Page 32 of When Wrecked Meets Ruined
Troy gave me a skeptical look.
I opened my mouth to say more, but before I got the words out, someone grabbed my ass. I spun around and smacked the bare chest in front of me. Ugh. I should have known.
“I’m gonna take off,” Troy said.
“You should stay,” I said at the same time Ridge said, “Catch you later, man.”
They bumped fists, and I watched my ally walk away before focusing on Ridge, who was laughing at a joke I wasn’t privy to.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What’s so funny?”
“You thought it was Troy, didn’t you?”
“I washopingit was Troy.”
Ridge nodded. “Makes sense. You thought he was safe.”
“What do you mean by safe?” I was playing dumb, but Ridge didn’t bother answering.
“I have an idea.” Ridge poured two blender drinks and handed one to me, tapping his red Solo cup against mine before he drank. After the first taste, he pulled a face as if he’d sucked on a lemon. “What the hell did you put in these?”
“Arsenic. Bottoms up.” I lifted my cup and took a sip. Whoa. A bit heavy on the Jose Cuervo.
He laughed and took another swig. “Let’s start over.”
“Good call.” I dumped my drink back into the blender, added more margarita mix, and whizzed it up.
“I wasn’t talking about the drinks. I was talking about us,” Ridge said, watching me pour a fresh drink.
“There is nous.” I took a tentative sip. Much better.
“You’re wrong. There’s you….” He gestured to me as if I needed the visual, “and there’s obviously me. That makesus.” He swirled his hand in the air as if that symbolizedusin this equation.
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”
“Part of my charm,” the charmer said, flashing me a winning smile as he settled his hip against the counter. “Let’s hang out. Get to know each other.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “What’s your game?”
He held up his hands like he was innocent. “No game. There’s no reason we can’t be friends.”
Yeah, right.Friends. “Let me guess. Your friends bet on how fast you could get me into bed. How much do you stand to win?”
“We’re not in high school anymore,” he scoffed. “Besides, if I stood to win anything, which Idon’t, I’d split the money with you. It’s only right. After all, you’d earn your half.” He punctuated his words with a wink.
“You just can’t help yourself, can you?”
He grinned, looking disarmingly boyish. But I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Which wasn’t far. Ridge was six feet four inches of solid muscle and overinflated ego.
“What if I said I just wanted to hang out with you?” His brown eyes looked sincere, but I still wasn’t buying it. This was all part of his act.
All the warning bells were going off in my head. Danger ahead. Don’t let down your guard.
“I’d say I’m not interested.” I studied my black cherry-painted nails like I found them wildly fascinating.
“Scared you’ll catch feelings for me?”
“The only thing I’d catch from you is an STD.”
