Page 42 of Bad Boy Done Wrong
He joined her a few minutes later and they drove over to Garner’s in comfortable silence, the edge of hard lust temporarily satisfied between them. She’d craved passion with every cell in her being and found it with Zach. She liked to think it was his skill and her enthusiasm that made the incredible heat between them because that meant she could find it again. The alternative was unbearable to think about.
She quickly decided she definitely wasn’t ready to jump into another relationship. Getting over Edward had been like going through a divorce after six long years, especially because they’d started when she was only nineteen. He was the blueprint for all future relationships, her only experience. It had been good with Edward in the beginning; he’d gone all out with a steady stream of flowers, candy, jewelry, dinner by candlelight, the works. Now she realized things between them had worked mostly because she was so young and inexperienced, eager to please him and willing to conform to his expectations. He’d been seven years older, just out of medical school and seemed so sophisticated. As she got started in her own career, taking responsibility for patients, she’d changed, standing up for what she wanted. He’d been less than pleased.
Zach held the door to Garner’s open for her and she stepped inside to quite a crowd. They headed straight for the bar, waiting their turn for a drink. She looked around for Ethan and his “backup.” Oh, wow, interesting. Ethan was sitting in a booth in the dining area. Next to him was a tough-looking woman with a short dark cap of hair, sharp cheekbones, and a black tank top that showed off the sculpted muscles of her arms. Across from them sat Hailey, who appeared to be leading the conversation while Ethan and the other woman occasionally responded in between devouring a pile of chicken wings.
Josh appeared in front of Zach and offered an international beer sampler with five small glasses of beer. Zach took him up on it. Before Carrie could try one, Ally grabbed her arm and pulled her farther away by their friends.
Ally grinned. “So, things going well with Zach, huh? Now you’re actually showing up places with him like a real boyfriend not just a fuck buddy.”
“Shh.”
“Nothing wrong with a fuck buddy,” Missy put in from Ally’s other side.
“It’s still a short-term thing,” Carrie confided. She quickly changed the subject, asking Ally about her preparations for the new school year (she was a first-grade teacher), and then catching up on what was new with everyone. She made herself focus on her friends, but finally the temptation to seek out Zach proved too much and she peeked over at him. He sat on a bar stool, holding a beer and listening to some of the guys. Even laid-back Josh was leaning across the bar, talking and joking around with the guys. It struck her that Zach, even in the middle of a group of guys he knew well, seemed separate. The observer. What was going on in his head? She wondered if he had nothing to say or if he had tons of thoughts bouncing around in there that he never let out. And then she wondered if she’d ever find out. She caught Zach’s eye and the chatter of her friends, the clinking of glasses, even the sound of the TV above the bar receded far in the distance. Every part of her wanted to reach out to him in that moment and be letin.
He stood, seeming to read her thoughts from across the room, and crossed to her, slipping an arm around her waist from behind. For some reason, she was blushing, though she should be well used to his touch after nearly two weeks of naked time. He never hesitated to hook an arm around her and pull her close. Even late at night in bed, now that they both slept in the bed, the last thing he did was hook an arm around her shoulders and tuck her tight against his side. Somehow she always woke up on the far edge of the bed away from him.
“You remember everyone?” she asked Zach.
“Yeah. Hi,” Zach said.
“Hello,” her friends chorused.
“Of course we remember you!” Ally exclaimed. “You’rethe man.”
Carrie glanced back at Zach to see if he was embarrassed hearing what Carrie had called him right before she’d seduced him that first night they met, but he took it in stride. “Yup.” He spoke in a low rumble by her ear, giving her a shiver. “You want something to drink? I know you’re not a big beer drinker.”
“I’ll take a piña colada,” she said.
He released her waist, his hand grazing across her back as he shifted down to the other end of the bar to put in the order with Josh. She was just listening to Ally, who was counting down the days until her college reunion, where she hoped to get back together with her ex, when Zach returned with a bar stool. He asked one of the guys to shift down and set it next to Ally’s stool before pulling Carrie up and onto his lap, his arm banding around her waist, keeping her securely in place.
Ally kept right on talking, but she also took in the casual gesture with interest. Carrie rested her hand on Zach’s arm and tried to focus on the conversation. An impossibility. She was hyperaware of him, skin hot, every nerve ending stirring to life, aching for his touch, his spicy sexy scent making her nearly light-headed with need.
Josh appeared a few minutes later, setting her drink with a cute little umbrella in it in front of her.
“Thanks!” she said.
“You got it,” Josh said. He turned to Zach. “How’s your book coming along?”
“No book,” Zach muttered.
Carrie tilted her head back to look at Zach, who was staring at Josh. “What book?” she asked.
Zach shifted his hand, splaying his fingers low on her belly in a gesture her body recognized as a precursor to seduction. It was an under-the-bar move, but she felt herself flush anyway. She took a sip of piña colada, trying to act as if everything was normal despite the low ache in her womb and the dampness between her legs.
Josh shifted his gaze to Carrie, giving her a wink and a charming smile. “We started our own book club just for us men.”
“You did?” she asked, surprised.
“That’s right,” Josh said, leaning close to share in a confidential manner. “We’re readingWhat Women Want.”
Her eyes widened and she checked in with Zach, looking back at him. His expression gave nothing away.
Josh’s brown eyes danced with good humor. “Except Zach here refuses to read the book. Says he knows it all. What do you think, Carrie? Is he right?”
“Depends what the book says,” she said with a grin. “Do tell.”
“Yeah, I want to hear this too,” Ally chimed in.
