"The proposition I had in mind was not of the relationship variety."
"Oh?" I lower the bag of peas, "Funny, I’d put you down for the rainbows and unicorns and shit kind of woman."
"Umm." Arpad stares between us, "You two sure you don’t want to borrow one of Weston’s spare rooms? He has enough of them, god knows. And by the way, do you promise to name your first born after me?"
"Shut up," I say at the same time as her.
She scowls at me.
I glower back at her.
Arpad rises to his feet. "Uh, I guess I need to see a man about a dog."
"Don’t come back in a hurry," I call out after his retreating figure.
"I think Victoria needs me." Saint prowls away in Arpad’s wake.
"I’ll be right outside, Jules," Isla calls out. "You need any help—"
"She won’t," I snap.
"Uh, okay," Isla says brightly, "but, you know, if you want back-up…"
"I don’t." Julia turns to her. "In the state that the rock star is right now, I doubt he poses any danger to me."
What the hell? How dare she dismiss me that easily?
"Hold on a second." I lean forward, then groan when my hurt eye chooses that moment to set off a series of spasms that thud against my brain. "Ow," I groan.
"Like I said," she nods to her friend, "I think my virtue is safe for the moment." She smiles.
Isla pivots and leaves.
"I’ll show you how safe you are with me," I reach for her with my free hand.
She scoots back, shakes her head. "Now, now, you’re hardly in a position to misbehave, Rockstar. At least, wait for the swelling of your eye to go down."
"The only thing swollen is between my legs, and trust me, it’s not going away. As for anything going down..."
She sucks in a breath and flushes, then shakes her head. “Stop joking around.”
"Who’s joking? I’m being very serious" I look her up and down. "Since I met you, you’ve been a pain in my side, and in other parts, and by the way, that proposition of yours? It’s unacceptable."
"It is?"
"Yeah." I nod. "I don’t need a night. Give me an hour and I’ll draw enough orgasms from you to last you a lifetime."
"My, my," she scoffs, "someone has a big ego."
"Not the only thing that is big—"
She opens her mouth to respond.
I raise my hand. "And you know it’s true, considering you’ve been stalking me online."
She reddens. "I haven’t."
I click my tongue. "Don’t lie now, and by the way, the answer is yes."