Page 7 of Only for Tonight
“Hi,” she replies, turning and leaning on the bar with one hand. “Did you want something to drink?” she asks me and I nod my head. “What do you want? It’s on me.”
I put my elbow on the bar, leaning over. “It’s an open bar.”
“Yes, but me offering it to you is sort of saying I paid for it.”
“That isn’t how it works.” I try not to laugh at her.
“Wow, you aren’t the boss of how an open bar works, Jaxon.” She shakes her head. “Besides, it’s like a universal rule.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard about this rule,” I say to her, watching the way her face lights up when she smiles.
“Well, as long as I order the drink, it’s as if I’m buying you said drink.” She points at herself and then to me. “If you would come up to me and ask me what I want to drink, that would be like you are buying me the drink.”
“And this rule is universal?” I ask her to try to keep her talking to me, never realizing how funny she really is. Also realizing it’s been forever since I’ve really fucking laughed at something. Sure, I laugh and smile and shit, but it’s been a really fucking long time since I’ve belly laughed, and it feels good.
“Yes,” she answers me like she just told me the prize at the end of the rainbow is a pot of gold. Her head moves up and down while the bartender comes back with her drink. “Thank you so much,” she says to him with a smile as he places her glass of champagne on the little napkin he put down before the glass. “My friend is going to have a—” she starts, looking at me.
“A bottle of water,” I order and she sticks her tongue out at me and gives me a thumbs-down, her tongue coming out blowing a fart sound.
“Borrrinnnggg,” she sings the word, and I can’t help but literally laugh out loud.
“I’m not that big of a drinker,” I admit to her. “Besides, I’m in training.”
“You act like you’re training for the Olympics.” She rolls her eyes. “You guys are always in training.” She proceeds to groan. “I’ve eaten so much chicken and steak in my life, I feel like I’ve been in training also.”
“It’s good protein,” I try to defend the steak and chicken.
“Sometimes, you just need a greasy burger.” She winks at me and I don’t even know if she knows this is her flirting with me. She’s oblivious to it all. I mean, I don’t think she means to flirt with me. I think she’s just making small talk, but if it was any other guy here, they would one thousand percent think she was flirting with them. Which kind of pisses me off a little since she doesn’t realize she’s doing it. I’m going to have to take one for the team and keep this conversation going, making sure that she flirts with me and only me.
“Don’t get me wrong, I have burgers all the time.” I don’t even know why I’m standing here defending myself, or if I’m just pushing her to talk to me longer.
“But not the greasy ones.” She grabs her champagne and takes a sip of it before she continues, “The ones that are so greasy it runs down your hand.”
“That sounds like a heart attack.” I try not to laugh at the expression on her face when she just gawks at me.
“If we had time, I would take you to one of the best burger places you’ve ever been to”—she takes another sip—“and blow your mind.” She uses one of her hands to put it to the corner of her forehead before she does an explosion gesture with her hand.
My cock stirs in my pants at the mention of her blowing my mind. “I’d watch what words you use,” I warn her and her eyes go big as a song comes on, and she looks over to the dance floor.
“Well, this is fun, but I’ve got to dance.” She finishes the glass of champagne before putting the glass back down, her hips swinging left and right as she moves from the bar to the dance floor, and my cock stirs even fucking more.
“Here’s your water.” The bartender hands me the bottle as he picks up the empty glass she left.
“Thanks.” I unscrew the top of the water bottle and take a deep pull. “Hopefully this will cool me down,” I murmur before I look over to the dance floor and see her with her hands to the ceiling, moving with her cousins, as she sings the words of the song, her hips moving left to right, the bottom of her skirt flowing side to side on her thighs. “I’m going to need to sit in an ice bath.”
four
Ariella
“There you are.” Brookes comes up to me. “I’ve been looking for you for eighty-four years.” He is tall and lean like our father. His hair is darker blond than our dad’s, but his eyes are the same crystal blue. There’s a smile on his face as he comes in for a hug.
“Here I am.” I rub his back with my hand as we hug. “I was looking for you too, but couldn’t find you.”
“Yeah, Maddox and I,” he says, motioning to Maddox and I smile and go to give him his own hug, “were just sitting at some random table.” I can even smell that they are bullshitting me, they were probably up to no good.
“Hey, Squirt,” I tease him, even though now he towers over me by a good six inches, “you are looking good.” My hand comes up, along with my tippy-toes, to touch the top of his hair that is shaggy compared to the sides of his head which is shaved. “I see the hockey flow”—I gently tug the hair to the side of his neck a bit—“is still a trend.”
“Who knows.” He shrugs. “I like skating and feeling the wind blow through my hair.” He tries to keep a straight face. “Kind of like Beyoncé.”
