into joining them, and it would’ve been a damn good night if it hadn’t been for the fact she had come here tonight.
Yep. They’d been there for all of an hour when Bristol strolled in with two of her friends. Bianca and Jamie. The three women had secured a booth on the far side of the room, minding their own business, laughing and talking. And while they did that, Keegan had been in the perfect position to see Bristol clearly. The other two women were blocked out by CJ’s big head, but it didn’t matter. Keegan didn’t care to see them anyway.
Not that he cared to see Bristol, either, but for some fucked-up reason, he had an unobstructed view of her talking with her friends, smiling that million-megawatt grin, and turning down every man who attempted to come on to her.
Oh, lookie there. Number five was strolling up, pausing to be polite and…
Keegan watched as Bristol looked up at the man, smiled sweetly, then motioned to her friends while she shook her head. His lip-reading skills weren’t exactly tuned, but Keegan was pretty sure she thanks but no thanks’d him.
Would she turn Keegan down if he asked? Brush him off like lint on those tight-ass jeans she wore?
It was an interesting conundrum he found himself in. Not once in his life had he ever had a problem mixing it up with the ladies, nor had he ever worried himself over it. He’d always had the gift for sweet-talking. Add that to his decent appearance and he hadn’t done too bad.
He’d also never treated a woman with disrespect. Partly because his parents had instilled manners into them from the day they took their first breath, and partly because he wanted to ensure a repeat was always an option. One never knew what situation they might find themselves in.
Yet there was one woman in the world who he’d treated badly. He was man enough to admit—at least to himself—that he’d dumped all his past pain and heartache at Bristol’s feet, holding her responsible for the sins of those who’d come before her. Unlike the women in his past, Bristol hadn’t stuck around to face his wrath. Which he figured was the very reason he thought about her endlessly no matter how hard he tried not to.
And there she was sitting not twenty feet away right now.
He wanted to ask her to dance and he had no fucking idea why that was.
As he was contemplating an asinine move, the perfect opportunity presented itself when Bianca called it a night, leaving Bristol and Jamie alone at their table.
The bright red bow on the opportunity-of-a-lifetime package came when CJ asked Jamie to dance and she said yes, which left only one sitting at that table.
“Where’re you goin’?” Kaden asked when Keegan got to his feet.
“I’ll be back,” he assured his twin.
Without hesitating, he started toward Bristol. When he approached, she was tucking her cell phone into the dainty little purse she was carrying and pulling out her keys.
He cleared his throat to get her attention.
No, he wasn’t expecting a smile, so he was only mildly disappointed when he didn’t get one.
She turned her attention back to the table, to the glass of what looked to be vodka with soda and lime she’d been nursing for the past hour. “What do you want, Keegan?”
“Care to dance?”
She didn’t bother looking up at him when she said, “No. I don’t.”
Usually he could take a hint, but for some reason his feet wouldn’t move to carry him away from her table. He remained where he was, staring down at her, willing her to look up.
When she finally did, he held her gaze, ensured she saw he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Not happily, anyway. “Dance with me, Bristol.”
There was a flash in her eyes, and he was fairly certain it wasn’t disdain. In fact, he was pretty sure she liked that he wasn’t trying to butter her up with sweet words and bullshit.
Holding out his hand, he waited for Bristol to take it. She hesitated for long seconds, which only made it sweeter when she relented. When her small fingers grasped his, Keegan felt heat travel through his entire body. An image of this woman naked, sandwiched between him and his brother, writhing and crying out their names, was nearly enough to have him missing a step. Luckily, he’d long ago learned how to walk and fantasize at the same time.
They made their way past the