A hand slipped around my waist. I stiffened for a second before I stepped away from him and turned.
“Jack?”
“That drunk already?” He grinned.
“Possibly.”
He laughed, and his teeth were shocking white in the dark bar. He wasn’t shaving and was growing his scruff out some. It made my stomach uneasy. It reminded me so much of Felice. Except Jack’s style was all wrong. It was more on the preppy side. That aside, he could be Felice’s son.
The thought really didn’t sit right in my stomach.
“Don’t worry,” he said, holding his hands up. “I just stopped by to tell you my dad is flying us all to Italy in the private plane tomorrow.”
I nodded. “How do you always find me?”
He shrugged. “I have a sixth sense when it comes to you.”
“Or a snitch,” I muttered.
He laughed again. “Isabella emailed a copy of the itinerary you put together to all the husbands. I responded and told her I’d be arriving tonight. We’re all going to fly to Italy together.” He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
He left with his three-man crew in tow.
I was having fun until Jack showed up and reminded me why I hadn’t been. He was knocking on my mental door while I was trying to forget. Elsa was right. It sucked.
“Ohhhh nooo.” Lo danced up to me. She was like a disco ball, she was so lit up, all her beautiful colors on display. “I am the ruler of this trip, and I have banned getting pouty on this night.” She waved her beer at me and made apoofnoise. She set the drink down, then slowly started to bring her hands up.
“Don’t!” I said, trying to step away from her, but Lexi, Eve, and Talia pushed against my back. I was trying not to laugh, either, but it was impossible. “Put those things away, Lo!”
Lo made her fingers into guns and was doing a dance with them. She was making a ridiculous duck face and then pointed her guns at me.
“Bang!You’re it. That’s right. Come dance with sissy!”
Next thing I knew, we were all doing the gun dance and singing. We were dancing around each other one second, and the next, I somehow got lost in the crowd. A man with body odor that smelled like Limburger cheese wrapped his arms around me and yanked me into his front.
“Get off!” I tried to remove his fingers, but they were like claws.
The night of the attack came back to me, and I planned on fighting as hard as I did then. But I remembered how strong Curly Hair was. I was no match for him.
A second later, Handsy Guy released his hold. I turned around and came face to chest with Felice.
Handsy Guy was down on the floor, everyone dancing around him. I had no idea what had happened, but he was out.
Felice seized my hand, keeping it behind his back as he navigated us through the crowd. He stepped on the guy’s face as we left.
Once we were out of the bar and down the street some, I dug my heels in. He stopped and turned to me. I tried to extract my hand from his, but he held it in a grip that stopped blood flow.
His green eyes were crazed above a sea of black stubble. He looked almost gaunt under the streetlights. His black T-shirt hugged his chest but was loose around his waist. His jeans hung some but were not baggy. When he ran a hand through his hair, his stomach muscles tensed, and I could see the deep V imprint of his hips.
“Finally graced me with your presence, Carnivore,” I said. “How nice of you. I know I should feel honored, but all I can feel is pissed.”
I was probably slurring, but my brain couldn’t compute if I was. I’d drunk too much, and the shock of seeing Felice had me staggering.
Being this close to me again seemed to make him stumble too.
Right into me.
Our bodies collided, my palms smacked against his chest, and we hit the building behind us. His mouth crashed against mine, and neither of us could resist the thirst. We both drank until we were drunk off each other. It was a high like no other.