“It was.” He pushes his cheek out with his tongue before his eyes descend quickly down the length of me. “You seein’ someone?”
“Yes,” I lie. “But I appreciate the dance just the same.”
He nods. “Highlight of my week. See ya, Laynee.”
Giving him a wave, I head back to my best friend, when a suit blocks my path, my entire view, and causes my eyes to slice upward to a very familiar pair of green eyes and an oppressed glare behind them.
Cal Harper stands like a wall, with the disapproving look of an overbearing father, and the sexiness of a wet dream.
Round three.
Here we go the fuck again…
I thought I was seeing things when I saw sandy blonde hair and the ass I’ve seared into memory when Laynee walked away from me a few days ago after my proposal to speak like normal human beings.
And not the kind I wanted to do all those years ago when I told myself that Laynee was going to marry me one day.
Now, in front of me, is a grown-ass woman in a royal blue dress that’s made for catching attention, sin, and one hell of a hard-on by the end of the night.
“Please don’t tell me you’re following me,” she greets me with disdain written all over her face. “Getting a restraining order isn’t something I wanted to do first thing tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t need to follow you, Laynee. I already know where you work.”
“Mind not showing up there anymore, then?”
I quirk a brow. “Why? Is it hard seeing me?”
Her blue eyes darken in animosity that she’d only have for me because I was right. She does give either two shits about me, or she’s curious.
I’ll take either one.
“Can you step out of my way, please?” she asks sweetly, but it doesn’t match a thing on her. Those tiny hands at her sides are balled into tight fists that she wants to throw at me. Her breathing, and her chest in that godforsaken dress, heave inhales and exhales of fury.
Laynee Reese hates me.
“Sure.” She waits a few seconds before I recite, “When you get the balls to talk to me for two minutes. Or does the adult Laynee Reese have so much pent-up aggression toward me that she can’t fathom to listen?”
She inhales deeply, showing that she’s completely annoyed before sighing. “I haven’t consumed enough alcohol yet. But the adult me isn’t entitled to listen to anyone she doesn’t want to.”
I gesture for the bar. “Then let me buy you a drink.”
“God, does adult Cal Harper not understand the word no or is this a feeble attempt at conversation? If it’s the latter, it’s embarrassing, and you should work on that…with someone else.”
“Noted.”
Her brows clash together. “So move.”
“Hot sorority party to go to?”
“I have an early day tomorrow.”
“Big flower dilemma?”
I swear I see her smile for a brief split of a second before it disappears. “Sure.”
I don’t like that.
There’s nothing wrong with small businesses, I think they’re needed within the economy, but I want more for her.