Foreplay (The Ivy Chronicles #1)(28)

“Ew.” Suzanne wrinkled her nose. “Remind me never to sit in the backseat of your car.”

I closed my eyes in a slow blink. I wished Annie hadn’t said that. Now I had the image of them branded in my mind. The blood rushed to my head. The deep roar started in my ears as I thought of the kiss he gave me out by my car. It had seemed so spontaneous, almost as if it surprised him, too. Had I been one of many that night? My sense of betrayal was ridiculous. The guy was obviously experienced. I knew that. You didn’t get to be that good a kisser and not have a fair share of experience.

“No way. You’re so full of it, Annie,” Emerson interjected.

“Seriously,” she insisted. “I saw him feeling up a girl outside half an hour ago. And he was kissing another girl over by the dartboard just five minutes ago.” She jabbed a purple fingernail toward the corner where people threw darts.

Suzanne shook her head. “We’ve been watching him for the last half hour. No way.”

“Yeah,” Emerson agreed, looking at me as if I needed that reassurance. “She’s exaggerating. We’ve watched him for how many nights now? If your bartender was hooking up with other girls, we would have noticed.”

I nodded, the tight band around my chest loosening. She and Suzanne were right. Annie couldn’t be talking about Reece. Maybe she was jealous. Or confused. I didn’t know her motivation. I only knew that he could not have made out with three other girls tonight without me noticing.

Annie’s gaze suddenly shifted beyond my shoulder. Her bright red lips broke out in a smile. “Well, let’s just find out. There he is now.”

I shook my head desperately, determined that Annie not embarrass me in front of him. “No! Really, you don’t have to do that!”

Too late, she was calling hello and waving him over. Mortifying heat fired my cheeks. I felt a presence arrive just behind me. I was too horrified to look. I stared straight ahead as Annie stepped around the table, her arms opening for a hug. Her halter top only gaped wider, and I caught the barest flash of a nipple. The overwhelming urge to scratch her eyes out overcame me.

“Hey, babe!” Her voice dripped like honey. “How are you?”

Babe? I wanted to puke.

“Good. Anna, right?” a male voice asked.

“Annie,” she corrected, a flash of something ugly crossing her expression at his apparent forgetfulness.

“Annie. That’s right,” said the deep, masculine voice.

Emerson was already swiveling around on her stool. She elbowed me sharply in the ribs and let loose a small bark of laughter, which she quickly stifled behind her fingers.

I glared at her, rubbing the offended area. She gave me an I-told-you-so look. See, she mouthed, nothing to worry about.

“So you know my friend Pepper, here, right?” Annie asked, waving at me with a flourish.

I swiveled fully on my stool, facing the inevitable—and felt my stomach plummet to my feet.

It wasn’t him.

It wasn’t Reece. Sure, this guy was hot. He even bore an uncanny resemblance to Reece, but it wasn’t him.

“No,” he said, extending his hand to me, looking me over like he was imagining me without my clothes on. I shook his hand, at a loss for words.

“Of course you do, Logan.” Annie frowned, looking between the two of us and insisting, “You know Pepper.”

His smile flickered for a moment. “Uh, sorry, no. Should I remember you?” I could see the wheels in his head turning, searching his memory of girls he had slept with.

I shook my head dumbly and shoved at Emerson who was laughing herself silly beside me now. “No. We haven’t met before.”

Logan. His name was Logan.

His fingers still held my hand in a warm clasp. “Thought so. I would have remembered someone so pretty.” Slick. And with a face like his, I bet he didn’t have to work too hard.

Emerson, who was still laughing, held up a hand. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. You work here? How come we haven’t seen you the last couple nights we’ve been here?”

“I only pick up a shift here and there. Usually I work one or two days during the week, but Reece called me in when one of the guys got sick.” He shrugged one shoulder, considering Em now with the same thoroughness with which he had examined me. Apparently he liked what he saw. He winked at her, his smile widening to reveal straight perfect teeth. “I was free.”

Em grinned back, clearly dazzled.

“Reece?” I echoed.

“Yeah. My brother.”

“Your brother,” I breathed.

Annie was laughing now, holding her sides, her boobs jiggling.

Emerson looked at me a little worriedly at this new information.

“Your brother?” I murmured. Things clicked into place in my head. I’d been throwing myself at some guy who wasn’t the bar’s resident man-whore. Logan was the younger brother Reece had mentioned. Oh. God.

Annie wiped at her eyes, leaving streaks of mascara on her cheeks. “Oh, this is too precious. Don’t tell me you were making a play for Reece. Oh, he doesn’t give the time of day to anyone.”

“Well, he gave the time of day to Pepper,” Em retorted, angry color filling her face. “He kissed her. Maybe he’s just not into skanks.”

Annie flattened a hand to her impressive cleavage. “Oh, I’m the skank?”