Page 46 of That Kind of Guy

“Hi,” I repeated, gaze returning to her cleavage. She always wore higher necklines, I thought. Had I noticed her tits before? Standing there, they were all Icouldnotice. “The caterers aren’t even here yet.” I tensed my thighs, something I had read once helped pull blood away from an inconvenient erection.

I tore my gaze up to her face, only to find her staring at my bare chest with a look I could only describe as hungry.

My cock was hard again.

“Um.” She blinked and looked up at me. Her lids were heavy. “Did you just wake up?”

“I was having a nap.” I opened the door and gestured for her to come in, tensing my thighs like crazy to dispel the boner which was clearly visible through these sweatpants.

She walked past me into the foyer, and I was gifted with a view of her incredible legs, long and toned. I bet her skin was soft. I bet it would feel amazing to run my mouth up her thighs right before I—

“Make yourself at home,” I told her, halfway up the stairs. “I’m going to have a quick shower.”

Jesus Christ, Rhodes, get your shit together.

Twenty seconds later, I stood in my shower, shivering under the icy water.

I am not going to beat off in the shower thinking about Avery.

I will not think about how her tits look incredible.

I will not think about running my mouth down the hem of her neckline.

The doorbell rang again. That would be the caterer. I reached for the faucet to turn the water off before I caught myself. Avery would let the caterer in. She wasn’t the kind of person to sit around and watch, she’d jump in wherever she was needed. I liked that about her, I realized. She was a team player.

She’d probably try to helptoo muchtonight, I figured. Not that I didn’t want her helping, but I wanted her to relax and have fun, and put work mode aside for a night. I made a mental note to mention this to Div in case he saw her loading the dishwasher or plating appetizers.

Tonight was important. I had invited a lot of people from town—my family, my friends, Avery’s friends, anyone influential. It was important that they saw us together in my home, and more importantly, that they saw me as a stable, dependable guy, who had his life together. Not the horndog who could barely keep his boner down like some teenager.

Did I have a thing for Avery? Sure. Of course. Who wouldn’t? I had always thought she was cute and fun to spar with, but I had never been turned on by her like this.

I gave myself a break, though. We were pretending to be a couple, this kind of confusion came with the territory. It didn’t mean anything. I didn’t do relationships, I wasn’t that kind of guy.

Besides, to Avery, this was just a deal.

I climbed out of the shower. The kiss we shared at the restaurant flashed into my head. I groaned and rubbed a towel over my wet hair. I was going to get one more do-over kiss to get it out of my system and then focus on the campaign. That was the reason we were doing this, after all.

After I was dressed and threw a bit of product in my hair, I headed back downstairs. Avery chatted with the caterer and while making room in my fridge for the hors d’oeuvres. The bartender was setting up on the patio. Shortly after, people began to arrive. Music was playing. The doorbell rang.

“Hannah, hey,” I greeted, opening the door. She blushed and handed me a wine bottle. “Happy engagement. I don’t know anything about wine,” she admitted with obvious discomfort, wincing at the bottle.

“Well, it’s your lucky day because I love this one,” I said, reaching out to hug her. She seemed surprised and blinked a few times. “Come on in.”

“Your house is beautiful.” She stepped into the foyer and looked past me with a little wave and smile to Avery. “Hey.”

Avery wrapped her in a big hug. “You came.”

“Of course I’m here. It’s your engagement party.”

Behind her, Wyatt and Holden climbed the steps. “Who invited the riff-raff?” I asked. Wyatt gave me a friendly shove and walked past me into the house.

“You guys know Hannah, right?”

Hannah was frozen. “I have to use the bathroom,” she excused herself and scurried away.

Odd.

“Avery,” Holden said to Avery.

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