Page 4 of Deceit
My blush deepened as I took it from him, dabbing the spilled wine off myarm, and tearing my eyes away from his inquisitive ones.“I’m heading to thebar, let mebuyyou anotherdrink.”
He chuckled.“You know, if you wanted tobuyme adrink, you onlyhad to askinsteadof knocking my last one out of my hand.”
My prayer for the ground to open and swallow me whole wentunanswered.“Oh no, I didn’t…I mean…”
Mortification gripped me as he laughedagain.
“I’mfuckingwith you. I know it was an accident.”He reached out to takethe handkerchief from me once I’d wiped the last drop away, and repocketed it.“Besides, I was raised to be a gentleman. I wouldn’t dream of letting youbuythe drinks, I’ve got it covered.”
He winked at me, anddespitemycheeksstill heating, I couldn’t stopthe shy grin from tugging at my mouth. Whoever this guy was, he certainly had charm.
“I’mTed,”he said after a few seconds of mestaringat him like acomplete idiot. I took his hand, his palm soft againstmine.
“Soph…ie. I’m Sophie,” I replied, remembering at the last minute that for tonight, I was Sophie and not Sofia.
“Nice to meet you. I hope this doesn’t sound cliche, but I haven’t seen youhere before.”
“Oh, no. This is my first night here. My friend dragged me along.”I let go ofhis hand, realizing I was still clasping it.
“Yeah, I’ve got one of those. My best friend insists I come with himevery time he wants a night out. I usually end up hiding away in theVIPsection, but I was catching up with a friend. Good job too, or I wouldn’t have bumped into you.”
“I thought I bumped into you?”Ireplied, gently knocking his shoulderagain and surprising myself with the confidence rushing through me at myattemptto flirt.
“Right.” He grinned down at me, and the heat covering my cheeks slowly moved to my chest. “How about that drink?” he added, waving a hand in the direction of the bar.
“Sure. But I still feel like I shouldbuyyou adrink. I spilled your last one,after all.”
His palm rested against my lower back as he guided me toward thebar. Mygazedarted around again, only this time, Iwasn’tsure if I was lookingto see if someonerecognizedme, or if I washopingto spy the man who’d been onstageand still lingered in the back of my mind.
Reaching thebar,Tedwaved his hand, anddespitethe barman being in themiddle of serving someone else, he stopped what he was doing and came straight over to take Ted’s order.
“A bottle of2004 Louis Roederer Cristal,” Ted instructed.
I gaped at him. I figured he wasn’t shy of money, not with his tailored designer suit, but the bottle of wine he’d ordered was in the region of $5000. It was champagne my papa enjoyed.
“Oh my god, Soph, you should see the restroom! I felt like I was pissingin Buckingham Palace!”Katgiggled, appearing next to me and almost bouncing on the spot like an over-excited child.
Her squealing drew Ted’sattentionfrom where he was paying for thechampagne, his face expressionless.“This your friend,Sophie?”
“Yeah. This is Katrina. Katrina, this isTed,”I said, waving between thetwo of them.
Her real name was Kathryn, but seeing as everyone called herKat,she wanted somethingcloseto her real name for herfakeID, like I did. The last thing either of usneededwas to forget what ourfakenames weresupposedto be.
A devious smile pulled atKat’smouth, drawingattentionto the brightred lipstick she’d reapplied while she was in the bathroom. She held her hand out to him, pushing herchestout to make her breasts look bigger.
“Hi,” she purred when Ted took her hand.
A pang of jealousy shot through me at the way she was batting herlashes at him. I quickly shook it off, reminding myself that nothing was going tohappenwithTed. Still, a little part of me couldn’t help but be smug whenTeddidn’t return her smile, and dropped her hand as if he was frightened he might catch something.
When his gaze met mine again, his features softened. “I’ve got a booth in the VIP area if you’d like to join me?”
“Hell yes, we would!”Katsquealed before I had the chance to reply.
Ted didn’t acknowledge her excitement, staring at me and waiting formyanswer.
Part of me knew I should have said no. I didn’t want toleadhim on, butKat’sexcitement from next to me was palpable.
“Sure,”I relented, giving him a coy smile.
