I need new friends.
“What’s she done, Kent?” Toby asks.
Sighing into my beer, I start to question what I actually like about these dickheads. “She hasn’t done anything.”
Max points at me. “And there is the problem. We knew it. We’ve said this before; you want the blonde.”
“How do you know she’s blonde?”
He rolls his eyes. “They’re always blonde.”
“That’s not …” My sentence dies off when I realise that is actually true.
I have a type. Savannah physically fits my type, and after this afternoon, there’s no part of her that I think doesn’t fit.
I honestly thought she would push me away. It was such a turn-on to watch her internal battle before she gave herself over to me.
I won that battle, but the war is still up for grabs. And I don’t intend to lose.
Toby grins. “You like the fairer hair. I do, too.”
“You like all the hair, mate,” I reply.
Toby isn’t fussy.
“That’s true. Heidi is dark brunette.”
Taking a breath, I glare at the fucker. Sisters are left out of shit. Unfortunately, Toby didn’t get the memo.
Max grips his heart. “If you marry Heidi, Kent will be your brother, and there will be no time left for me.”
I roll my eyes. “Dude, have you been taking oestrogen pills?”
“Fuck off, Kent.”
“Do you like her?” Toby asks, cutting through the bullshit.
“I didn’t,” I reply.
He deadpans. “So, you do now.”
“Not how you think. I want to fuck her, and I no longer think she’s a stuck-up bitch. You know I’m not interested in getting into anything.”
Am I? I was willing to offer her strings before. I didn’t even think about it. I just almost blurted it out. We talk all the time—well, flirt over text—and I can honestly say that, each time we’re messaging, it’s the best part of my day.
“Dude, you were nineteen when you said that, and the whore had just fucked you over. If you spend the rest of your life alone because of her, she wins.”
I know all that. For the longest time, I’ve been okay with being alone because I’m young and hot, I have a successful business and my own apartment, and I have plenty of sex, but the further down the road I look, the more that doesn’t seem like enough.
That’s not to say that Savannah is the one or any shit like that, but the way we are together, the banter and bickering, yeah, it makes me miss being more than a shag.
Fucking woman is royally screwing my life.
“Toby’s right; don’t let that bitch Freya win. I fucking hate her with a burning passion. Her mum should have swallowed.”
“Lovely, Max,” I reply, but I can’t disagree. I wish I had never met Freya. “I need whiskey.”
Max stands. “Yeah, ya do.”
Toby waits until Max is at the bar. “When can we meet her?”
Fuck. “Tonight.”
He sits up straighter and smiles. “Yeah?”
“We’re going to a club.”
“Mate, you can’t take me and Max on your date.”
“It’s not a date, dipshit. Heidi is going, too.”
“Hell yeah!”
“Stay away from my sister.”
Chuckling, he reclines in the armchair. “Don’t worry; I’m only teasing.”
“You’d better be. I know where you’ve been, and Heidi doesn’t need someone to walk out on her.”
“Ouch, bro!” He shrugs. “You’re right though; I’m definitely not down for the relationship thing yet. Did you know you could get married at eighteen?”
Rolling my eyes, I reply, “Of course I knew that.”
He looks me dead in the eye, nose scrunched in disgust. “Why would you want that? You’re practically still a kid.”
“No, you were practically still a kid.”
“Oh, right. I forgot I couldn’t count on you to agree with bull like this anymore, not now that you’re pining for Savannah.”
“I am not pining for anyone.”
Or maybe I am. I miss her. I damn well miss her.
“Yeah, all right. I can’t wait to meet her tonight.” He laughs darkly. “What are you going to do if she likes me or Max more than you?”
I give him a look. “Have a word with yourself, Toby.”
That’s never going to happen.
“I’m just saying, buddy, it’s not a guarantee just because you’re hung up on her.”
His smile widens, and he kicks one foot up on the low table in the middle of the four armchairs. I turn away because he’s smug as fuck and pissing me off.
I am not hung up on her. Much.
13
Savannah
I drag my light-pink Mac lipstick across my lips and press them together. I’m half-drunk, thanks to two large glasses of pink gin and tonic, which isn’t normally part of my going-out routine—mostly because I don’t really go out—but Kent will be there tonight, and things got a little weird after lunch at the Mexican restaurant.
Then, things got a bit hot over text.
Heidi rings my doorbell. I know it’s her because she jams her finger into it for, like, five solid seconds. Don’t I regret telling her the keycode for the communal front door!
Where’s the bloody fire, Heidi?
Jogging from my bedroom to the front door—which, to be fair, doesn’t take long since my apartment is small—I tug the door open. “What is wrong with you, woman?”
She laughs and raises her arms in the air. “I’m here!”
“I’ve noticed,” I reply dryly.
Her arms drop. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I smile, shaking my head. “Come in. I have a bottle of gin waiting.”
“Predrinks, Dean? I like it.”
I close the door, and Heidi heads to the kitchen area in the corner of my open-plan living area. She’s wearing a gorgeous emerald-green dress, clinging to all the right places, and her hair is sleek and straight.
“I think predrinks are necessary.”
Tomorrow is Heidi’s birthday barbeque at her parents’ house, and I plan on having predrinks before that as well because Kent will be there.
She spins on her toes, eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Why?”
Because I like your brother, and him texting, telling me he wants his mouth on me next time, has made me rather bloody horny!
There. I’ll admit it to myself. I like him, and I’d like to know more.
“Isn’t that part of doing your twenties right? Shouldn’t you be half-drunk before you even leave?”
Silence hangs in the air. She suspects my drink is because of Kent. Of course she does; she’s not stupid. I’ve seen her watching us. Thankfully, she wasn’t looking too hard in the Mexican restaurant.
“I guess,” she replies, pouring herself a glass. “No other reason you need alcohol before we go out drinking?”
“No,” I reply, my heart racing at the lie. I shake my good hand and pick up my drink.
You would think lies could roll off my tongue without a second thought now. After all, I’ve been hiding the truth from Heidi for years now. But I never enjoy it. To be honest, it’s exhausting, and I hate lying to people I care about.
“Hmm,” she murmurs, bringing her glass to her lips.
“We should have just enough time to drink these and then go to meet Kent and his friends.”
Light-blue eyes peek at me as she takes a sip of gin.
I feel like I’m under interrogation. Her gaze comes thick with speculation.
“Okay, just get it all out, Heidi.”
She lowers her glass and blows out a puff of air. “All right. What’s going on between you and my brother?”
“Nothing. We’ve just decided not to hate each other. It makes situations, like tonight, much easier on everyone.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Nothing is going on.”
<
br /> Her eyes narrow, like she doesn’t believe me. I’m sure as hell not telling her about the Mexican-restaurant incident and the fact that we text multiple times a day. She doesn’t need to know that anything has happened between us.
“It would be okay, you know.”
I hesitate before answering, “What would?”
Sighing like she’s frustrated with me, she replies, “You and Kent. It wouldn’t bother me. After Freya, I didn’t think he would find someone he liked until he was in his fifties or something dramatic like that. He tends to hold grudges, so I thought he would be too stubborn to let anyone in.”
“Heidi, you’re reading into things a bit too much. Just because we decided to get along doesn’t mean that he likes me beyond a friend.” Or beyond getting me off in a restaurant. That was just him proving that he could.
“Uh-huh.” She lifts her manicured eyebrow and takes a sip.
“Okay, drink up. We’re going,” I say, frowning.
She had better not be like this all night.
“I’ve always wanted a sister,” she teases.
“You have a sister.”
“Not a younger one.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t say shit like this tonight,” I whine.
“Oh, please, I know my brother.”
What does that mean?
You know what? For the first time in forever, I’m not going to overthink this.
I tip the rest of the gin down my neck and put the glass down on the countertop. “Let’s go.”
Heidi follows suit, and we head out of my apartment. Arm in arm, we walk the ten minutes deeper into the city, to the club that Kent suggested. Obviously, being a hermit, I haven’t been before.
There’s no queue, so we head straight inside.
Although it’s dark, my eyes immediately seek Kent. It takes me seconds to find him. He’s by the bar with two other guys, laughing. He’s easily the best-looking man in here. Hell, he’s easily the best-looking man on the planet. Shame he’s a massive womaniser and allergic to relationships.
Not that I want a relationship with him.
You definitely do not, Savannah!
“Over there!” Heidi says, pointing to Kent and his friends.
“Oh, yeah,” I reply with a smile, pretending like I haven’t already seen him.
We weave through the crowd, and my heart beats harder with every step closer to him I take. Heidi is practically bouncing; her steps are animated, like a child out trick-or-treating. She’s looking forward to tonight. I was until I got here. Now, I have butterflies in my stomach.
“Hey,” Heidi says as we reach the guys.
Three pairs of eyes turn to us. Kent’s instantly snap to mine. He straightens his back, eyes widening a fraction and nostrils flaring. Usually, I’d think that look is down to him liking what he sees, but with Kent, I can never be sure.
It depends entirely on what his mood is.
“Ladies,” the friend with jet-black hair says. “Lovely to see you again, Heidi.” He turns to me. “You must be Savannah. I’m Toby.”
“Hey, Toby.”
“Hey, I’m Max,” the blond friend says.
“Nice to meet you.”
“What are you two drinking?” Max asks. “It’s my round.”
Heidi puts her bag down on the bar. “I’ll have a white wine, please. Savannah?”
I tear my eyes from Kent, who’s still looking at me. “Er, gin and tonic. Thanks, Max. Are Brooke and Freddy still coming?”
“If they get back from his parents’ early enough,” Heidi says. “So, Toby, who’s tonight’s lucky lady?”
I turn away from Heidi and Toby as they get into a conversation about how he’s waiting for her before settling down. I’m not sure if he’s serious because she rolls her eyes, and Kent doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t strike me as a guy who wouldn’t care that his friend and sister were getting it on.
Kent is still standing in the same spot. Max is leaning over the bar, giving our order, and Heidi and Toby are now sitting on stools, focused on their conversation.
Kent and I probably look really odd, standing near the bar, facing each other but not speaking. It should be awkward to look at a person for this length of time, but it’s not. My heart thumps in my chest as he watches me like he’s ready to pounce.
I offer him a smile. “Hey.” One of us has to talk first, right?
He blinks and then nods his head. “Savannah.”
My name is a whisper and sends a bolt of desire down south.
Don’t even think it.
“How are you?” I ask. It seems like such a stupid thing to say after he had his fingers inside me this afternoon. Despite seeing him only a few hours ago, I’ve missed talking to him. Well, arguing with him. Flirting with him.
God, I thought I was pathetic before.
His lip quirks. “Good. You?”
I nod. “I’m fine. Looking forward to tonight.”
Is he really going to try it on with another woman in front of me? I shouldn’t want that, right? But there’s something about him chatting up someone else when I know it’s me he wants to take to bed that makes me all hot.
Unless he likes her and takes her home.
Oh God, this could backfire.
Narrowing his eyes, he leans in like he’s trying to figure something out. “Are you drunk already?”
Why would he ask that? I didn’t stumble, and my breath can’t smell of alcohol. I had a mint on the walk here. “What?”
“Your eyes look drunk.”
“Oh.” My mind empties. Literally every word I know fucks off, and I’m left with no response. There’s not really much I can do about my eyes.
Kent’s light eyebrow arches.
If you’re waiting for me to say something, you’ll be waiting a while. I’ve got nothing here.
He sighs, and his eyes flick to the ceiling before landing back on me. “You look nice … stunning.”
I laugh. His voice is gravelly, half-sounding like that hurt him to admit and half-sounding like he’s a bit turned on.
Again, I have no idea which one.
“Thank you.” His compliment sends my mind into a bit of a spin. “Don’t look too bad yourself.”
And that was the understatement of the year. His plain black shirt perfectly highlights his sculpted chest and arms. The sleeves are rolled up his forearms. I’d love to know how long he spends working out. Hell, I’d love to watch him get all sweaty.
“Savannah?”
My body jerks at the sound of my own name. Oh, dear God, no. I feel my eyes widen as I look away from his chest. I was staring. Pressing my lips together, I ignore the burning in my cheeks, super grateful that it’s not all that light in here.
Besides a smirk, he doesn’t call me out for openly gawping at him.
It would seem that Kent’s nice side is out to play tonight. Good.
Max hands Kent two drinks. One is mine.
“Thank you,” I say to Max as Kent passes it to me.
Max wiggles an eyebrow and turns back around.
Oh, he so has the wrong impression. For anything to happen between me and Kent, we would have to get along for longer than ten minutes … and he would have to stop being a dickhead to me. Or, apparently, we’d have to share a meal.
“Your arm okay?”
“No more pain. It’s just annoying, wearing the splint.”
“If you need help getting changed, I volunteer,” Max says, spinning around so fast, I’m surprised he didn’t trip.
I tilt my head to the side. “Wow, thank you for the kind offer.”
Max looks at Kent and shrugs. “I didn’t hear a no.”
Kent’s jaw hardens.
“Hmm, not familiar with sarcasm,” I say, and Max laughs. “No.”
“You wound me, Savannah. I guess I’m not the one you want to unzip that beautiful, tight dress.”
My hand tightens around my glass. Don’t throw it at him.
“Right. I alr
eady have someone for that,” I reply. I mean, it’s me. I’m the only one taking my clothes off, but Max doesn’t need to know that.
“You have a boyfriend? You said you were single.” The muscles on Kent’s forearms bunch.
Rolling his eyes, Max turns around. Great, he’s the catalyst for this conversation, and he bails out when it gets awkward.
“I am single.” Very, very permanently single, just how I like it.
Kent doesn’t believe me. His eyes stare straight through me.
“I didn’t lie,” I add. Not about that anyway. “There is no one but me.”
With a nod, his posture loosens up, as he understands that I do everything for myself.
Jesus, uptight much? Why would it matter to him if I lied anyway?
“Table!” Max shouts. He dashes between me and Kent, holding his drink out in front of him.
“Is he okay?” I ask, my eyes following him power-walking to a table in the corner.
Kent laughs. “We’re not sure, but we should follow him, or he’ll get lost.”
“Dude, I’m marrying your sister,” Toby says as he and Heidi also pass us.
Kent rolls his eyes. “Of course you are, dickhead.”
Okay, Toby’s definitely trying to wind Kent up. Doesn’t seem to be working. He might actually have to marry Heidi.
I turn to follow the others, but Kent doesn’t move.
“Are you coming or standing there the whole night?”
“After you.”
I take a swig of my drink and walk. I wonder if he knows how weird he is.
The seating area in the club is along one side, heaving with people walking back and forth from their table to take a drink before returning to the dance floor.
A group of people to my left moves into my path. I turn away from them to protect my fractured arm, but it’s not needed because Kent’s arm reaches around me, blocking a guy who bumps into him rather than me.
What?
The bumper apologises and walks around the back of us.
I look up at Kent over my shoulder. “Thanks.”
He takes a small step back and lowers his arm. “It was nothing.”
Kent sidesteps me and walks over to everyone else, who is now sitting down. They’ve left two chairs free—next to each other, of course. I take a seat between Kent and Max.
Max leans over. “So, Savannah, tell me about yourself.”
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