Filthy English (English #2) - Ilsa Madden-Mills Page 0,38
done.
Relief flickered over his face and he let out a pent-up breath.
I scowled. “You’re acting like you’re some kind of—I don’t know—pissed-off alpha male who’s marking his territory. You don’t own me. We’re friends—”
“Who got to second base in front of the whole damn club,” he snapped.
“I was willing to give you a homerun.” I bit my lip. What about your contract, Remi? Oh, how fast you broke.
He inhaled sharply, his eyes landing on the bodice of my dress then darting away. He took a step back from me and crossed his arms.
“What? You—you don’t like my dress? Look,” I said, holding up one of my feet to show him my shoes. “I wore sensible shoes so I wouldn’t fall.”
“Your dress is too short.”
“I happen to have really long legs.”
“I know. They’ve been wrapped around me several times.”
Oh, he went there. I crossed my arms. Two could play at this game. “What do you want me to wear? A nun’s habit?”
Something—a memory—passed over his face, and his gaze softened. “I don’t know—just dress like you do at Whitman.”
I gaped. “Since when do you pay attention to what I wear?”
He raked his eyes over me. “More than I should. Those tight pants you wear that hug your arse, the little white sweater you like when it’s cool outside . . . and your pearls. I’ve thought about those pearls . . . what I’d like to do with them.”
My stomach fluttered. My pearls? “And my hair? You don’t like it either?”
He closed his eyes briefly. Swallowed. “I love your wild hair, but now I can’t . . . dammit . . . this is all wrong. It’s—it’s been a totally weird day. As soon as Spider cooked breakfast, I should have known it was wonky. Hell, as soon as I saw you here that night, I should have known fate was screwing with me.” He raked a hand through his hair, frustration evident.
“What else happened today?” I put my hand on his shoulder, leftover anger vanishing.
He leaned into me.
“It’s a long story, but Declan mentioned a house for sale in Raleigh. I thought about it and spent most of the day on the phone talking with Father and Declan to work out details. I may buy it. It’s impulsive as hell, but it’s such a good deal that I’m afraid to wait until I get home, plus school will have started by then.”
“I hope it works out for you.” I squeezed his bicep.
He flicked his eyes over me. “Then, Spider told me you guys were coming here tonight, and all I could think about was Chad, and what if he was here too. I had to come. Shit.” He exhaled. “Every guy out there was eye-fucking you, and I was just as bad. Dammit, I didn’t mean to go that far when we were dancing . . .”
Our dancing had gone too far. As soon as he’d touched me, I’d been ready to throw caution to the wind.
I sighed. “It takes two to tango. It’s my fault too. Let’s blame the sexy dancing on the dress or the music or martinis or whatever.” I sucked in a breath. “But we can be friends. We have our contract. I want to be close to you like that.”
He lifted his face, soft gray eyes searching mine. “Christ, me too.”
I smiled tentatively, and he cupped my face and ran his thumb across my bottom lip.
“Friends,” I said with a slight shake in my voice.
He nodded and let his hand fall to his side.
AFTER THE DANCE-FLOOR fiasco, the four of us spent the rest of our time at Masquerade upstairs in the booths. The air had been cleared between Remi and me, and I felt okay about it. Somewhat.
I felt much better when Spider handed over his leather jacket and she wrapped it around her waist. Good thing the rocker wore leather in the summer.
She and Lulu sat across from us, giggling and telling stories about Remi’s propensity for accidents and Lulu growing up in the music industry in Nashville. I asked questions, storing away nuggets of information about Remi. Spider sat back and watched, more interested in slinging back vodka than chatting. Knowing him, he was concocting some sort of bet in his head.
“When I first met Remi in the dorm room, she tripped over a stack of books and landed face first in the trashcan,” Lulu said, laughing.
Remi grinned and rolled her eyes. “Please. I’ve been accident-free for at least a day.”