Page 33 of Breaking News

“Just don’t.”

I laughed in his face. “Why do you care?”

“You’re going to get yourself in trouble, Jill,” he said, loosening his grip on my arm without completely letting go. “I’m just saying, as a friend, there’s a line there that even you shouldn’t cross.”

“Evenme?” I scoffed. What the fuck didthatmean?

“Bad choice of words. But you know what I mean. I’m just looking out.”

I stepped back up onto the landing, bringing my face right up to his, and whispered, “Just wait. I’m going to flirt with him evenhardernow.”

Xander narrowed his eyes. “You’re just doing that to piss me off.”

“Why don’t you go cry to Abigail about it?” I wriggled from his grasp and stomped down the stairs without looking back. I fully expected to hear his footsteps behind mine, but he kept his feet planted at the top of the landing, letting me go. I held my head high as I made my way through the kitchen, my sandals clicking on the hardwood floor. Chase was entertaining the other guys with a ghost story about an apparition in the abandoned JCPenney building, an exaggerated version of the blog post Meghan had written about it. I didn’t want to interrupt them again, so I didn’t even glance in their direction as I walked past the poker table on my way to the patio door.

But I did put a little extra swing into my hips as I passed.

I slammed the patio door shut behind me, still shaking off my irritation with Xander. Every woman in that backyard turned to me at once, their conversation tapering off.

Sarah spoke first. “Wow, Jillian. That dress is… stunning.”

Over on the patio sectional, Meghan sank lower into the cushion, her cheeks flushed like she’d already been drinking for a little while. Her reaction to the dress was a little less restrained.

“...Mommy?” she whimpered.

Yeah, she was drunk.

Kendall laughed beside her, resting her elbow on the armrest, drink in hand. “I bet Xander’s kicking himself so hard right now for fucking things up with you.”

My eyes flitted over to Meghan, who winced and mouthed “sorry,” but I couldn’t bring myself to be annoyed with her indiscretion. If nothing else, I was glad I wouldn’t have to be the one to break the news of the break-up—Meghan had already taken care of that for me.

Abigail snapped upright after Kendall’s remark. “Xander fucked things up with you?” Abigail asked, glancing over my shoulder toward the guys inside. For a second, I braced myself, half expecting her to defend him or deny it altogether. But then her shoulders sank, and she let out a quiet, exasperated sigh. “What an idiot. I mean, look at you.”

I shook my head, not wanting this to turn into a Xander hate-fest. Glancing around the patio, I asked, “Where’s the tequila?”

There was a round of laughter, and Abigail was the one who swiftly located the tequila and poured me a shot—just before pouring herself one, too. “Cheers,” she said as we tapped our little plastic cups together, our eyes meeting beneath the patio lights.

It felt like she understood. There was something apologetic in her eyes, like perhaps this wasn’t the first time she had inadvertently broken up one of Xander’s relationships.

Not wanting to dwell on it, I found a seat next to Erika, who entertained us all with a story about Dimitri’s diaper blowout at a wedding reception. Meghan offered me a White Claw, which I turned down in favor of one of Sarah’s frozen margaritas. “Don’t skimp on the liquor,” I commanded. And she followed through, keeping my glass full the rest of the night.

Before long, the patio lights were getting a little hazy. I could hardly focus when the conversation drifted to the book we werethere to discuss, nearly falling out of my seat when I went to pull my own copy from my purse.

But I wasn’t the only one feeling good. When the men joined us outside, they were slapping each other’s butts and hurling the most diabolical insults I’d ever heard. Sarah warned them they were going to disturb the neighbors.

Eventually, some of the guys picked up our books and thumbed through the pages until they found passages they deemed worthy of reading aloud. Even Graham joined in, plucking my book from the ground by my feet and flipping to the page Chase had been cackling about moments before. And then, in an exaggerated deep voice, he said, “Her breath hitched as my fingers inched lower, slipping beneath the edge of her lacy panties.”

Meghan shrieked, covering her ears with two pillows. I laughed as she buried her face against my upper arm.

Graham smirked, and he kept going, lowering his voice even deeper, drawing out every word. “She arched into my touch… lifting her hips in a silent plea,”he continued, standing at the center of the patio like he was delivering a lecture. He paused for a beat, giving me the quickest glance over the top of the book. I sat up taller, arching my back without really meaning to. “When my finger grazed her clit with a featherlight touch, she gasped and—”

Meghan flung one of her pillows at the side of his head, and it was over. “Hearing my boss say the word ‘clit’ wasn’t on my bingo card for the night, that’s for damn sure,” she said, surrounded by laughter.

Graham just grinned, completely unbothered, as he returned the book beside my feet. I drew in a loud breath when his wrist brushed against my ankle, catching his gaze as he stood upright again. “This is what you read, huh?”

It took a second to register he was speaking to me. I swallowed. “And what if it is?”

What?Why the sass, Jill?I didn’t dare look to my left or right to see if anyone else was paying attention to us. The edges of my vision were blurring, anyway. All I saw was Graham, his eyes trailing up my body before landing on my face, like he wanted to know if I was really trying to flirt or if it was just the tequila talking.

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