Page 42 of Devoured By You

Blay saluted my friends. As he passed me, he lowered his head once more. “But you’re the most special of all.”

Chapter 16

Jill

Oh, look. Mr. Disgustington is back.

That night, with my skin glowing after a day in the sun, I gave myself a final once-over in the mirror. My skin wasn’t the only thing glowing. My eyes sparkled, too. In fact, my entire demeanor was buoyant, despite the shit-show novel I still hadn’t plucked up the courage to give to Kelsey. She was a brilliant editor, and that was half the problem. Because despite her saying she’d be gentle, her professional training would take over, and I wasn’t sure my dented confidence could take any more knocks.

“You look positively fuckable.” Addison hugged me from behind. “He won’t be able to resist.”

“He’s done a pretty fine job of resisting me so far.”

“Pfft.” She shook her mane of curls. “I saw the way he looked at you up on the VIP deck earlier today. Bet he had a boner for the next several hours.” She dabbed her glossy pink lips with a tissue and spritzed perfume on her neck and between her boobs. “Lucky bitch.”

Looping her arm through mine, she towed me next door. We picked up Raya and Kelsey, and the four of us took the elevator down to the Crown restaurant on deck seven. A steakhouse with a Michelin-starred chef in charge of the kitchen. It was the top restaurant on board Serenity, so popular, in fact, that we’d had to book it weeks earlier. Luckily, VIP guests were given first dibs on restaurants and activities.

The greeter showed us to our table, but as he seated us, I spied Aspen walking in, alone. I waved to her, beckoning her over. She beamed, beelining for us.

“Thank God.” She hugged me as if we were old friends. The funny thing was, I felt far closer to her than I should have, especially as I hadn’t known her for long. Maybe it was the fact that she’d seen me stark naked and tied to Blay’s bed that had sped up our friendship. My cheeks heated at the thought, doubt crawling from the corners of my mind. Would I ever get the chance to sleep with Blay again, or would the fates conspire to keep us apart?

Screw that. I was a modern woman in a modern world. The next time I saw him, I’d take control. Life was too short to wait for opportunities to land in our laps. Sometimes, taking the initiative was the best course of action to get what we wanted.

And I wanted Blay. No bones about it.

“Blaize is on yet another interminably long conference call,” Aspen piped up as if she’d read my mind. “And my other cousin, Nolen, is having an intimate dinner for two with his wife.” She huffed. “Guess I can’t blame him. It is his honeymoon, after all.”

“You’re more than welcome to join us for dinner.” I made the offer without consulting my friends. I already knew they wouldn’t have a problem with it. “Although, it’s only a table for four, so we might have to squish up a bit.”

The greeter looked decidedly uncomfortable. He motioned to us to wait, bustling over to the other side of the restaurant, where he had a frantic, whispered conversation with another man. Seconds later, he returned.

“Please follow me, ladies. We have a table for five ready for you.”

Surprise must have shown on my face, because Aspen grinned and blew on her fingernails. “Perks of my surname, Jill.”

Once seated, and our drinks and food choices made, I turned to Aspen, sitting on my left, unable to help myself from asking after my current obsession.

“So Blay’s busy with work again, huh?” I tried to sound nonchalant, even if my heart had kicked up a notch—or seven.

Aspen snickered. “It’s so funny to hear you call him by that name. He’s always been Blaize to his family, and to every woman he’s ever dated. And he’s dated a lot.”

I suppressed a wince. Not well enough, it seemed.

“Fuck, sorry. That was crass of me.”

“Not at all. We barely know each other.”

“Sure, sure. Positive strangers.” Her eyes twinkled. I blushed furiously, knowing what she referred to. She nudged me gently. “I’m just teasing you. Forgive me. I couldn’t help myself. And to answer your earlier question, yes. He’s hardly stopped for two days. He gets like this sometimes, engrossed to the point of exclusion of pretty much everything. Hopefully, whatever’s got his panties in a twist will untangle itself soon and he might get an hour or two of downtime.”

I could do a lot in two hours.

“I can read minds, you know. And yours is filthy.”

Aspen winked at me. I ducked my head to hide another flush of heat blooming in my cheeks. Fortunately, she took pity on me and turned her attention to my friends. “Ladies, I have a favor to ask.” She produced a few business cards, handing them around. “I just recruited you to my ‘Find Joz Rayner’ project. I’ve waited long enough, and he can’t hide out in his penthouse forever. If you spot him, night or day, call me, and I’ll make sure you get VIP tickets to the show of any star on the Kingcaid Music label.”

Kelsey’s eyebrows touched her hairline. “Joz Rayner? The Joz Rayner is on this ship?”

Aspen had said the magic words. Joz Rayner was Kelsey’s dream man. Long, wild hair, an unkempt beard, tattoos covering most parts of his body. The complete opposite of what I found attractive. If Aspen wanted to find Joz Rayner, then she’d recruited the ideal person in Kelsey.