Page 32 of Stirred Up

“Where’s Brady?”

Taperingmy expression, I answer as naturally as possible. “I’m not sure, apparently running l—”

Or running game!My voice catches as Brady and date walk in hand in hand.

“Don’t screw with sanctity of our night, not cool,” my ass!

“‘Only care what you’re feeling, Moe,’”my butt!

“Hey guys, sorry we’re late. Ashley had to take an important work call outside,” Brady greets us, pulling out the chair beside me for her. “Dylan, Addison, this is Ashley Chastain.

She’s the Assistant Administrator at the hospital.” He helps her into a chair with a gentle hand to her back, avoiding my glare, then takes the chair across from me.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” she says with a smile. “Brady told me a bit about you on the way over.” Her smile is warm, genuine, and when combined with her huge brown eyes, olive complexion and long raven hair…it makes for one remarkable package.

I flag my hand in the air, desperate for a drink.

Unable to keep from peeking over at her, the rare “brains and beauty exotic princess,” who has six inches onme—height and bust—I rape the pitcher from Juan’s hands when he divinely appears at my side. Hand shaking as I pour, I’m hoping the penis-packers are too mesmerized by Ashley to notice.

The woman’s breathtaking.

“Nice to meet you too,” I finally manage to get in between Dylan’s long winded introduction that includes way too much info about his day spent scouting employees.

“So you and Brady know each other from the hospital then, I assume?” Dylan asks, ceasing the recital of his recent new bio as I get a head start on my life-or-death buzz.

“Yes.” She reaches across and lays her hand atop Brady’s, caressing his knuckles with her pristinely manicured thumb. “We see each other there often. I couldn’t believe he finally asked me out.” She turns her head and gives him a sultry smile.

“When was that?” I ask a bit too enthusiastically, already knowing the answerandthat Brady’s sneer is pinned on me right this minute.

“Oh, well today’s Thursday, so I guess it was…Tuesday? Is that right?” she asks him.

Huh, how very interesting!I slurp down another mouthful of margarita. Tuesday, the same day as our anything-but-amicable parting at the gym...you don’t say.

“Sounds right, gorgeous.” He lifts her hand to his mouth and places a kiss on the back of it. “The morning you gave the proposal on the new NICU unit you brilliantly assembled.”

“That’s cool,” Dylan cuts in animatedly. “I’m leading a new project myself, a gaming software company that Brady here is backing. Thus the need for employees, which has kept me tied up all week. Brady’s gonna help me look over resumes this weekend, right?” He nudges Brady in the shoulder with a grin.

“Appears so,” Brady replies, always willing to help Dylan.

“That’s wonderful,” Ashley says with a kind smile then turns those sincere eyes on me. “And what do you do, Addison?”

Swallowing down my huge, unladylike sip, I hold up a finger, refusing to wince at the brain freeze. Gonna need a second. Once it’s down I find my voice. “I work at a veterinary clinic.”

“That’s wonderful. I’ve always admired how much schooling veterinarians have to endure. Good for you!”

I’d slap the grin off her face if it wasn’t...nice. She’s not usual Brady Bimbo. She’s glamorous, well-educated and versed, elegant and kind. Dammit, where’s Juan with a new pitcher?

“Oh, Moe’s not a veterinarian, she’s a vet tech,” Dylan, the flesh of my flesh, lovingly corrects her.

“Only because she chooses to be.” For the first time all night Brady finds and holds my gaze. “Moe can be anything she wants. But only she knows what that is. The rest of us mightthinkwe understood what she wanted, but we’d be wrong. Isn’t that right, Addison?”

He thinks he’s so clever, that I don’t see through his games, defending me because it’s ingrained in him to do so, ruining it with the reminder dig at the end.

And the date? I can’t decide if he brought her because she’s her—an admittedly smart choice—or to make me jealous—also a smart choice. If the latter, it worked like a charm, although I have no right to be jealous.Irefusedhim.

My mood was shitty before all this fun. I don’t need extra help picking the bridge to plummet from.

I’m out.

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