Girl Crush(43)

“Nothing.” If it rained right now, I’d drown my nose was so high in the air. I refused to meet his stare, and the smirk playing at the corners of his mouth was about to piss me off.

“Are you jealous?”

“Pfft. As if.” But I was. Unexplainably green.

“Holy shit.” He raked his hand through his hair and tried to hold back a laugh. “Giselle. Do you know who that was?”

“Who?” Even I didn’t buy my pathetic attempt at ignorance and nonchalance.

He lifted his hand to my chin and forced me to stare into those gorgeous, green eyes he shared with his twin. “Really?” The humor danced in his irises, and the sun made them twinkle like a cartoon. “That’s Stella’s little sister, Roma. That’s who I got the tickets from. She’s working the show. I didn’t want to be rude. I’m sorry I stayed over there longer than I should have. Don’t be upset.”

Sometime while he spoke, he shifted his hand to cup my jaw, and his thumb crossed my cheekbone. The instant I realized his tone had changed and his hand went from authoritative to nurturing, I jerked away.

“It’s fine, Collier. Are you ready to go?” We’d been here several hours. The heat zapped my energy, and I needed to leave. Envy was an exhausting emotion and one I wasn’t interested in thinking any more about.

His eyes dropped, and something crossed his face akin to disappointment, but instead of dwelling on it, he put his hand on my lower back and escorted me out of the car show.

“Giselle…”

I peeked over the top of the car as he opened his door. I didn’t want to be mad, but I didn’t know how to move back into the comfortable territory West and I normally shared.

Suddenly, he barked, “Oh my God. I totally should have introduced you. She’s single. And clearly gorgeous. Do you want me to take you back in?” He dragged his hand through his hair before staring at me. “I’m sorry, Giselle. I wasn’t thinking.”

Jesus, this couldn’t get any worse. He thought I was jealous of the girl, and he was trying to set me up with his twin’s girlfriend’s little sister who could be a Victoria’s Secret model. Before I could open my mouth, he was rounding the car and hauled me by the hand toward the blond bombshell.

“No, no.” My objections fell on deaf ears. The more I tried to protest, the bigger his smile got.

“Let me do this for you, Giselle. I know you’ve been really down, and she’s a great girl. I promise you’ll like her.”

Before I could get anything out of my mouth or form a thought of how to get the hell out of this without telling Collier what a lying fink I was, we bumped into the very person I had hoped not to find.

“Roma. I can’t believe I didn’t introduce you to Giselle earlier.”

She extended her hand, and her pearly whites displayed in a brilliant affection. “Beck’s friend?” She took me in with sweet but suspicious eyes.

Well, this was just great. “Hey, it’s nice to meet you.”

“I’ve heard so much about you from Beck and Stella. It’s great to put a face with a name. They didn’t lie. You’re beautiful. Who does your hair?”

I hadn’t answered when she hooked her arm through mine and dragged me off, calling to Collier over her shoulder. “Go have fun; we’ll find you later.”

When I looked back at him, shocked he’d put me in another precarious position regardless of how unaware he was, he laughed and waved. Fucker.

“So West, huh?” She had stopped walking once we were out of earshot. A knowing look crossed her face…just before she tossed her head back with laughter. “I have no idea how you managed to get yourself into this.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “You’d think at my age I would know better, right?”

“You have to tell him.”

“Tell who, what?” I refused to admit to this woman that I might have a slight bit of interest in her sister’s girlfriend’s twin. Not going to happen.

“West. How you feel. It’s written all over your face, and from what I hear, he’s fairly smitten with you but thinks you’re a lesbian. How does a man like that begin to believe a woman like you is a lesbian?”

I didn’t know this woman, but she was playful and fun.

“I’m going to kill Beck. What the hell did she tell you?”

“Oh, sweetie, everything. She and Stella adore you. And so does Collier.”

“I’m just his sister’s friend.” I tried to dismiss her words with my own.

“You just keep believing that.”

“He brought me back in here to introduce me to you. Hardly sounds like a man who wants to get in my panties. Not to mention, he thinks I want to get into yours. Crap, crap, crap.”

“West doesn’t have friends who are girls. Don’t fool yourself. You’ve seen his entourage—they’re magnets for women. If he’s spending his time with you, alone, there’s a reason, and it’s not because he needed someone to go to the car show with him.”

“I don’t have a clue how to fix this.”

“Just give him the opening. I bet he takes it. You can sort out the rest later.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, but it wasn’t in humor, more stupidity than anything. “And then what? Tell him everything he thinks he knows about me is a lie? Not much of a foundation for friendship, much less a relationship.” I had no idea where relationship came from. I didn’t want a relationship. I just wanted someone to share mind-blowing orgasms with. That was the only type of commitment I did.