Page 24 of Personal Foul
“Yeah, but you know it’s a good idea. You just don’t like it for whatever reason you don’t want to admit is the real one, and so you’re going to try to think of alternatives.”
“It’s a good idea, and I hate it. I need to sleep on it to try to convince myself to do it despite the fact my gut reaction is hell no.”
“Why?” I’m honestly puzzled.
“Because I can’t stand you, Easton. And the last thing I want is you bumbling around my bar and swinging your fucking AMEX around telling me how things should be done. Is that not obvious?”
“Why have you hated me? I mean I can guess why now, but before the night of the party?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been nothing but shady as long as I’ve known you.”
“Shady how?”
“Waylon and that sorority girl? Olivia and Liam?”
I sigh and shake my head.
“I was just trying to play matchmaker. I’m not saying I’m fucking good at it, but you’re seriously going to fault me for that? That’s not something you’ve done with them—the whole dinner at the bar with Waylon and Mac?”
“Matchmaker between Waylon and that harpy?”
“Think about it from my perspective with the knowledge I had at the time, yeah? From where I was sitting Mac was jerking Waylon around left and right. And he was totally fucking broken up over her. Meanwhile, Mac was at her ex-boyfriend’s place. There weren’t a lot of reasons for her to be there besides fucking him or other shit that was going to fucking hurt my friend. And Holly was in love with Waylon. I get that to all of you she was the fucking enemy, and honestly, after the deceitful shit she pulled I don’t blame you. But she just kept telling me how much she loved him and how she wished he would notice her. So I thought fuck, why doesn’t he go for the girl who actually wants him rather than the one who’s just using him to get her ex back. I thought a little push would help him move on. I didn’t know he’d told her no. I didn’t know all the details of what went down between him and Mac until later.”
“I guess that makes some sense.” Her eyes meet mine for a second before they dart past me and over my shoulder. “But Olivia and Liam?”
“I know you’re not actually mad at me for that one. We all knew those two needed to fuck it out. Again, I was just giving them the opportunity to move forward.”
“By locking them out on a balcony in the freezing cold?”
“Yeah, well she didn’t waste much time warming them both up, did she?”
Her eyes narrow and her lips press together in a distractingly sexy way. One that reminds me of what she looked like underneath me. All this talk about our friends fucking it out reminds me of how much I want a repeat session with her.
“Let me make you come again,” I blurt out.
“What?” She looks at me like she misheard me.
“You’re stressed. An orgasm usually helps. And I’m here.” I try to smooth it over.
“What are you—”
“We can start slow. I don’t even have to touch you if you don’t want.” I cut her off. I don’t want to have a discussion about why it’s a bad idea. Or why she thinks the last time was a mistake.
Her eyes flick up to mine. “How do you imagine making that happen?”
“You’ll see,” I whisper, hoping that she’s gonna cave to it. I can tell she’s thinking about it. That she wants to, even if she does hate me deep down.
“Okay,” she relents. “But only because I’m curious.”
“Didn’t like it?” I stand and point to the box, where it’s been tossed on the desk and the note is crumpled next to it.
“Your arrogance that you’re better at selecting vibrators for me?”
“Like I said, you seemed stressed. I wanted to make sure you could relax. It was a peace offering.”
