Page 20 of Naughty & Nice

“I’ll have whatever they’re having.” I point toward the amber bottles sitting in front of my friends. “You guys been here long?”

“Nah. About forty minutes. Dave’s girl was nagging him about a ring, so he text me needing an escape plan.”

“Nice.” I laugh. I tip my head in thanks to the bartender as he slides my burger, fries, and cold beer across the bar top. “God, this looks good.” I lift the burger to my mouth and start to take a large bite when I suddenly notice Addison in the bar mirror’s reflection. And she’s not alone. Lowering my food to the plate, I study them momentarily. He seems awfully close to her to simply be a casual acquaintance. His hand slides over to sit on her hip before pulling her into him.

“What’s up? The burger isn’t any good?”

“No. It’s fine.”

I think I just lost my appetite.

CHAPTER16

Addy

“You’rea good sport to do this, Mitchell,” I say, placing my palm on his chest.

“Are you kidding? I get to hang out with the prettiest girl in town, and Jason’s buying? It’s a win-win.” He laughs.

After one too many drinks the night of my birthday party, I discovered the following day when reading a text from Jason that I’d spilled the beans on my desire to go after Trevor. He’s apparently on board with the ‘land the firehouse hottie’ mission as Jason’s encouraged his friend Mitchell to act as my love interest for the evening.

I’m not sure what’s in it for Jason, playing matchmaker, but I’ll take all the help I can get with this one. He’s reassured me that despite Trevor’s grumpy demeanor, he’s a nice guy and feels like we’d be good together.

“Oh. The show’s started.” I laugh.

Mitchell looks in Jason’s direction as Trevor saunters over to the bar. “Ah, now I get it. He’s smokin’.”

“Okay, down, boy. He’s mine.”

“All right, all right. I can look and not touch.”

“Well, try to make this convincing, will ya?”

“Do I need to lay one on you?” He chuckles.

“I don’t think it’ll come to that. But we can develop a new plan if things take too long.”

The bartender slides a burger and a beer Trevor’s way. We could be here all night if he’s heavy into his food. I feel Mitchell slide his hand onto my hip and immediately look up at him. He’s about six foot four and well built. Mitchell’s very attractive with dark blond hair and green eyes.If only those eyes were on the ladies.

“Umph,” I grunt as he thrusts my body against his. “Hey, sailor,” I tease, laughing at how absurd this is. I just turned twenty-eight, but I’m acting like an eleven-year-old with a school crush. But I’ve waited a long time to feel something for someone, and my gut tells me, after our last few interactions, I’m not alone in this.

Before I got so intoxicated that I couldn’t spell my own name, I vaguely recall giving Trevor a brief birthday lap dance while everyone laughed and sang around us. I just wanted to rile him up. Yet, I vividly remember the moment I discovered something else was up. I couldn’t help but gyrate harder, wanting to feel him pressed into me. Gah. I’ve imagined that night ending differently alone in my bed on several occasions.

Nuzzling my neck and swaying to the sound of Billie Eilish playing in the background, Mitchell starts telling goofy jokes to make this less awkward. “Why did the gym close down?”

I giggle. “I don’t know. Why?”

“It just didn’t work out.”

“No.” I laugh.

“What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?”

“What?”

“A stick. Want to hear a construction joke?”

“Not if it’s as bad as the rest of these.”

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