Page 24 of Midnight Wishes

She wanted to scream.

‘Zo, you need to have a word with your bouncers. He was not on the list.’

Zoe followed her eyes to where Alex stood at the bar, head turning as if he was looking for something over the mass of bodies. Or…someone? Not that she had any right to hope it might be her. Not that she hoped it was her at all.

‘Oh, honey, when you look like that, the list becomes more of a suggestion. And I remind you I have nothing to do logistics. Myjob was making her incomprehensible drivel readable. And that is over now, thank god.’

It was possible Zoe was still speaking, but Sarah heard nothing more after it became clear Alex had spotted her standing on the balcony. His lip curled up, and he downed the finger of whiskey that had been in his glass. And then…nothing. He turned back to the bartender, obtained a refill, and leaned comfortably on the bar, engaging two girls in conversation. They immediately began giggling.

Sarah scowled. She should probably warn them that he would flirt with anything that moved. That the bright eyes and annoyingly cute smirk didn’t mean much when they were always on duty.

‘Come on.’ Zoe began tugging her towards their booth. Sarah had been to Neon a dozen times, but never in one of the semi-private alcoves that, due to some miracle of architecture, made the club’s loud music fade enough that it was possible to hold a conversation. It was a significant perk of being friends with the editor of the book being launched. ‘I’m so glad I’m done with this book. I know the sales are going to be great, but she’s the worst,’ Zoe groaned.

Her author was a wellness influencer who had made her name preaching balance. She baked her own bread and made her own hummus, ate clean and did yoga every day, but she wasn’t averse to a night out to blow off steam, provided the alcohol on offer was organic and vegan. Earlier that day, her first book event had been at a farmers’ market. But according to the stories Zoe had broken her NDA to tell Sarah, she’d started most of their meetings with a cheap beef burger from a fast food chain. Andminutes before, they’d seen her publicist furiously dragging her out of a bathroom, suspicious white powder smudged under her nose.

Sarah raised her eyebrows when they found Abby and Erik already in their booth, the former relaxed on her fiancé’s lap, head nestled against his chest.

Abby shrugged. ‘There aren’t enough seats for everyone.’

Sitting on one of the limited spots, Sarah threw back a glass of champagne.Bless all the sponsors desperate to be associated with this event,she thought. ‘There would have been if you hadn’t brought Alex.’ She tried, she really did, to keep the irritation out of her voice.

‘That’s my fault.’ Erik winced. Clearly she had failed. ‘He needs some fun.’

Men like Aleksander Larsson did not need their quiet, self-possessed little brothers finding fun for them. He was doing just fine finding his own fun at the bar.

Abby snorted. ‘What he needs is to get laid.’

Sarah studiously avoided looking in Zoe’s direction, who had received a full rundown of their tryst over happy hour the night before.

‘I haven’t seen him wound this tight…ever?’ Abby continued, still looking at Erik. ‘He didn’t even laugh at the hickey you gave me on Wednesday.’

Again, Sarah fought to control her features, knowing exactly why Alex might have been distracted on Wednesday night.

‘Anyway’—Abby moved her attention back to Sarah—‘I texted Zoe before we left, and she said it was fine.’

When Sarah turned to glare at the offending party, she flashed a brilliant smile before muttering something about caterers and dashing away.Nothing to do with logistics, hey?

Abby lifted herself out of Erik’s arms at the same time and asked him to grab a round of drinks.

When they were alone, she said, ‘You really don’t like Alex, do you?’

‘I don’t really know Alex,’ Sarah replied carefully. It wasn’t a lie, not fully. She didn’t know much past what he did for a living and what he looked like naked.

And that he was surprisingly sweet with his dog.

And obscenely good with his tongue.

But somehow,I don’t like your almost brother-in-lawfelt better thanI’ve screwed your almost brother-in-law twice, so…

‘You know I’ve never been great with the whole cocky, lad’s lad vibe. He’s actually down there flirting with two different girls right now, and at least one of them is going to go home devastated—’

‘Not necessarily.’ Abby smirked, and Sarah was glad her friend had become less shy on the topic of sex, but it really wasn’t the time.

‘We’re just very different people.’

The truth was, she fundamentally didn’t trust men who were that pretty. And after Gregg, it was particularly difficult to watch someone seemingly that okay with hurting women’s feelings.

Discerning green eyes met Sarah’s.

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