Page 20 of Foolish Games

“Damn, girl,” Sebastian says to me. “Why you hiding these sexy things away?”

“Shut up,” I say with a self-conscious laugh, swatting his hands away.

He rises, and we help finish up for the next few minutes. At last, someone turns off the lights, and everyone holds the door open and piles out. The excitement in the air is palpable as everyone recounts the job well done and speculates about the party ahead. I pick up my shoes and follow. Suddenly someone grabs me from behind, sweeping me off my feet and into a pair of strong arms.

“Sebastian,” I say, laughing. “You don’t have to carry me.”

“Can’t have the princess getting her feet cut up on my watch,” he says. “You ready to see what the fuss is all about? Because you’re about to be Sebastian Swift’s girl for the night.”

I hold onto his neck, my shoes hanging down his back, and give him my sternest look. “Do I need to remind you I have a boyfriend?”

“Not tonight you don’t,” he says. “Tonight, you have a sex god.”

“Oh my god,” I say, rolling my eyes and laughing with embarrassment.

“That’s right, I am your god,” he says. “Until morning, anyway.”

“Let me guess. Tomorrow you’ll be some other girl’s god?”

“I don’t know, maybe,” he says with a grin, not looking at all bothered by my assessment of his player ways. “Or I could be yours again tomorrow night, if you play your cards right.”

“As if,” I say, turning my face away.

“Where’s your chariot, sweet maiden?”

I can’t help but laugh despite my annoyance. “I’m not as sweet as you think.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” he says, nuzzling against my ear. “When I taste you.”

A shiver of lust sweeps over my entire body at his words. I have to shake my head to clear it, and I point to the Corvette in the lot.

“Damn,” he says. “I’m not sure which is sexier, you or your car.”

“Definitely the car,” I say, grinning as I look over my baby.

“Can I drive?”

I snort. “Not in a million years.”

“You’re killing me, Smalls,” he says, stopping at the driver’s door. “Shit. You don’t have a purse. Where are your keys? Don’t tell me I don’t get to ride in this with you after you dangle it in front of me. You’re a worse tease than a stripper.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hey, I can get laid once I leave the strip club. There’s lot of pussy in this town. There’s only one little red Corvette.”

“I should make you walk just for saying that,” I say, reaching down the front of my dress and digging the key out of my bra. I checked my coat and bag inside, but I’m not about to hand my key to a valet. I don’t trust them not to take the car for a little joyride while I’m busy.

“Thank god,” Sebastian groans, bending his knees so I can unlock the car. He slides me into the driver’s seat and jogs around to the other side, hopping in like he thinks I’m going to take off without him. I start the car, and “Strawberry Wine” rolls from the speakers. I turn it off so Sebastian can hear the engine purr for a minute before he tells me to follow a two-tone brown Ford Lariat and an old El Camino, both with truck beds full of the others from the kitchen.

“Where to?” I ask, shifting into gear.

“You’ll see.”

“I’d rather know,” I say, grinning sideways at him as we pull out onto the road. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Oh really?” he asks, biting back a smile of his own. “I thought you had a boyfriend.”

“Let’s see if you can handle the ride first.”

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