Bad Things (Tristan & Danika #1)(32)

One of his hands left my hair, stroking down my back. He gripped the back of my thigh, pulling it high on his hip as he moved against me.

I moaned as I felt his hardness pushing against me. It was only as we were grinding mindlessly against each other that I realized how fast things had gotten out of hand.

I wrenched free of him, and he let me.

“What are we doing?” I gasped.

“I don’t know,” he answered, looking stunned.

“That was stupid,” I told him.

“That was stupid,” he agreed, his rapt attention on my mouth.

“We need to get away from each other until we sober up some,” I said slowly. “I think we’re both feeling way too pretty right now.”

He didn’t say a word, but he got away fast enough.

We avoided each other for a solid hour.

I dried off, got dressed, and took a seat at Cory’s bar. It wasn’t smart, but I had another drink. I spotted Tristan on the other side of the room. He was smoking a cigarette, and talking to the brazen woman that had brushed up against him earlier.

I ordered another drink.

“Drinking alone tonight?” a familiar voice asked me from behind.

I turned, giving Jared a very big smile. “Not anymore,” I told him with a vigorous toast.

He laughed, glancing behind me to nod at Cory. “I’ll have what she’s having,” he called to the other man. “So where’s my brother?” he asked as he sat beside me. “This is the first time since I met you that you two weren’t attached at the hip.”

I nodded across the room, sneering when I saw what’s her name laughing at something and touching his chest. “Unless I miss my guess, he’s about to get lucky.” I tried hard not to sound as upset about that as I actually was.

“He thinks I need to loosen up,” I continued to Jared. “And I think he’s a little too loose. It makes for an interesting friendship.”

Jared flashed a stunning smile at me that was a close second to his brother’s. “Dance with me.”

I agreed readily enough, though I was more than a little disappointed when Tristan never even spared us a glance as we headed from the bar and into the next room.

Jared was a good dancer, but he was no Tristan, and he had even less trouble than his brother did getting right into my personal space.

I went with it, dancing close.

His hands gripped my hips. When he moved a thigh between mine, I angled out of his range, finding a safer position as I moved close again. He was determined, though, and we were dancing close, his face an inch from mine, within short minutes.

He leaned in to kiss me, his breath minty, and his lips half-tempting.

But hell, I thought, if I could resist full-on tempting, it was a breeze to turn down half. I turned my face away, and he moved his face into my neck, undeterred.

I giggled, his lips tickling me, before I pushed him back.

I shook a finger at him. “I don’t know you that well,” I chided.

He grinned a wicked grin. “Well, then, let’s get to know each other better.”

I rolled my eyes. “You and your brother are too much alike. Being man-whores must run in the family.”

He laughed, un-offended. “We aren’t that much alike,” he said into my ear. “Tristan is strictly into hooking up. I’m the relationship type. In fact, I’m not all that crazy about being single.”

“Well, I’m trying to be single for a while, though I’m not that crazy about it, either.”

“Just let me know when that phase is over. I’d love to take you out.”

“I’m not sure what your brother would think about that.”

“It’s not his business. You two are still just friends, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, friends don’t get to tell each other who to date.”

“What about brothers?” I asked pointedly.

“Brothers don’t either, when they’re being completely reasonable about it.”

My mouth twisted ruefully.

“Just one date. At least give me that much. Let me take you out one night, whenever your dating ban is up. You don’t have to decide right now, but at least tell me you’ll think about it.”

“I’ll think about it.”

We’d had our mouths at each other’s ears for the entire conversation, and Jared took full advantage of that, nuzzling into the sensitive spot just behind my ear.

I pulled away, shivering.

I was certainly attracted to him, if not in the crazy, irresistible way I was to Tristan. But Tristan was a lost cause, and when I was ready to start dating again, Jared was dating material. I didn’t know him well, but he was hot, in a skinny rocker kind of way, and he seemed nice and charming, if a touch forward.

“That’s all I ask,” he said, tugging me back into the bar, since we’d both stopped dancing several minutes before.

I didn’t spot Tristan as we made our way back to the bar, and my gut twisted sickly. I shouldn’t have been upset by the fact that he’d likely gone off somewhere to hook up with that skank. I knew the score. He’d never been mine to lose. Not even close.

Still, I felt forlorn as the minutes passed, and he didn’t show.

I wound up drowning my sorrows with another drink, and on a dare from the irrepressible Jared, I found myself dancing on one of the small tables that ran beside the pools.