Page 49 of Overexposed

“Did you lose Gem?” Seven raked a hand over his damp hair.

“Nah, he’s saying goodbye to his girl.” She wasn’thisgirl totally. Not yet. Sure, she gave him her number, but only after I gave him her name. Talk about a double-edged sword. I loved Gem like a brother, and he was definitely into her.

But damn if Snow didn’t get me too. It had been a while since Iwantedto hang out with a woman even when I wasn’t getting something out of it.

“His girl?” Seven’s expression went through some comical contortions. “Oh, donottell me it’s that bottom-feeding scum pap chick.”

“Dude…”

But he didn’t wait to listen to me—nope, he charged out the front door to where Gem and Stella were full-on making out. Thanks to the top being down on the convertible, it was impossible to miss.Sweet carandlucky bastardwere the two thoughts competing as Seven descended the steps and headed straight for the car.

“Gem,” he said, snapping out his twin’s name like it was some incantation. “What the hell are you doing?”

Instead of springing apart, Gem just lifted his head and said, “Fuck off, Sev. I’m kissing Slick right now.”

“No shit, I’m not blind.” Oh, Seven was pissed. Leaning back against the doorjamb, I folded my arms. “Speaking of which, I thought we were done with you and you weren’t coming back here again.”

“Hmm,” Stella said, a smile flirting around the corners of her mouth. “Do you hear some annoying buzzing? I swear I’ve heard that sound before. It usually involves gritted teeth and nails on a chalkboard.”

A snort of laughter escaped me. Unimpressed, Seven shot me a dirty look before he focused on the car. “Gem, you can do a lot better than this, particularly since she already sold us out once.”

“She didn’t sell us out, Sev. Seriously, take the stick out of your ass.” Gem leaned back and turned to look at his brother. “I mean it.”

“So do I. Since she’s for sale to the highest bidder and I paid for her to fuck off, I’d appreciate getting my money’s worth.”

I almost wished I had popcorn for this.

Gem glared at his brother and Sev glared right back. This was going nowhere good.

Then Stella leaned back and focused on me and that had me straightening right up. Those dark eyes, sooty eyelashes, and pouty lips were everything I wanted to enjoy with or without clothes. Though, if anyone asked, my preference was definitely without.

“Ollie, is that offer of a glass of wine still on the table?”

Oh, hell yes. “Absolutely. Do you want red or white? Bubbles? I can go open it up for you right now.”

“White,” she answered with another smile. “Oaked chardonnay, if you have it.”

Gem glanced back at her. “You’ll stay?”

“Sure,” she drawled. “It’ll be fun. Let’s just put the top up.”

The temptation to laugh at Sev’s utterly baffled and furious expression was right there. Thankfully, I had enough skill to keep it in check. He backed up as the top rose to close on the sexy baby blue ’57 Chevy Bel Air. I really wanted to know where she found one in such pristine condition.

“Thanks, bro,” I told Sev as I clapped him on the shoulder.

“For what?” he demanded, staring at me askance.

“For convincing her to stay.” I grinned. “She was turning us down before.” Leaving him to chew on that sour apple, I headed inside to get the wine open and let it breathe.

We’d just had food, so we didn’t need snacks, but we could turn on some music. Maybe we could even move everything out to the pool.

It didn’t take long for Stella and Gem to come inside or for Seven to stalk off, muttering. Then, because I was his best friend, I called after him, “You sure you don’t want to have some wine with us?”

He paused midstep but didn’t turn or say a word.

“Yeah, Sev, don’t be a dick,” Gem said, joining in. “Come have a glass of wine with Stella and us.” Gem sounded a lot more gleeful about it than I was, but Sev’s shoulders just stiffened and then he stalked off toward the gym.

Probably better he go and burn off some of that temper.

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