Page 23 of Bang Buddies With Benefits
Is that why she’s so worried about me attending this event with her? Will her family declare me not wealthy enough?I didn’t flaunt it, but the bar did well, and thanks to a few rental properties my parents bought in mission beach before the prices went from outrageous to whatever was beyond that, I was able to buy and renovate one of them without breaking the bank.
The other day at the restaurant, I’d assured Cat that I specialized in handling large groups of drunk and disorderly folks and could therefore handle her family, she’d laughed in my face.
“How many people attend your family parties?” she’d asked, and when I’d answered around a dozen, she gave me a look filled with so much pity that my unflappable nerves did a bit of fraying despite themselves.
“Try sixty to seventy people—that’s what the Mendeses call an ‘intimate gathering.’ They also don’t believe in things like privacy and filters.”
“Isn’t this the point of our arrangement? So that we don’t have to deal with those types of gatherings alone?”
“My main goal is making partner, and if my family scares you away before my company party, when I most need you, then all of this pretending will be in vain.”
Um, hello, she’d forgotten about the steamy sex. Since she was clearly distraught, I decided to save that fact for show-and-tell time.
“Plus, I don’t want my family thinking I’ve changed my mind about dating. It’ll only generate false hope for the futuretheywant for me. Yes, it would be nice to have a wingman, but it can only be as friends. If they get so much as an inkling I’d consider monogamy and holy union again, they’ll be relentless once you and I are no more, fake relationship or not.”
There was a whole lot to unpack there. Again? Did that mean she’d considered it before? And surely there’d never be a time when we were no more. Not in the way where we could still send a text and get it on?
Those questions would only make me sound too serious, and she was freaking out as it was. All there was left to do was assure her again that I could handle whatever her family threw at me. Today she’d get a demonstration of not only how well I held up under pressure, but also that I could be as charming as her buddy as her fake boyfriend or fiancé or whatever the hell the occasion called for.
The elevator slowed to a stop, and I walked down the hallway to the corner unit and knocked on the door. As I waited, I lifted my hand and ran it over my freshly trimmed beard. I was still getting used to the shorter length. The suit and tie, I’d never get used to, but at least it still fit me like a glove, and I could deal with it for a day.
Regardless of what happens during the ceremony and reception, we’ll end up back here at her place, have the incredible sex we never got to in the hotel closet, and it’ll all be worth it.
I heard the staccato beats of footsteps from inside the condo, growing louder as she approached, and then the door opened a crack.
Only the person on the other side wasn’t Catalina. She was several inches taller, with blond hair.
“Penny?” I had a fifty-fifty shot, as the night I’d met Cat’s friends had been one of those nights at the bar that were so busy I’d practically forgotten my own name.
“Hey, Zac.” Penny swung the door wider and gestured me inside. “You might as well come on in. Catalina’s having herself a bit of a meltdown, so it’ll likely be several more minutes.”
A brunette with long straight hair poked her head around the corner. She crinkled her forehead and studied me intently before giving a tiny nod. “Oh yeah, that’s how you look. I couldn’t remember, and Catalina doesn’t have any pictures of you on her phone—not even steamy ones. What’s that all about?”
“Eloise Maria Kostopoulous, what did Ijustfinish saying?”
Ellie winced. “One, I thought you wouldn’t hear me with the bathroom fan on, and two, I should at least get a couple of questions.”
“Jeez, you’re as bad as my family.” This time, the echo of the heels was closer together, the strides shorter. Like I said, weird gift for auditory noises.
Ellie straightened, and Catalina rounded the corner of the hallway. It’d only been a few days, far longer than we usually went, and still my heart leapt at seeing her again.
Her pale blue-gray dress landed at the knee. The slit in the skirt showed a couple of inches of thigh, and her bright pink lipstick drew my attention to the pouty softness I forever craved plundering. Even when I’d picked her up the other day from work, I’d noticed her business suit had a pop of bright red, as if she were far too bright to wear anything in just black or white. Which funny enough, was what I was wearing.
The scooped neckline of her dress showcased her ample cleavage, and my fingers twitched with the urge to slip those tiny straps off her shoulders and fully expose her breasts, the way I’d done in that supply closet a couple of weeks ago.
“Eyes up here,” she said, and I lifted them to her face. “It’s not like I don’t understand that’s what you and I are about. But my family, they can never find out our relationship’s built on booty calls and crazy hot sex.” She sighed. “Seriously, dude?”
Right. My gaze had drifted again—in my defense, she’d mentioned the crazy hot sex, and then I’d imagined burying my face in her chest as I ripped that slit in her skirt all the way open and… I rubbed at the side of my neck. Traveling any further down that line of thinking, and I’d only end up in more trouble.
“So…” She tapped the underside of my chin, until our eyes met and held. “If you want to touch these”—she cupped her breasts over her dress—“ever again, you dial back the ogling. We’re friends, and that’s it, and that’s all it’s ever been. Entiendes?”
“Uh, yes?” The shifting to my right reminded me her friends were here—oops—and I glanced at them to see if I’d guessed right. Only they both had equally pursed expressions. Were they upset at the blatant gawking of Catalina’s amazing assets, or were they upset I’d crashed their girls’ night? Or day, as it were.
“The guys are here,” Penny said before I could conjure a more crowd-pleasing topic.
Two minutes later, I discovered Cat and I were expected to ride in the same vehicle as her friends and their boyfriends.
“But if we take my ride, then—”
