Page 38 of Stay With Me

“Where’s Tri?”

Charlie gestures with his head over to the back corner of the bar. “She’s over talking with Battalion Chief Malone and Reynolds.” I follow his gaze and see Trina with a very attractive couple.

The guy, handsome with blond hair and a clean-shaven jaw, is laughing at something either Trina or the other woman said. But the woman—she’s beautiful, her chocolate brown hair cut in a choppy chin-length bob, perfect facial features, and curves I’d kill for.

“Wow,” I say, hearing the fangirl in my voice.

“Oh, brother. You, too?” I look at Charlie and he rolls his eyes dramatically.

“What? She’s a smoke show. I’d kill to be as pretty as her and have curves like that.” I shrug at Charlie.

“Huh? You’re gawking at the Battalion Chief?” Charlie asks.

“No, at his date. Reynolds, I think you called her?” I glance back over at their table. She’s smiling at her date now and is even prettier.

“Sheis the Battalion Chief, Em. Reynolds is her partner, sitting across from her. He’s on shift with me and Jack at Station Three. And he’s usually the one most of the women fawn over. Well, him and now Finn.” Charlie’s mouth isn’t far from my ear as he speaks, my gaze still watching the attractive couple.

“She’s a chief? Oh my God, gorgeous and a badass? I’m not sure I could be more jealous of her right now.” I turn to look at him and sigh.

“You’ve got absolutely nothing to be jealous of. Not a thing.” His voice is rough, and it makes my lower belly flip flop. Charlie’s eyes pierce mine with a look I’ve only seen aimed at me a few times, and I can’t break the eye contact, though it leaves me feeling confused about what it means.

Then Shayna audibly groans next to me.

I divert my attention to her and see a frown come over her face just as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. I glance up to see Jack and an extremely handsome man returning to the table with our drinks. Jack introduces him as Finn, and I reach out to shake his hand. When he sits down next to Shayna, I can’t figure out why she’s looking at him like he’s the Antichrist.

Finn starts to talk to Shayna, and I decide I’ll let them chat.

I lift my glass and take a sip of my wine then turn back to Charlie, happy to see whatever weirdness was going on between us a few minutes ago is gone. We make small talk for a few minutes until Shayna pulls at my hand.

“Let’s go dance,” my best friend says. When I look up at her she looks pissed. Her eyes narrowed and her lips held together tight.

I look back to Charlie. “See you out there when you’re ready to dance.” And I stand to follow Shayna.

She won’t tell me what Finn did to piss her off, but it must have been something because there’s no question, she’s angry. We find a spot on the dance floor, and within a few minutes Trina comes over and joins us.

“Hey, sis!” I stretch up to kiss her on the cheek.

“Hi, Em. Hello, Shayna. Geez, you two pulled out all the stops tonight getting dressed up, didn’t you?” She eyes our outfits. “Shayna, I’m guessing this is Emily’s work, right?”

Shayna smiles and snorts—something she can’t seem to avoid doing when she finds something amusing. “You know it is. Your sister thinks I need to find a frog to kiss at midnight.”

Before Trina can answer, a male voice chimes in. “Well, I don’t consider myself a frog, but I’ll volunteer for the job.”

We look up to see that the speaker is an attractive, bulky guy, with a few friends standing behind him.

“I’m Jared,” he says to Shayna. “And you are?”

“Not in?—”

I cut her off before she can finish because I know she’s going to be rude. “She’s Shayna,” I offer him. I nudge her with my shoulder. “And we’d love to dance with you and your friends.” I gesture to the guys behind her.

That’s all the encouragement the three men need before they join us in our dance circle.

Trina leans into me, “I’m out. Enjoy your new friends.”

“Aw, Trina. Come on,” I practically beg.

“Nope.” She grins and just when she turns to walk away, Ben walks up to our group. Trina stops in her tracks and turns back to us.

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