Page 27 of Chance of Romance
Chapter Seven
Sabrina wore a white dress. In a sea of black and dark winter colors at Jake and Josh’s birthday party, she stood out like lightning in a dark sky. Nothing particularly revealing about the dress, yet Logan couldn’t tear his gaze away. The top went up to her neck and ended modestly at her knees. It was sleeveless, so her shoulders and arms were exposed. Bare legs too, her slender feet in open-toed white sandals. What was it that was different? Her dark blond hair was down, soft waves brushing her shoulders. Her brown eyes looked smoky with dark liner, her lips painted rosy pink. More makeup than usual, but still Sabrina. His gaze took another tour of her dress. The rows of silver and gold crystals diagonally across the top reversed direction below her waist past her hips, drawing his eye to the swell of her breasts, her small waist, the curve of her hips. The combined effect was nothing short of stunning.
She looked confident, powerful, insanely sexy. He could not stop staring at her curves. So was Marcus, the lech. His close friend and honorary brother stood at his side at the bar in Jake’s new man cave. Sabrina was just across the way, standing next to Lexi near the pool table.
“Damn,” Marcus said under his breath, “Sabrina cleans up good.” Marcus was not the guy you wanted to stand next to at a party—if you were a guy—because you’d only look homely next to him. He was nobody’s wingman. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a cologne ad or something. Black close-cropped hair, dark eyes with thick lashes, tanned skin, and chiseled cheekbones. At least his nose had been broken, so he wasn’t perfect. He worked out much harder than necessary, with the overly muscled arms to show for it.
“Don’t talk about her like that,” Logan snapped.
“What’s your problem?”
“She’s my friend.”
“I wanna be her friend too.” Marcus socked his arm and swaggered over to Sabrina. Dammit. Marcus was such a hulk, tall and wide, that he completely blocked Logan’s view of Sabrina. He was pretty sure Sabrina didn’t care about big muscles. Actually, he didn’t know what she liked in a guy. He’d never seen her flirting, never saw her with a guy.
He took a pull on his beer, watching as Marcus leaned down, probably smiling at her, flirting like he always did. Logan clenched his jaw. He was not going to come off like some jealous boyfriend walking over there and telling Marcus to get lost. He endured several excruciating minutes of Marcus’s flirting, and then Marcus and Sabrina walked away together. Lexi started playing pool with some of the guys.
He caught the rear view of Sabrina, the silver and gold crystals in straight lines down her back pointing like arrows to the sweetest curve of ass he’d ever seen. How had he missed that before? Wait. Where were they going? Upstairs? Was Marcus taking her upstairs for some privacy? Everyone else was hanging out in the man cave.
He set his beer down on the bar and followed them, keeping back a distance. They went around the corner and down a ramp, the light dimmer here, the air cooler. Sabrina was laughing at something Marcus said as they walked through an arched brick hallway. He couldn’t hear Marcus’s low voice. What the hell was he up to?
Logan couldn’t stand it anymore. “Hey, Sabrina. Where you headed?”
She whirled. “Hi! I was telling Marcus about the wine-tasting room. He says he knows all about wine, so we’re going to check it out.” Marcus owned his own bar in the city, The Burrow. Logan didn’t know anything about wine. He was a beer man.
“Would you like to join us?” Sabrina asked.
He instantly felt better. “Sure,” he said, catching up with them. “What’s with the dress?”
“Smooth,” Marcus muttered. “You look beautiful, Sabrina.”
Sabrina blushed prettily and smiled up at Marcus. “Thank you.” She looked at Logan, her smile dropping. “What do you mean what’s with the dress?”
“I don’t know. It just seems really dressy for a birthday party.”
“What’re you, the fashion police?” Marcus asked with a laugh. “Might want to upgrade from jeans and sneakers, then.” Marcus dressed like a city metrosexual in crisp shirts, tailored pants, and dress shoes. He could be casual in jeans and sneakers like the rest of the normal men in the world, but tonight he was Mr. Metrosexual in a light blue shirt and dark gray pants. Logan was in his usual long-sleeved cotton shirt, jeans, and, yes, sneakers. Now that he saw Sabrina dressed to kill, he kinda wished he’d stepped it up a notch.
Logan shot Marcus a dark look before telling Sabrina, “It’s a nice dress.”
“Thanks,” she said. No smile for him. It was on the tip of his tongue—you look stunning, insanely sexy—but he stopped himself. They were friends and he had a girlfriend. Kinda. The long-distance thing with Olivia made it hard to know where he stood, but she’d seemed really into a future together. He’d find out in less than a week when he took her to dinner.Wait and see, wait and see.
The hallway ended in a room with a glossy honey-colored semicircle bar with five red velvet chairs set around it. Long cushioned benches lined opposite walls. Four hanging lights over the bar spotlighted his twin brothers, Jake and Josh, serving up drinks. Josh was pouring wine for their sisters-in-law while Jake was pouring what looked like scotch for their brothers.
The way to tell the twins apart was easy if you knew them well, because they were complements of each other. Josh was laid-back and dressed casually in flannel shirts, faded T-shirts, and ripped jeans, letting his hair grow shaggy, forgetting to shave for days on end. Jake was driven, dressed in crisp designer clothes—even his casual clothes were designer—his hair always cut and styled, sometimes stubbled, but usually clean-shaven. They had a similar sense of humor, though, loving to razz people. Feisty banter with a woman was foreplay to them.
Maybe Logan should explain that to Hailey, who took everything Josh said so personally. Josh would kill him if he did. Whatever. If Josh wanted to torture himself by never getting Hailey out of his system, then that was his own damn fault.
Marcus slipped behind the bar. “All right, which one of you birthday boys wants a break? I got this.”
His sister-in-law Claire leaned across the bar and spoke in her throaty voice. “Josh, could you grab some of those champagne bottles and take them to the other bar? My friends love champagne.”
“Sure.” Josh reached under the bar and pulled two bottles of champagne out. “For my birthday, eh?”
“Sure,” Claire said with a laugh. “Honestly, they don’t need a reason.”
Josh nodded once and left. Marcus took over with the wine.
Jake shook his head at Claire, smiling. “Subtle.”
