Not Just Friends (Hot in the City #3) - T. Gephart Page 0,46

my jeans while she did the same and fished her panties from the floor.

“You should probably go back out there. Tibbs is going to wonder where you’ve been.” Her panties dangled from her fingers, making no attempt to slip them back on.

Oh.

Fuck.

It wasn’t like I’d forgotten about Tibbs, or his lack of knowledge, but it was hard to think of anything other than Presley when she was standing in front of me. Probably how I was able to literally leave him at the table and then go fuck his sister. Still, while I was positive he wasn’t going to like it—the danger of a physical confrontation very real—I wasn’t going to run from it either.

“You want me to tell him? Because Presley, I will. I’ll go right out there and let him know.”

“Are you crazy?” She laughed, her eyes widening once she saw I was serious. “You know he’s going to be a complete asshole about it and cause a scene. I don’t want that at the club, especially not when I have a crowd. We should tell him, but we need to find the right moment. In the meantime, my life and who I’m sleeping with aren’t any of his business.”

Yeah, she had a point there. Tibbs wasn’t exactly known for being level-headed and reasonable, the audience not enough of a deterrent to stop the explosion.

“So we wait. I’m sure once everything cools down with Lewis and everything else, it won’t be so bad.” It was wishful thinking but there was no point losing any sleep over it in the meantime. Tibbs would have to get over it, and he had to know the last person on earth who’d disrespect Presley would be me.

“Agreed. You should probably go back to your little party.” Her brow rose, waiting for my response.

“You think that’s what I’m going to do? Leave you and then go off with one of them? You know that isn’t happening. If Tibbs wasn’t sitting beside me, they wouldn’t have even bothered. Everything had been going just fine until he showed up.”

Presley closed her eyes, shaking her head as she cursed under her breath. “Right, everything was fine until Raelle called Tibbs. I swear, I’m going to kill her.”

Not that I didn’t disagree that the need to call her brother was unnecessary—didn’t need my hand held—but how that warranted Raelle’s death didn’t add up. “Why? Because she made the call?”

“No.” Presley huffed out a breath. “Because she knows he’s basically a whore and there’d be women too. She knew about us, and this was her way of forcing our hand. She played us both.”

“So you were jealous?” The smile edged at my lips.

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe a little.”

It was cute, that she thought she’d be so easily replaced by a cheap knock off. “Or maybe she was just showing me what I didn’t want. Let’s not kill her just yet.”

“True, and to be honest trying to replace her mid shift would be such a pain. I’ll at least wait until I find another bartender.” She shrugged, like she was actually giving it some thought.

“Now that we have that sorted,” I kissed her, finding it hard to stop, “I better go deal with Tibbs. And in case there’s any confusion, I’ll be driving you home.”

“You don’t think he’s going to ask any questions?”

“Just leave that up to me.”

Jared

TIBBS WAS A simple man. You put a woman in front of him and the room could be on fire and he’d only notice after he started to choke on the smoke. With two, the poor bastard would burn alive in that room. Which was why when I walked back to the table, my buzz still riding high after sex with Presley, I wasn’t surprised to see him making out with both of the girls. He didn’t even ask where I’d gone, thankful that when I’d returned I’d brought beer with me.

As an added bonus, the two ladies weren’t just interested in dry-humping and making out, the suggestion they leave and find somewhere more private happening sooner than later. Tibbs was conflicted for about three seconds, fisting his keys and waving me goodbye the minute I’d reassured him I’d drive Presley home.

Couldn’t have gone better if I’d planned it myself, thankful for Raelle and her evil genius plan, even if I didn’t like being a pawn in anyone’s game.

So while I spent the rest of the night solo, I was far from bored. My eyes followed Presley around the room like