Page 11 of Holiday Intercepted
6
Taylor
The rest of dinner went of fairly well without a hitch. Well, except for my pesky erection that wouldn’t fucking go away. Luckily, I could spend most of dinner not getting up from the table once I got Paige her glass ofwine.
I also made a point to come back to the table and scoot my chair several inches away from her. Because if she reached out and put her hand on my knee again, I may just do the same to her.Then, I might just slide my hand up under herskirt…
I grunted in frustration, taking another forkful of dessert and shoveling it into my mouth. I was dying to know what those legs would feel like beneath those silky stockings she wore. I wanted to feel them wrapped around my waist, my face, and I wanted to grab the nylon and shred them off her body, revealing her soft fleshbeneath.
What in the serious ever-loving fuck was that connection we shared before dinner?Did she feel that too? That buzzing connection that tethered us together? She must have.Must have.And it was my stupid fault. Why did I have to slip in and take the seat beside her, as if I was staking my claim over a woman I would never and could never have. I should have just let Dave take the damn seat. I could have creepily watched her from across the table, just like I’d been doing all night up untilnow.
Dave was a nice guy. A good guy, despite what happened in high school. And she seemed to be enjoying his company… kind of. I watched her with a sideways glance, downing my whiskey and feeling the booze catch up to me. The floor was spinning a little, but I liked it that way. If I could dull this whole damn weekend with booze, that’d be fine withme.
Dave leaned in, chatting with her, but she looked… bored. She looked bored with him. His body language was all about her. His torso was turned, facing her. He had his arm resting along the back of her chair, and every now and then his fingers would graze her shoulder. She, on the other hand, she had her legs crossed away from him… towardme, might I add. Legs crossed away from your partner? Always a surefire sign of disinterest. When a woman wanted to fuck you, hell when she wanted to get to know you better, she crossed her legstowardyou. Paige kept fidgeting with her napkin in her lap and when he casually touched her arm, she didn’t lean into the contact. If anything, she shifted away from it. How did I know that? Because when she shifted away, her elbow collided with mine and a quick jolt of static electricity shocked usboth.
She yelped, then covered her mouth and giggled. “Sorry. That startledme.”
I smiled, a flicking upturn of my lips that just as quickly vanished when her bright blue eyes locked with mine. “It’s okay. Sometimes two people can’t help it when they have aspark.”
What was this shit coming out of my mouth? It’s like with seeing Paige again, I turned into a walking Hallmarkmovie.
Her grin widened. I didn’t want that smile to disappear. It was too fuckinggorgeous.
“You know,” I said, leaning in, despite the inches I had tugged my chair away from her. “I think it’s pretty rude ofyou…”
She pulled back, that smile dropping and her brows knitting together. “What?”
“It’s pretty rude of you how stunning you look tonight. I mean, it’s supposed to be Lydia and Cam’s evening and you show up here looking like that?” I shook my head, tutting at her. That tight little leather skirt she wore was pure torture. Hot as hell, but still classy. And paired with her sweater vest, she looked like a sexy librarian. “Pretty, pretty rude. The least you could do as her friend is be forgettable on her specialnight.”
And just like that, her smile was back. And it made the victory all the more sweeter. “Well, I guess I’m going to have my bridesmaid title strippedaway.”
My insides iced over and a skitter of excitement shimmied down my spine. She was a bridesmaid. I didn’t know that. I was a groomsman, too. Maybe we’d be walking down the aisletogether…
No. Stop that. I chided myself and instead changed the subject. “I’ve wanted to ask but thought it would be rude to bring it up to Cam and Lydia. Why’d they wait so long for an engagement party? Didn’t they get engaged months ago? It’s nearlyChristmas.”
Paige tilted her chin to Noah, Cam’s youngest sibling, sitting across from us. “They try to plan events around Noah’s crazy schedule. He can’t make it home all that often, so they waited until he was coming home forChristmas.”
I nodded, completely understanding that reasoning. I had an intensely busy schedule, too and it wasn’t about to let up any time soon. Especially not around the football season holidays. I still had to be back for practice the day after Christmas, which usually wasn’t a big deal since I had no family to spend it with. If anyone could understand Noah’s schedule, it wasme.
“Don’t you have a game on Christmas?” Paigeasked.
“Nah, you’re thinking of Thanksgiving. We only play on Christmas if it falls on a Sunday or aMonday.”
Apparently tired of sharing Paige with me, Dave leaned in and slid his cannoli toward her. “Want to split it?” heasked.
Paige snorted a laugh that on anyone else would have sounded ridiculous and clumsy. But on her, it was adorable. “Dave Bolton, you never have to ask me twice to split adessert.”
I watched in awe as she took a forkful of pastry and ricotta into her mouth. Then, I slid my gaze to her empty tiramisu plate. The woman was rail thin, yet she ate two desserts? Did she do that regularly? Not that I cared, it was actually refreshing sitting next to a woman who didn’t eat one bite of romaine lettuce and then claim she was stuffed. No wonder Tiffany hated her. Women all around the globe would kill to have that kind ofmetabolism.
“Oh my God,” Paige said with her mouth still full. “It’ssogood.” She piled another forkful and held it up to my mouth. “You’ve got to tryit.”
I smirked and opened my mouth, wrapping my lips slowly around the fork as she dragged it back. Our eyes locked, not for the first time that night and I let out a low moan of satisfaction. She wasn’t wrong. It was a damn good cannoli. But there was something else I wanted to taste evenmore.
Her lips parted a little at the sound of my moan, her eyes dipping to my mouth as Ichewed.
Once more, Dave cleared his throat. “We should get the caterers information,” he said. It was so transparent the way he was constantly vying for her attention that I couldn’t help but smile. “They should cater our next fundraiser. You know, at theschool.”
Paige’s gorgeous smile shifted to Dave as she nodded in agreement. “That’s a greatidea.”
