Page 36 of Yours, Unexpectedly

“I’ll come with you!” Was that too eager? “Gabe, another beer?”

He nods before looking toward Luci and Riz. “Two margaritas?”

“Yes, please!” Luci responds, but I’m too busy navigating Bex away from the table, toward the bar.

Once we get out of direct eyeshot, I place my hand on her lower back, leaning in to whisper in her ear, “Hi.”

I can only see her profile, but the grin spreading across her face is undeniable. She tucks a curl behind her ear and turns her face toward me. “Hi.”

The bar is super crowded tonight, allowing me to pull Bex in front of me, boxing her in with my arms. I’m close enough that I feel her sharp intake of breath. “Gabe might see,” she whispers.

I look back over my shoulder and, just as I suspected, Gabe is completely locked in to whatever Luci is saying. I lean down close to her ear again, so my lips graze the shell. “I think we’ll be okay.” And just because I can, I give her ear the tiniest nibble, eliciting an unmistakable shiver.

“Glad to see you two together again,” booms Louie’s voice over the cacophony of bar noise. I feel Bex freeze, so I rub her shoulders reassuringly.

“Hey, Louie! Can we get another beer for Gabe, three margaritas, and a coke for me?”

“Sure thing, boss. Give me just a second.” With a wink toward Bex, he says, “Told you he’s a good one.”

While Louie busies himself making drinks, Bex turns toward me. “Not drinking tonight?”

Again, I’m surprised by how she doesn’t know that I’m sober. I know that’s not a conversation I want to have here, though, so I just reply with, “Not tonight.”

She shrugs, not bothered by this information, which is nice. Some people are very insistent that I drink if they’re drinking which leads to the awkward bomb drop when I tell them I don’t drink alcohol anymore.

With Bex facing me now, I get a chance to admire the low cut corset type top she has on, with just the barest peak of stomach showing, before my eyes glide down to the painted on jeans she’s wearing.

“Tonight’s going to be hard.”

Quizzically, she looks at me. “Why?”

“Well, we have this whole look but don’t touch thing going on, which means tonight is going to be hard because I’m going to be hard.”

Bashfully she breaks eye contact and murmurs, “You can touch.”

“Oh, can I?” I bring the tips of my fingers up to the waistband of her jeans. Immediately, goosebumps rise across her stomach.

She watches for a second before grabbing my wrist. “Just… be careful.” Her eyes dart over my shoulder and I know she means don’t let Gabe catch us.

Removing her hand from my wrist, I dip my fingers lower into her waistband, grabbing onto the string of her panties and pulling slightly. She inhales sharply through her nose before letting her eyes close and her head fall back, revealing the long column of her neck. A neck I’d love to mark. I twist the flimsy string once before pulling my fingers out of her jeans. The message is clear: I’m planning on toeing the line tonight and she’s going to love every minute of it.

I was right.

Tonight has been hard. The sexiest mix of teasing and torture. Bex is more than willing to play along in our game of discreet touches. She’s always ready to rise to the challenge with me. The problem is, I’ve been sporting a semi—okay, more than a semi—all night. And it’s definitely not going away anytime soon seeing as the girls are hopping up on stage for their karaoke number.

The opening chords for “Love is a Battlefield” by Pat Benatar start blasting through the speakers and an honest to God snort comes out of me. Bex grabs her mic and winks at me before all three of them start shrieking the lyrics out at the top of their lungs. It definitely doesn’t sound good, but it does have a lot of heart, and I can tell Bex is having the time of her life with her best friends.

I love seeing her like this. Letting her guard down. Dancing in a way that should be illegal. And I know she’s just trying to get me to snap. She has only had one drink tonight so she’s definitely not doing that little hip shake thing because she’s drunk. My fingers ache to grab her by the belt loops and haul her perfect ass out of here.

I cover my smile with my hands as the song comes to an end and the girls continue to giggle, making their way back to the table. When they get there, Bex plants her hands on the edge, pushing her perfect tits up in that fucking top. “Alright, now it’s your turn. What are you going to sing, killer?”

“Really with that nickname?” I ask with a groan. She just nods, hiding her own smile with a tantalizing lip bite. “I’m not singing tonight, Baby Bardot.”

We’re locked in a staring contest when Gabe chimes in, “Oh yes, you are!”

Both of our heads snap to him, but my facial expression is more what the fuck, while Bex’s is filled with glee bordering on maniacal.

“You know what? Fine. I’ll sing. At least I know it’ll sound better than whatever you guys just screeched out.”

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