Page 95 of Tempt Me

“Caden!” he cries when he sees me. “Ladies, this is my older brother, Caden.”

The women giggle. “Hi Caden,” the blonde says.

“Hi,” I say. “Al, I’m heading home.”

“What? But we only just got here.”

“Yeah, play a game with us,” the other woman pouts.

“I’m good, thank you,” I say politely. “I’ll see you later, Al.”

I turn and have only taken two steps when suddenly, a familiar face catches my eye. The world seems to slow, my vision narrowing, blocking out the rest of the crowd.

Luke is sitting at a small table in the corner of the room. One of the Playboy waitresses sits on his lap. She whispers something in his ear, and he laughs.

I watch, almost in slow motion, as his hand slides up her thigh to cup her ass. Then she leans down and kisses him.

My vision goes red and there’s a dull ringing in my ears. I feel paralyzed as I watch Luke’s hand move from the woman’s ass to her breast. He gives it a squeeze and she squeals with delight and kisses him harder.

Something inside me snaps as the image comes together in my head.

Luke is cheating.

He’scheatingon Isla.

Alistair is following my gaze. “Oh shit,” he says, extracting himself from the blonde’s grasp. “Is that Luke Richards?”

But I’m already storming across the room.

“Caden!” Alistair calls, but there’s no stopping me.

How dare Luke. Howdarehe.

Luke notices me just before I reach him and his eyes pop. He hurries the woman off his lap. She looks disgruntled but when she sees the expression on my face, she quickly takes several steps back.

“Caden,” Luke says nervously. “Hey, um?—”

“What the fuck are you doing?” I growl.

Luke glances toward the woman. “It’s not what you think,” he sputters.

“It’s exactly what I think. How could you do this to Isla?”

Luke bristles. “This is really none of your business.”

“You bet your fucking ass it’s my business,” I snarl. I feel Alistair hovering behind me, backing me up. “Isla is my friend and I won’t tolerate her being disrespected like this.”

Luke scoffs and I catch the scent of whiskey on his breath. “Your friend? Please. I know you used to bang her.”

“Excuse me?” I hiss.

There’s a glint in Luke’s eye, perhaps drunken overconfidence. “You want her back, right? I could see it when I got to her apartment that day. She pickedme,dude.”

“You sound awfully confident for someone who just got caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar,” Alistair says lightly.

Luke seems to think Alistair is on his side—maybe because Luke is drunk or maybe because everyone knows Alistair’s reputation as a player. Luke grins at him. “I’m just having a little fun. We all do it, right? When you’re like us, marriage is just…you know. The same rules don’t apply.”

I feel another snap inside me. In a flash, I’ve grabbed Luke by his collar and yanked him out of his chair, slamming him against the wall.

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