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“And do you?” She hummed against his chest. “Do you feel again?”
Chris lifted Tori onto his lap, and a surprised smile spread across her face as she looked down at the bulge in his pants.
“You bet your sweet ass, sweetheart.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“No more shots!” Elle whined after throwing back the latest in a series of tequila shots.
Tori nodded and chased the liquor with a small sip of her beer. She was going to have to pace herself. At this rate, girls’ night was turning into a much crazier evening than she had anticipated.
Cliff’s had a new bartender, and Claire had her eye on him. She’d bought three rounds of shots just as an excuse to go talk to him. She wasn’t likely to admit that, but Tori knew when her best friend was on the prowl.
Claire stood, eyeing everyone’s drinks.
“Sit down,” Tori demanded. “Hottie bartender is going to be here all night.”
Claire sat but positioned herself so she could watch the bar. “Hottie bartender’s name is Reed,” she purred.
Tori rolled her eyes but smiled at Claire’s excitement. It was contagious.
Elle frowned, her Bud Light perched next to her lips, ready to drink. “Wait, what about Jake?”
Claire looked away from the bar and took a long pull from her beer.
“That’s over.” She stopped and ran her fingers through her hair, checking out the bartender for the millionth time. “No, not over. It never really started. Let’s just forget about that. Never gonna happen.”
Tori and Elle exchanged a worried look. Claire and Jake had been circling each other for months. Everyone assumed they’d pair off, just as soon as Claire was ready. She was great at picking up men. She was even great at casually dating them. She wasn’t so good at anything more serious. It had felt like an unspoken certainty that when Claire and Jake finally did get together, it would be serious. They ran in the same circle. They had all the same friends. Went to all the same parties. Hooking up without it being serious would be a disaster.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Tori asked tentatively.
Elle looked too stunned or worried to speak. She watched with wide eyes, nervously turning her beer in her hands.
Claire shook her head.
She wasn’t letting her off that easy. “Okay, fine.Iwant to talk about it. What happened?” she asked, kicking Claire’s foot underneath the table.
Claire sighed loudly and slumped in her chair. She raised an eyebrow at Tori. “You’re not going to let it go until I tell you, are you?”
Tori smiled sweetly. “Not a chance in hell.”
Claire tipped her beer back and banged the empty down on the table.
“We kissed.”
Tori bit back a smile. It was about time. Finally.
Elle, a classic romantic, who was still reeling in her newfound love-bliss haze, practically swooned. “Aw… Finally!” she said, a dreamy look in her eyes.
Claire did not have a dreamy look in her eyes.
Tori waited for Claire to fill in the pieces. When it was clear she wasn’t giving up any information without prompting, Tori pressured her for more. “Wait. If you two kissed, then why is it never gonna happen?” she asked, using her hands to air quote the phrase Claire had used.
Claire looked from Tori to Elle, chewing on her bottom lip.
“What’s the big deal?” Tori looked from Claire to Elle making sure she wasn’t missing something. “You always kiss and tell.”
Claire offered a meek smile and narrowed her eyes, causing a small crease in her forehead. It was a cross between the tell-all look Claire got just as she unloaded all the gory details and worry. “Promise you won’t tell?”
