Page 45 of Give Me Forever

"Thanks to your Jack and Coke, I had a solid twelve hours of sleep. That's almost double my usual. Damn, I was going to take today to think about everything I want to do to you," he murmured. "In which order and when."

I swallowed hard. This day had taken an unbelievable turn.

"And now you'll be busy," I said. "So I guess you'll pencil it in at another time?" Surely if he could be so nonchalant about it, I could be too. Granted, I had to work on my dirty talk so I could put him just as on edge as he put me.

He smirked. “Nah, I’ll keep it in mind the whole time. Maybe I’ll even figure it out for this evening.”

Chapter Twelve

Avery

"You don't have to spendall your money on me!" Alana protested. The bar was loud. She had to lean into me so I could hear anything at all.

"Not all my money," I assured her. "But I wanted to treat you. If you hadn't offered to take me in, I probably wouldn't be here today."

"Why did you order a nonalcoholic cocktail for yourself?" she asked suspiciously as the bartender slipped the drinks toward us. I shrugged, but didn’t reply.

We clinked glasses, and I looked around for a cozy spot where we could talk, but it wasn't likely to happen.

"Let's go outside," I said and we made our way through the crowd slowly, careful not to slosh our drinks.

On the way out, I noticed a few party girls were already inebriated. Isodidn’t want that to be me tonight. Once outside, I took a deep breath, and we stepped sideways to the corner of the building. Unfortunately, I smelled cigarettes in the air, but we were trying to find a place sheltered from the wind. I’d forgotten how cold November was in Chicago.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Hey, you look guilty. Well, not guilty, but like you did something you weren't supposed to."

I bit my lip. Some things truly didn't change. She could read me like a book, just like back in high school.

"It's about Sam, isn't it?"

I rolled my shoulders. "How can you tell?"

"Experience."

"Well, first, let's start with why no alcohol. Last night, I made us Jack and Cokes, and I made a mistake when I measured the Jack."

"You had sex with him," Avery accused.

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