His Off Limits Best Friend - Vivian Wood Page 0,20

with, I think,” he said as he handed her the drink.

She rolled her eyes. “He’s harmless. Mostly. Besides,” she said as she brought the drink to her lips and took a generous swallow, “look.” She pointed to the dance floor, where the model was already dancing with another girl. The same girl Connor had abandoned on the dance floor.

“I know that girl,” Connor said. “Her name’s Bay Breeze.”

“Is that her stripper name?” Sam asked.

He just shrugged. “And who’s the couple you came in here with?”

“What, have you been watching me?” she asked. The DJ segued into a Wale song, with Justin Bieber singing the hook.

“I keep an eye on my surroundings,” he said. “You can’t forget military training so easily.”

“You should talk to Henry about that,” she said.

“Is that your date? Kind of an old-fashioned name, don’t you think?”

“No,” she said. “My ‘date’s’ name is Pierre.”

“Figures,” he said as he rolled his eyes.

“Stop that. Henry is the other guy that came with us. He’s Ellie’s, my best friend’s, boyfriend.”

“Wait, Ellie’s the one who—”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Did you see a couple of guys in suits come in? That’s her security.”

“I saw them,” he said. “They seemed out of place. But then again, so does the Henry guy.”

“Henry’s not much into the club scene, but he does it to appease Ellie.”

“So, what, Henry’s military, too?”

“SEAL, like you,” she said.

“Don’t know him.”

“I think he got out before your time. So,” she said, “who are you here with? Alone, on the prowl for some strange?”

“I love it when my wife talks dirty,” he said. “Actually, no, I came here with some friends.”

“Prove it,” she said.

“What?”

“Prove it!”

He thought about it, even though her challenge was so transparent. What the hell. If they were going to fake an engagement, shouldn’t she know his friends? “Alright,” he said. “They’re at the other end of the bar. But they’re not in on any of this,” he said. “So only meet them if you’re ready to sell the whole engagement thing.”

“Okay, okay,” she said. “I feel like I’m dressed kind of slutty to be doing this though.”

“You’re wearing virgin white,” he said. “What could be more wholesome than that?”

He took her empty hand and began to forge a path through the crowd. Huddled at the end of the bar was his small, but usual crew. His three buds from high school, two of them with their short-term girlfriends. Connor couldn’t be bothered to learn their names, they moved through them so quickly.

“Hey, guys,” he shouted over the music. “This is Sam. My girlfriend.”

One of his friends didn’t even bother to stop his mouth from dropping open. “Girlfriend? But didn’t you just—”

“Didn’t I just what?” he asked quickly.

“Nothing, man. Hey, Sam. I’m Chase, and this is Jay and Dan. We’ve known Connor forever, so feel free to ask us for any embarrassing stories about him. And this is my girlfriend, Anna, and Eve over there.”

“Hi,” Sam said smoothly to each of them. She worked her usual magic with ease. Connor was aware of the girls as they sized her up, on edge because of the clear competition. However, Sam had a way of putting snark to bed and lavished compliments on them.

“I have to say,” Chase said. “You’re, uh, not what I expected.”

“No? What did you expect?” she asked.

Chase downed the last of his drink. “To be honest, Connor’s type is usually blonde and dumb as a brick.”

“Chase!” his girlfriend said, and smacked him on the chest.

“What! It’s a compliment,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know you, Sam, but I can tell you’re a smart girl.”

“Since when is my type dumb and blonde?” Connor asked, honestly confused. Sandra hadn’t been blonde. Was that really what his friends thought of him? He knew Chase could be an ass at times, but he was also brutally honest when he was drunk. And he was plenty drunk now.

“Uh, since THOT was all up on your junk,” Chase said. He pointed to the girl who hanged off the male model. “Don’t worry,” he said to Sam. “Connor walked right away from that trainwreck.”

“He can dance with whomever he wants to,” Sam said with a smile. “It’s who he comes home to that I care about.”

Amidst whoops and hollers, Connor put an arm around her, and felt her stiffen. “You got yourself a good one for once,” Jay said.

“Yeah,” Eve slurred. “You should kiss her!”

Somehow, the little group rallied their thoughts enough to start a chant of, “Kiss her!” over and over. “C’mon,