Page 39 of Love Me Boldly

That scowl flipped into a flirtatious smile as soon as she noticed the men surrounding me.

And they were definitely surrounding me. I’d been overly optimistic when I thought we could all eat at the circular table. In my defense, it seemed plenty large when I sat at it, or when Caroline and I worked on her payroll together.

I hadn’t quite taken into account the size of Graham and his friends. Their shoulder width and long legs had left me scrunched in the back corner, and with all of our food and drinks, there wasn’t a free spot at the table.

“It wasn’t quite a party,” I told Tracey.

She texted me an hour ago and asked if I was busy. I told her the truth, that I wasn’t, but I hadn’t expected her to show up, too.

“Campus must be really boring tonight,” I said.

Next to me, Graham bumped my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was a tease or for lack of space until he muttered, “We’ve already been over this.”

I rolled my eyes and leaned back against him, a move Tracey didn’t miss because she skipped into the office, closing the door behind her.

“No worries. Now…” She tapped her lips with her long and sharply pointed hot pink fingernail. Those things should be registered as assault weapons. “Where do I get to sit?”

Tanner and Eli both widened their spread legs, but it was Tanner who pushed Eli out of the way and patted his thigh. “Got room for you right here.”

“Huh. We’ve met, right?”

“Yeah, Tracey, we’ve met.” Sounded to me like not many girls forgot meeting Tanner, and he wasn’t all that happy about it.

“Huh,” she said again and then plopped her tiny little behind right down on his thigh. His arm had to drape over her back to hold her in place, and he settled his hand on top of her leg.

Guess Tanner didn’t like women forgetting him, but he didn’t mind the second chance.

“What are you doing here?” I asked and swirled my now-cold fry into a pile of mustard, something that had already earned me relentless teasing.

“You said you weren’t busy, I was bored, ergo…” She flipped her hand in the air. Like that explained anything.

“Asher busy tonight?”

“You dating someone?” Tanner asked. There was grit in his voice.

“Talking,” she drawled. “So muchtalking…”

“What’s wrong with talking?” Eli asked, which reminded me.

“Tracey meet Eli. Eli…Tracey,” I introduced them, and once again Tracey’s smile turned stunning. Man, the girl knew how to work a crowd. If I had half her confidence, I’d have three times as much as I had now.

“Talking is fine,” Tracey said and stole one of my fries as I popped another into my mouth. She flinched, probably from the cold potatoes. “It’s just that, after the talking part, I’d prefer to do other things with my mouth.”

I choked on my fry.

Graham chuckled and patted my back while I grabbed my water and washed it down.

“You can’t just say things like that.”

“I don’t mind.” Eli shrugged and smirked.

“Me either,” Tanner quipped. “What kinds of things are we talking about?”

“Eating. I love eating.” To prove it, she grabbed an onion ring off his plate and crunched down on it. “Mmm. So much better than your fry, Holly. So, what are we really doing back here? Who are we hiding from tonight?”

The fact she knew this was my hiding place was pathetic enough.

“So I take it that happens often?” Eli asked.

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