. “And I can tell the sum of you plus Finn plus Jake is looking pretty damn good.”
I grabbed her arm, whispering, “They’re best friends. Would that be weird? For them?”
Kate’s eyes glinted. “I don’t know. I guess that’s what you’d have to find out. But I don’t think it’d be awkward for them if it’s what Finn wants for you. And I bet it’s what he wants for you.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because Finn is obsessed with your pleasure.” She spun on her heel, tipping her head toward the club. “Want to go?”
“Sure,” I said absently because my mind was absolutely elsewhere.
As we wove our way through the casino, soaking in the glamour, the glitz, and the sin, I let myself imagine more specifics than I’d ever imagined before.
I pictured two men I knew—two men who’d take me to the moon and back. One I loved madly and one I knew quite well, indeed.
The idea was more tantalizing than I’d ever imagined.
What a strange and filthy new place my mind was.
And everything felt more possible than it did before we got off to the Penn Badgley lookalike.
*
The line for Edge was long, but Finn called me over to where he stood by the door. The owner, another one of his cousins, let us in. We thanked Brent then headed for the bar, ordering mojitos.
Seconds later, Nina joined us, sporting the new red glasses.
I gave her a thumbs up. “See? I told you. Hot.”
The brunette struck a pose, then whispered for my ears only, “Do they almost make me look like I know what I’m doing when it comes to men and dating?”
I laughed. “You don’t look at all like the innocent you are. There. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
She wiggled her eyebrows. “Yes. Now, I need a gin and tonic.”
“Then, you shall have one.”
We added to the order, and when the drinks arrived, I took the first swallow of my cocktail then tugged Finn closer. I was ready to be in his orbit. “I know how you love mojitos. Taste it on me.”