Not Just Friends (Hot in the City #3) - T. Gephart Page 0,12
her bright pink lips edging wide, “you need a ride home tonight?”
I rolled my eyes, slightly annoyed I’d promised my stupid brother I wouldn’t go home alone even though I’d done it a million times before. “I don’t need the ride. I’m happy to call a cab or an Uber. But I’m positive Tibbs has someone watching to make sure I don’t leave alone.”
“He’s only doing it because he cares. Not saying I wouldn’t accept some of that concern if he were throwing it my way.” Her brows arched, hinting the concern she’d like was a little less platonic.
She did that a lot. Pretended she had deep, dark sexual fantasies about my brother to annoy me. But I knew who she really wanted was Bennett. So, instead of coming clean, admitting she had a thing for the guy we worked with, she went through an intricate charade where she told me she wanted to sleep with my brother, Justin.
“You know, Rae, I think you should go for it. I mean, if he’s busy with you, he can’t really be concerned with me, can he?” I called her bluff, my mood off. Between the pent-up sexual frustration from Jared’s kiss and annoyance from Scott, I wasn’t up to the usual game we played.
Raelle coughed, surprised she’d been given the green light. “What?”
“You and Justin,” I leaned back into my large leather chair. It was wrong that I got joy out of it, but given the status of my evening, I was going to have to take my satisfaction where I could get it. “I bet you guys would make such a cute couple. You want me to call him, set it up? Orrrrrrr maybe I’ll give him your number? Then you can tell him all those naughty things you want to do to him.”
“Okay, stop. You win. And I’ll drive you home, just don’t give him my number. I don’t want to give your brother the wrong idea, and to be honest, I can only deal with one Tibbs at a time.” She held up her hand, conceding quicker than I’d expected.
“Fine, be that way. We could have been sisters, Rae. So it’s totally your loss.” I sighed, pretending to be disappointed. “Oh, well. Guess we’ll have to go back to the original reason I called you in here.”
“Hey, if this is about Leighton, we can skip that too. I wasn’t flirting, and he couldn’t have been less interested if he tried. So let’s go back to me pretending like I didn’t notice the two of you leave together last night and that his hands were waaaaaay too close to your ass. Besides, you know he’s not my type. Anyone who walks through those doors and hands over cash or a credit card is automatically out of the running. And as much as I hate to admit it, cute firefighters with smoking hot bodies aren’t exempt.”
It shouldn’t have made me happy to hear that, but it did. Because I had issues, and it gave me a warped sense of satisfaction to know he hadn’t even tried. Which was stupid because clearly what we’d done had been a one-time deal.
Looked like neither of us were going to be getting laid.
“Actually, it wasn’t about Leighton, but thanks.” And since I wasn’t exactly sure what my feelings were, there was no need to talk about them. Nor did I have the patience of the pretense. The one where I acted like I didn’t give a shit, and Raelle had mis-seen what she had.
Please, she was too smart for that.
“It’s about Scott Collins.”
Rae shook her head, grinning. “Don’t even bother, boo. I hear he’s a terrible lay. Such a shame because he looks like that.” She waved her hands animatedly like she was conjuring up his spirit. “But I heard it’s all just window dressing. Two pump, chump. No stamina, and doesn’t even go down on a girl. Says he doesn’t like the taste.” She rolled her eyes. “And yes, I saw him and his friends slide on past to the VIP room. But trust me, not worth your time or your birth control.”
Raelle wasn’t only the best bartender in my crew, but also one of my best friends. We weren’t looking to join a book club, or share lipstick as we giggled in the bathroom, but when shit went down, Rae was the one woman I could count on. There was no bullshit with her, and even if she hadn’t proven again and again