“Drink up!” Hen yelled with a suggestive smile.

I glared at her but still took a drink. I could handle my liquor.

Or at least, I thought so.

17

Jonas

Somewhere between shots two and four, Mara insisted we keep dancing, and fuck was she hot on the dance floor. The way her body rolled to the beat, the sultry look in her eyes, and how she looked as she ran her fingers through her long brown hair.Damn. I wanted to take her to the bathroom and fuck her right there.

But that would have ended poorly for both of us. So instead, we danced, and we drank, and we danced some more, and then we drank some more, and I realized I was actually having fun. Not worrying about Tess’s wedding or my mom’s dialysis or how this was all supposed to be fake.

No, I was focused on Mara, our friends dancing with us. So much so that I didn’t realize how late it was until the pretty-boy bartender yelled, “Last call!”

Mara and I looked at each other in shock, and I raised my voice over the music to ask, “How is it that late?”

“I have no idea!” she said back.

Next to us, Cohen said, “We’re gonna feel it in the morning.”

“Speak for yourself, old man,” Birdie teased.

He gave her an annoyed grin, and Birdie said, “I better get this old man home.” Then, not so quietly, she added, “Ilooovesloppy drunk sex.”

“Come on,” Cohen said. “I’ll call a ride.”

Henrietta nodded slowly. “I’m calling one too. Hopefully my parents are asleep.” She groaned. “I’vegotto move out.”

Laughing, I said, “I’ll get one for Mara and me.”

Within fifteen minutes, Mara and I were away from our friends in the semi-privacy of our Uber driver’s back seat. Mara had her legs crossed and her dress was riding up, and fuck if I didn’t want to pull her leg over my lap and kiss her until we were both gasping for air.

She rolled her head to the side, an adorable drunken smile on her face. “That was a good time, huh?”

I nodded. “Definitely.”

“I didn’t know accountants could have fun,” she said with a wry smile.

“You’d be surprised what accountants can do,” I returned, my voice husky. I could smell her sweat mixed with apricot, and damn, I wanted to lick every sweet and salty inch of her. I looked out the window as if that would protect my thoughts. The second we got home, I was getting into the world’s coldest shower.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

I looked away from the window and back toward her. “You don’t want to know.”

I swear I saw her tits rise as her breath caught in her chest. “Why not?”

“It wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Her smile grew, and she licked her lips in the sexiest possible way. “Those are myfavoritekinds of thoughts.”

“They’re the kind of thoughts that would get us in trouble,” I retorted.

The car stopped, and I looked out the window to see my house, illuminated by the front porch light.

Thank fuck I’d prepared that extra bed. If I was left alone with Mara tonight, there was no way her Christmas pajamas would make it through the night.

I got out of the car and opened the door for her, then began walking up the sidewalk. After sitting for a while and now stepping into the cool evening air, I could feel the alcohol slogging up my brain, fogging it with thoughts of her body and what I wanted to do with it.