an act, my body was turning to lava beneath her stare.
“You made it,” I said.
“I told you I would.”
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say her voice was a purr and the guys around me were leaning in to hear.
If she noticed the attention she’d grabbed from the guys around us, she didn’t let on.
Man, she was good. I’d give her that.
“You’re late,” I said. The party had officially started two hours ago and I’d been here for at least an hour.
She smiled. “I like to make an entrance.”
“Mission accomplished.”
She smirked and then looked down at herself, striking a pose. “Don’t you think it was worth the wait?”
Ah crap, my mouth went dry at the open invitation to ogle her. I kept my eyes fixed on hers. “You’d be gorgeous wearing a burlap sack and a mud mask, and you know it.”
She laughed. A tinkling, lighthearted sound that made me feel like I’d just singlehandedly conquered a small nation.
Dangerous. The girl was freakin’ dangerous.
She was also ridiculously easy to get along with. I’d almost forgotten that about our short time together. But once the guys around us realized they weren’t going to get some big show, they started talking about the upcoming football game and Rose and I were left in our own little world.
“So, tell me about this band of yours,” she said, leaning against the tree behind her in a way that showed off her killer body as her eyes glinted dangerously in the firelight.
What was a guy to do? She wanted to hear about my band, so I told her about it. I answered every question. Before I knew it, I was talking her ear off, telling her stupid stories from band practice, making her laugh with all the things that had gone wrong while making our demo.
The girl was all over me.
The longer we talked the more handsy she got until I was so wrapped up in the warmth of her that I almost forgot what game I was playing here.
Ryan didn’t.
He came over, standing in front of us, his bulky frame casting a shadow in the firelight and interrupting my story, which had earned another adorable laugh from Rose.
I was killing it over here—or I was until Ryan had to show up.
Rose didn’t seem to care, though. Her smile grew when she saw him glaring and she sprang toward him with a giggle that said she’d had more than a few drinks before she’d even showed. “Hey, babe,” she sang sweetly, kissing his cheek and marking him with her lipstick like she was a puppy and he was a fire hydrant. His scowl faded fast.
And so did my smile.
What the…? They’d broken up. She was here with me…wasn’t she?
“Jax was just telling me the cutest story about his band.” She widened her eyes. “Did you know he had a band?”
Ryan smirked over at me.
Cute.
I’d been telling her a cute story?
She gave Ryan’s cheek a friendly little tap—a move I remembered well. “Good to see you again, babe.”
The last of his anger seemed to melt under the glowing attention that she wielded like a weapon. She pulled a phone out of her back pocket. “If you boys will excuse me…” She jiggled it meaningfully. “I’ve got to return some calls.”
She was off and Ryan and I were left standing there wearing matching frowns of confusion. “Thanks for killing the buzz, man,” I said.
He arched his brows. “You chat her up at one party and you think she’s yours?” He smirked. “Think again.” He nodded to the area where she disappeared into the trees to make her calls. “Did you see the way she greeted me? She wants me back.”
I snorted with amusement. “In your dreams, dude.” I shook my head. “Why would you even want her back anyway? She dumped you and left you high and dry. Why would you want to go back to that?”
He scoffed like I’d said something truly hilarious. “Look at her, man. Who wouldn’t want to date that?”
Rage shot through me plain and simple. It wasn’t jealousy just…anger. Inexplicable, just like the effect Rose had on me. “Too bad you’re paying me to get the girl then, isn’t it?” I mocked.
His eyes narrowed. “I’m only paying you if you manage to keep her around for a month. The way I see it…” His gaze followed in her wake. “You can’t even hold her attention for one night.”
I turned to see that she’d disappeared completely.
Crap. He was right. For all I knew that