Page 31 of Fast & Reckless
Just then, the elevator doors dinged open in the lobby, and the first thing she saw was Will himself, as if Violet had summoned him.
“What ishedoing here?”
The last time she’d seen Will, he’d been well on his way to getting laid with that hot brunette. Now he was pacing slowly around the lobby, alone, head down, hands in the pockets of his very nicely fitted jeans. His dark gray T-shirt should have been entirely unremarkable. But there was nothing unremarkable about the way it hugged those glorious shoulders and kept hugging down over his broad chest. Nobody should look that good in a T-shirt and jeans.
“Oh,” Violet said with false innocence. “Did I forget to tell you? Will’s coming along. You don’t mind, do you?”
She wasn’t sure if she minded. On one hand, she was feeling an embarrassing flood of relief that he wasn’t off somewhere fucking the brains out of that gorgeous brunette. On the other hand, going out with him might mean she just had to watch him hook up with someone else, from a much closer vantage point. Violet’s words about Chase Navarro were still hanging in the air.
All the drivers sleep around.
Will heard them and turned. When he spotted her, he froze, his eyes widening slightly. If she’d felt uneasy up in her room, now she felt downright uncomfortable. Her hair was a mess. She usually wore this tank when she was doing laundry—she was pretty sure her bra showed through it. Hurriedly she shrugged into her jacket.
“It’s fine,” she said.
Will was still staring at her as they approached him.
“What?” She tugged her jacket closed but she still felt wildly exposed.
“Your hair,” he blurted.
“It’s a mess.”
“I like it. A lot.”
She reached up to touch it self-consciously and then cursed herself. Who cared if Will liked her hair? Why was that supposed to matter?
His eyes dipped down her body briefly. “You look different. Good. Really good.”
She rolled her eyes to cover her discomposure, and tucked her hair firmly behind her ears, where it refused to stay. “Are we going?”
“Absolutely,” Violet said, heading toward the revolving doors and out into the night. “And Will’s buying.”
The bar was a rundown dive near the river, down an alley and a narrow flight of stairs. Mira could hear the band when they were still twenty feet from the door. People were scattered across the alley, smoking and laughing, a sea of faded band T-shirts, piercings, and tattoos. Of course Violet found this place halfway around the world. At least nobody wouldrecognize Will. They didn’t seem like they’d be into motor sports.
Will paid their cover charge and shouldered his way through the crowd to the bar, Violet and her slipping along in his wake. When he found a clear spot, he angled himself to allow them to get in next to him. Somehow Mira ended up wedged up against him, her shoulder pressed to his chest. Being this close to him felt shockingly intimate, with the warmth of his body pressed all along her left side, his face just inches away from hers.
The bartender was run off his feet, but somehow Violet commanded his attention with a single word. She ordered a shot of tequila, and Will asked for a beer.
“Club soda,” she said when it was her turn.
Violet turned to her. “Really, Mira?”
“Fine. Vodka cranberry.” Maybe a drink might help her stop feeling so self-conscious.
“Better,” Violet said, beaming at her. “I mean, just look at this place. It’s crawling with hot men. We’re going to have so much fun tonight.”
“I think I’ll just listen to the band for now.”
Violet shrugged, her attention already snagged by a lanky blond guy at the end of the bar. “Suit yourself. What about you, Will? Any girls catch your oh-so-experienced eye?”
Mira cast a quick glance at him and then looked back to her drink. Oh, god, was she going to have to listen to him decide whom he was going to go after and then watch as he did it? She took a long swig of her drink through the straw. This was aterribleidea.
He cleared his throat. “I’m just going to, um … listen to the band, too. For now.”
Mira shot a glance at him, but he was looking down at his drink.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to grow roots here. I’m off to suck the lips off that hot Aussie at the end of the bar.”
