Page 17 of Win My Heart

I pull my eyes away from Ruby and look at him, holding his burning gaze for the first time all night. “Thank you.” I curse myself for my voice coming out all breathy and timid.

“You bringing a date tomorrow, Wade?” Ruby chirps next to me, breaking our connection. What is she up to?

He nods before he speaks. “I am. Bringing Billie. She’s excited.” His tone silky, but he catches my frown before I can hide it away. He almost rushes out the next words. “She was with me when I got the official invitation. She bought a dress the following day.” This makes him laugh; Ruby along with him.

Billie Slater.

I’ve never actually met her, but I’ve heard all about her. I’ve seen her on social, and freaking hell, she’s hot. She’s blonde, sleek, sophisticated—all things sexy. She’s everything I’m not, and she’s dating the man I’ve wanted for years but can’t have.

I’m sure she’s sweet, but I can’t help but not like her. I break from my thoughts as Ruby replies, “Oh, I didn’t know you two were seeing each other.”

I can’t take looking at him as he talks about his girlfriend, so I focus on Ruby as I gulp a nice healthy sip of my drink. The alcohol burns as it slides down my throat.

“Oh no. Still just friends” is all he says. But I don’t believe him for a second. He dates a lot, but the one woman who’s always around is Billie.

Out of nowhere, Link’s voice sounds. “What about you, Bernie? You bringing a hot date tomorrow?”

I glance at him as he wraps his arm around Ruby’s waist and kisses her sweetly on the cheek.Gah.These two make me sick. At the same time, I long for the love they have. I love them both so much and also want to strangle them both. They must have ESP, because they’re clearly working together and both know I’m going stag tomorrow.

I shake my head as I look back at Wade, and the look on his face causes me to lie.

“Matt. He asked if I’d be his date.”

Which technically isn’t a lie, but I didn’t say yes. Wade’s face hardens.

Link chuckles. “Fuck, that pup can’t handle you, Bern.”

My face scrunches. What is he talking about? But Ruby cuts in. “Maybe not, but it will be the best night of his life.”

What the frack are they doing?They know I’m not into Matt. Ruby also knows he’s not actually my date.

“Oh! Gia is waving us over,” Ruby says, and she pulls Link with her, much like she manhandled me moments ago. As she walks between Wade and me, she winks at me and flashes that sly grin again.

Well, snap.

The two jerks walk away, leaving Wade and me in an awkward silence. I contemplate my options, settling on just leaving, but then Wade speaks.

“Matt, huh?”

I try not to give away my lie, but I look back at him and nod. He frowns and looks away. I take a step back, ready to make my escape.

“I haven’t seen you much since the night of the parties.” He scratches his jaw, and I watch his fingers move across his skin. “You been busy?”

“Yeah. You could say that.”Busy avoiding you, I think to myself.

“So pole dancing, huh?”

My head jerks to him. How does he know about my classes? I just agreed to them today.

He must read the confusion on my face. “You all did pole dancing classes for Morgan’s bachelorette party.” He chuckles. “Even after two weeks, it’s all the guys can talk about.”

I let out a breath.Okay, so he’s just making conversation. Random, but still…

“Yeah, it was interesting.”

He studies me. “Ruby mentioned last night that you were thinking about classes.”

Oh god. She has got to be stopped. A laugh bubbles out of me. Lifting my hand to my mouth, I tell him, “Sorry.” But he just grins at me. “I think she’s up to something. She’s a mind ninja, that one.” I giggle still.

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