Page 6 of Sweet Temptation
We were both grownups here, though. You didn’t see me skulking around in the shadows looking embarrassed. My hair just caught on fire in a room full of VIPs, for fuck’s sake, and I was still rolling on.
Besides, that was two weeks ago. Ancient history.
Sure, Flynn was fit and handsome, in a sharp, kinda frigid way… with dark, exuberantly-buzzed hair and blue-gray eyes. And while he had this rigid, overly serious thing going on, he’d been known to turn a few female heads. Mine included.
But there were many other men in the hot-guy sea.
“Thanks, but I’m fine,” I told him. I mustered what I hoped was a convincing smile.
Really wasn’t his fault I was having a bad day.
Then Elle caught up to us, and Flynn shifted back into stiff-security-guy mode—not that he’d ever really shifted out of it.
“What happened now?” Elle said, eying my wet dress.
“Flynn happened.”
“What?” She glanced at him; he stood two feet away like a statue, pretending not to listen.
“He dumped a couple of drinks on me.” I hooked my arm through hers and we made our way back out into the crowded restaurant. “It’s par for the course. Did I mention the non-fabulous day I’m having?”
“I’m sure he feels terrible about it,” she offered, as Flynn escorted us back to our table. He kept the crowd at bay with his broad shoulders and this masterful side-eye thing he did, and when we got there, he hovered conspicuously. I was pretty sure he was waiting for my hair to catch on fire again, so he could tackle me in a heroic but guilt-induced stop-drop-and-roll.
There were crab cakes on our table. Lots of crab cakes. And a round of fresh drinks.
I didn’t partake.
While Elle chatted with a few people, I put in some small talk with Brody and Jessa. And I let my manager introduce me around to some VIPs I hadn’t yet met, most of whom had probably witnessed the hair-on-fire incident and politely pretended not to notice my wet dress.
Then I circled back to Elle and glued myself to her side.
“So… how long are we pretending to have fun here before we bail?” I asked her. “Flynn is gonna have a hard time holding the crowd back all night. You know everyone wants to talk to you.”
“Now I’m getting seriously worried, because that is so not a question you normally ask. Usually I’m the one looking for the exit before midnight.”
“Yeah, but my dress is soaked in Tanqueray, and like I said, I’m having a party tonight.”
“Are you? I thought you might be joking.”
“Oh, sweetie. I never joke about parties.” I dug into my purse for my phone, planning to check messages; see who was heading over to my house and when. But the phone vibrated in my hand with an incoming call.
The display said: Blair.
“Fuck off,” I muttered, rejecting the call.
“What?” Elle leaned in.
“Just this guy, calling me.”
“So? Block his number.”
I probably should’ve.
Though if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to see when his calls stopped. And I was definitely waiting for that to happen.
I looked through the notifications on my phone. I had a bunch of texts from friends… and three missed calls. All from Blair.
What the fuck.