Page 28 of Temptress

14

SLOANE

Isat in a lawn chair beneath a tall tree in the backyard of Asher and Owen’s house. They were hosting a barbecue for all their friends and family, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for it.

I stretched my legs out, hoping to get a little sun on them before summer finally ended and I lost the nice tan I’d developed from hours spent working out in my yard.

Owen and Asher’s dog, Gus, bounced around the backyard happily, flinging a squeaky toy rubber chicken around by the neck before bringing it back to me so I could throw it across the yard again.

Alma drew her legs up as Gus came bounding into the circle we’d formed with our chairs, her top lip curling up as she tried to avoid the rambunctious dog. “Will you knock that off? He’s going to get dog hair and slobber everywhere, and if he wrecks my shoes, I’m going to make you buy me a new pair.” She jabbed her finger in my direction as a few other women from the club and I laughed at her ridiculousness. That was just so Alma. She loved the finer things in life and wouldn’t hesitate to wear expensive ass platform wedges to an outdoor party where she’d spend the whole day worrying about getting them dirty. To her, it was worth it, and we teased her mercilessly.

“Then maybe you should have worn flip-flops like the rest of us normal people,” Layla teased.

Alma’s entire face crinkled up like Gus had just taken a huge crap right beside her. “The day I put flip-flops on these feet is the day you need to commit me to a mental hospital, because clearly I’ll have lost my mind as well as my taste.”

Marin laughed and shook her head, “I think your priorities might be a little out of whack, babe.”

Alma rolled her eyes and crossed her legs daintily, taking a sip of her frozen margarita through her metal straw. “That’s where you’re wrong. My priorities are perfect. Fashion overeverything, sweets.”

Asher walked up, looking frazzled as she snatched the icy-cold beer from my hand and brought it to her lips, chugging it down in a few quick gulps.

I looked at her with wide eyes. “Everything okay, babe?”

“Remind me not to host a get-together this size ever again,” she grumped. “I feel like I’ve been running my ass off since the sun came up this morning.” I could see that. The yard had filled with family and friends. Hell, it even looked like most of the crew from Whiskey Dolls was here. It was already packed and had just begun.

I patted her hand. “What can I do to help?”

In response, she guzzled back the last ofmybeer and let out a longaah.

I pushed out of my lawn chair and stood. “You know what? I’ll go get you another beer. How’s that sound?”

She threw me a thumbs up and snatched the beer from another friend and fellow Whiskey Doll’s hand.

“Hey!” Charlotte objected loudly.

My eyebrows lifted high on my forehead. “Okay, then. Make that two beers.”

I walked away from my little group and headed for the row of coolers that held everything from juice boxes to sodas to drinks for the adults. I lifted the lid on the cooler that held the beer and dug through the ice, pulling out two dark amber bottles.

“Double fisting already, Sass? Isn’t it a little early?”

My heart gave aka-thunkinside my chest as I shot upright and spun around, his unexpected voice giving me a start. “Silas,” I said on a breath as my heart lurched. “I—I didn’t see you arrive.”

He jerked his head toward the back gate that most people had been coming through. “Just got here a minute ago.”

“Oh, um...” My tongue darted out to drag over my dry lips, and there was no missing the way his eyes traveled lower or the way his eyelids lowered as he stared at my mouth for a few beats longer than necessary. The fact that his eyes still heated only pissed me off, so when I spoke next, the words came out clipped. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

His gaze darted back up to mine, and all of a sudden it felt too hot. He was standing too close, taking up too much oxygen. That had to have been the only explanation for why my breaths had suddenly become short and choppy. He was downright overwhelming.

In the two weeks since that night at his house, this had to have been the most we’d spoken to each other, and if this brief encounter proved anything, it was that I was far from over it. I didn’t know how to dig this man out from beneath my skin, butsomethinghad to give, damn it! I couldn’t keep going on like that.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to come. Just made the decision early today.”

I wanted to ask so badly what had tipped the scales. Was it me? I tamped down that thought just as quickly as it had risen and bit my lip to keep the words from spilling out. I’d made a fool of myself once already for this man, and I refused to make the same mistake twice. Instead, I looked around the yard in search of his daughter. “Oh, well that’s nice,” I said blandly. “Is Darcy with you?”

“Nah. She had a lock-in at the school this weekend for cheer. I pick her up tomorrow morning.”

The smile I forced onto my lips felt like brittle plastic at risk of crumbling. “That’s nice. I hope she’s having fun.” I took a step backward, needing to end this little exchange. “Well, I’ll see you around.”

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