Crazy In Love (Secrets of Suburbia #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,1
even if he still cared, he wouldn’t soon enough. That was the whole point. I ran my fingers down the condensation on my glass.
“Why are you glaring at me?”
I looked up. He’d walked over and was now staring at me rather accusingly. “I wasn’t.” I hadn’t been glaring at him. Had I? I took a sip of my drink.
“You’re shutting down my game.”
I laughed. “What game?” He wasn’t supposed to be flirting with other women tonight. I had worn this ridiculous outfit for him. He was supposed to be flirting with me and only me.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” He sat down in the stool next to mine. “You really shouldn’t leave your drink unsupervised.”
He was the one that should be worried about that tonight. Not me. “I’m a very trusting person.” I wasn’t. Not anymore.
“I don’t know what kind of places someone like you usually hangs out, but if you’re such a trusting person, trust me…this is not the kind of bar you leave your drink unsupervised in.”
I looked around at all the smiling faces and tasteful Christmas decorations. This bar was upscale. Classy even. What on earth was he talking about? “This place seems nice to me.”
He shrugged and took a pull from his drink.
“I think my company paid good money to have our workshop here.”
“Workshop?”
“Team-building.” I smiled. “Which is ridiculous because I loathe everyone I work with.”
“Is that so?”
“Devastatingly so.” I put my hand out. “I’m Ensley Hill.”
“Noah Thompson.”
Interesting. I wasn’t sure what kind of game he was playing tonight. But he sure as hell didn’t know mine.
Instead of shaking my hand, he grabbed it and kissed my knuckles. His fingers trailed up the inside of my wrist and I shivered.
Well, at least we were on the same page there. I had him where I wanted him. Now I just needed to escalate things before the bar got even more crowded. My husband loved when I was forward during these sessions. Hopefully tonight would be no different.
“I have to wonder,” I said, dropping his hand and leaning closer to him, “if this is a bar filled with such heathens, why on earth are you here?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m one of them.” His eyes twinkled like it was the best pickup line ever.
News flash. It wasn’t. And this wasn’t a dingy bar in the middle of the city. We were in the suburbs for goodness sake. Here I was thinking I was bad at role-playing. But he took the crown. “Does that line always work? You hang out here trying to pick up women from these conventions regularly?”
“Only when they’re as beautiful as you.”
I laughed. A real, belly aching laugh. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to make me jealous or make me smile. Yes, he was gorgeous. But his game was garbage. Still, I leaned in closer. “And does that line usually work?”
“I don’t know. You tell me, beautiful. I’ve never used it before.”
My smile faded. When was the last time my husband had called me beautiful? The word falling from his lips twice was hard to ignore. What if my plan wasn't as flawless as I thought? Something about the way he was looking at me made me feel like it was time to abort my mission. Just because I had been hurt didn't mean I wanted to hurt him. “It’s not awful," I said.
He laughed and called the bartender over to refill our glasses.
When he wasn't staring at me, it was easy to remember the coldness in my husband's eyes the past few months. Even easier to remember what he'd done and had been doing for months now. He flashed me his perfect smile and all I felt now was resolve.
My husband needed to pay for what he'd done. I had a plan and I wasn't one for not following through. Hell, I'd married him even when I'd had cold feet. That was commitment, even if I regretted it now.
Now all I needed was a distraction. Originally I thought I’d just knock my own glass onto the floor. But I found myself being distracted by his lips. One kiss wouldn’t hurt my plans. If anything it would make the night progress a little easier. Faster even. And I needed to be out of these stupid clothes and happily asleep in my own bed. Alone.
I ran the side of my foot up his shin. “My company spared no expense and even got us all single rooms here. No awkward roommates.”