Page 73 of My Temptation

She snorted. “True.”

“Maybe they ended up leaving early or something.”

“I guess,” she replied but didn’t look convinced. “Hey, I forgot to ask you last night, but was that story you told about your motorcycle true?”

I jerked up my chin. “Yeah.”

“You sold something you loved to take care of your sister?”

“It was just a bike,” I answered easily because it was true. When I found out Everly was pregnant, I didn’t even think about it before selling it for the best price I could get.

She smiled and pointed at the bathroom. “Get your shower. We need to get going.”

I frowned. “It’s a little early to leave, isn’t it?”

“We need to make a few stops before we go.” She winked and turned back toward her suitcase, but I noticed the grin never left her lips.

Why the hell did it feel like I just made a deal with the devil?

23

ETHAN

This was a huge fucking mistake.

Sitting at the bar, I scanned the room with a beer in my hand, looking for Samson, but there was no sign of him so far. I’d also been watching the tracker on my phone, telling me he was on the move, but again, there was nothing. We were banking on him being here tonight, and if he didn’t show, I wasn’t sure what our next move would be.

To make matters worse, Mila dragged me to a nearby mall to shop for a dress for tonight. She had something specific in mind, so I sat on a chair outside of a dressing room and watched her parade in and out in a series of dresses, one shorter than the next until she finally chose one.

One that I hated.

And I told her I hated it in the store, but she ignored me and bought it anyway. I stared at her across the room while she socialized, very much playing the part of the party girl, but my instincts told me we were looking for trouble. There were a lot of men in this room, and most had their eyes on her, which might cause us problems as the night wears on, but she doesn’t see it that way.

“That your girl?”

My eyes shifted to the man now standing beside me, and I followed his line of sight. No surprise it was locked on Mila.

I jerked up my chin. “Yeah.”

He snickered. “You look like you wanna kill someone, man.”

My eyes once again focused on him, and I decided to play the jealous boyfriend, which wasn’t all that far from the truth. “You sayin’ you wouldn’t?”

He shrugged and lifted his glass as he gestured toward her. “She looks like she wants to party.”

“That’s why we're here.”

“Take it you’re new to our little town?”

“We came for the festival and decided to stay for bike week,” I explained.

“You ride?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Not anymore.”

“How’d you get an invite to this? It’s usually reserved for regulars.”

Now it made sense why he approached me. He knew we weren’t regulars and was trying like hell to figure out why we were here, which only confirmed that outsiders were rarely invited.

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