Page 3 of Degrees of Control

Hayley moaned. “Ten out of ten, would bang. Would. Bang.”

Sophia rapped her on the back of the head. “No poaching! You can have Charlie’s cast offs. Charlie, what do you think?”

“I think all of these dudes are really tall. Why are they all so tall? They’ll make me look like a toddler!”

“You specifically requested someone tall! I’m just meeting your demands!”

Charlie groaned. “Sophia, please stop talking like a pimp.”

“No! Tonight that’s what I am, your pimp. Now, stop being so dramatic and concentrate. We have a surprise entry for draft number three because I wasn’t sure he was coming tonight—”

“No. Fucking. Way.” Hayley’s green eyes had grown wide. “Are you serious, Soph? Are you fucking serious right now? I thought he lived in Texas? Holy shit!”

Hayley turned and gripped Charlie’s arm, her electric blue nails digging deep into her skin. “Charlie, you have to pick him! Forget every other dude out there, you have to pick him!”

Sophia glared at Hayley. “Shh! Charlie, your third choice is James Hunter. Businessman, former football player, good ol’ boy, colossal whore and, like myself, an accent todiah for.” Sophia stretched out her Texan twang like a piece of warm toffee.

Charlie gave a nervous giggle. “Sounds good so far. Where is he?”

Sophia pointed. “There. He’s the blond over by the bar. Don’t judge by the clothes.”

Charlie turned andGood Lord,itfelt like she’d been punched in the stomach. Her hand leapt to her curls as though they were a protective amulet. “That’s…him?”

“That’s him,” Sophia said grimly.

The man in question was leaning against a wall, talking to a starry-eyed redhead. His face was half in shadow, arms crossed in front of his chest. Back home, the casual attire, sun-streaked hair and powerful body might have suggested a surfer, but this man lacked a surfer’s relaxed attitude. His body language screamed indifference. His square jaw was set in an arrogant, almost authoritative jut and Charlie felt her spine straightening in response.

“Abercrombie asked him to model for them in college,” Hayley whispered as though there was some chance the guy would hear them halfway across a party. “He got paid to wear jeans with his shirt off, can you believe it?”

Yes, Charlie could. If anyone was born to glare at people from monochrome jean commercials, it was this guy. He was a Calvin Klein cowboy, the unapproachable kind of handsome that made her want to cross the street when she saw it.

For a moment she allowed herself to wallow in possibility. What would it be like to feel that man beneath her, on top of her, inside her? To hear his voice muttering harsh words in her ear as rough hands pinned her wrists over her head? The ghosts of a thousand unexplored fantasies fluttered in her mind, and from the safety of the staircase, Charlie drank him in, memorizing the careless fall of this stranger’s dirty-blond hair, the flex of his tanned biceps as he brought his beer to his full-lipped mouth. So handsome, so perfect…

Sophia nudged her sharply. “Okay, it’s obvious from your open-mouthed slavering who you prefer. I thought as much. Let’s do this.”

A panicky drumroll kick-started in Charlie’s chest. Sophia couldn’t actually expect her, Charlotte Bell, the owner of not one, but two dreamcatchers,to seduce that Adonis? The very thought made her shrink back into the wall. “No freaking way. That guy is scary as shit. I’m not going anywhere near him.”

Rather than heeding her terror, Sophia laughed. “Stop Daleing. You are funny, hot and DTF. It’s a party; all you have to do is go up and ask him to dance. Trust me, it’s not exactly hard to talk James Hunter into casual sex.”

“I’m not Daleing! I just—wait—Hunter? How do you know him, exactly?”

“He’s my cousin. That’s not a problem, is it?”

Hayley smirked. “They’re notthosekind of cousins.”

Charlie’s brain sagged with this new information. Clearly end of financial year stress had finally driven Sophia insane. “Let me get this straight, youwantme to screw a member of your family?”

Sophia waved her pink-tipped hand. “Yes. Trust me, I don’t care.”

“Yeah, butstill—”

“He’s exactly what you’re looking for; attractive, dominating, slutty. Plus, he’s slept with plenty of my friends without my assistance. I don’t see how this is any different.”

Charlie stole another glance at James and saw the redhead place a flirtatious hand on his mile-wide shoulder. Relief flooded her stomach. “Oh well, it looks like James is already taken. What a shame. Still, I’m sure there’s plenty more fish in the ‘not related to you’ sea.”

Sophia snorted. “If James bailed every time he was hit on by a desperate woman he’d never stay at a party for more than five minutes. See?”

James extracted himself from the redhead and moved over to the bar to seize another beer. Popping the top with a flick of his wrist, he easily picked up a conversation with three of Parker’s friends. Charlie observed the redhead’s obvious disappointment and her stomach lurched. “Soph, aren’tIgoing to try and hit on him?”

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