Dragon's Fake Wedding Date - Riley Storm Page 0,23

there was no heat in her voice. “Is this your doing?”

Claire shrugged. “I felt you two needed to hang out some more before you stick it to that bitch Karen. Get your stories straight on how you met and all that stuff. Besides, I had no idea you two had plans to hang out Monday. You never told me that.”

Blushing, Gayle turned back to Rann, not ready to tell Claire why she’d kept her plans to see Rann to herself. That was a later conversation, perhaps.

“Would you like to come in?” she said nervously.

Why am I nervous? He wouldn’t show up like this if he didn’t have any intentions of coming inside. You know he’s going to say yes. So calm down.

Unless her nerves were because she knew he would come in. Which meant that she would be spending more time with him. Several hours, perhaps. Far more time than she’d spent with him so far.

“I’d like that,” Rann said gently. “I’d like that a lot.”

Gayle stepped back from the door, letting him into her home—and into her life.

The next hour passed too swiftly for her to remember. Rann came inside, and she introduced him to those that didn’t know him, and then they all resumed casually drinking and chatting about life.

“This seat taken?” Rann asked as he returned from the washroom, his question breaking through Gayle’s blurred mind.

She glanced to her right, where Kristin had vacated the couch at some point and was now sitting on the floor in front of Blede, who was idly massaging her shoulders with his fingers while they talked to Jamie and Ben, her fiancé.

You totally did that on purpose, she thought, directing it at Kristin.

The other woman remained oblivious, very carefully looking away from Gayle. Giving her privacy.

“Um, no,” she said, remembering she actually had to answer Rann, lest he remain standing in the middle of the room. That would draw even more unwanted attention to her. “You can sit there if you want.”

“Well, maybe I do want,” he teased, sitting down, careful to leave some space between them.

It wasn’t much though. With the other two occupants of the sofa besides her being Rann and Sache, there was a bare minimum of space between them—even with Gayle pulled up into a ball in the corner. If she bent her big toe, the two of them would practically be touching.

You’ve already hugged him though. Why is this such a big deal? You’re just sitting on a couch together. There are other people around you. It’s not like it’s going to matter that much. Your legs brushing against one another is no big deal.

Wasn’t it? Right now they were sitting together, but they weren’t together-together. Not like the other couples in the room. One of her friends would notice if they started sitting closer together, though, and that would bring up some questions that Gayle didn’t have the answers to yet.

He certainly does fit in well though.

She’d been surprised to hear that Rann already knew both Trent and Pietro—seemingly quite well, in fact—and was also familiar enough with Sache and Blede to chat easily amongst any of them.

He’d not limited himself to just those he knew, which was perhaps what had caught her eye the most. Several times since his arrival, he’d gotten into deep conversations with her other friends. In fact, before he’d left for the washroom, he’d just excused himself from chatting with Andrea and her boyfriend Patrick.

She wondered again at his familiarity with the other men. They all seemed to know one another, in a vague sort of way. They must have something in common.

Beside her, Rann shifted slightly, the movement pulling his shirt taut across his bicep, making it bulge deliciously. She eyed the rest of his firmly-muscled upper body for a moment, admiring ever stiff bulge and curve.

Maybe they all go to the same gym? That would certainly explain everything.

Gayle felt herself biting on her lip and made herself stop. She needed to stop analyzing Rann and simply enjoy the party. It was her birthday party, after all, and she wasn’t going to spend it focused on figuring out who Rann was and what was going on between them, if anything.

I just got dumped yesterday. Yesterday. I don’t need to replace him in my life. I need to figure out who I am and what I want. If it takes me a few weeks, or months, to figure out where I am and what I need, then so be it.

Still…what