I knew I was reading too much into the last five minutes, but that “we” sounded like a thing. And no matter how much my treacherous privates were clamoring for “things,” I had to stay strong.
I walked over to José, who was now cooing over the buffet table and taking photos with his phone. I pinched his shoulder and pointed at my cheek, asking for a kiss hello.
“Y que, Nena? You didn’t fall on your cute ass fast enough for me not to see you were getting up close and personal with Mr. Quinn. Mmmm.” He literally moaned. “Not that I blame you. He looks good in a suit, but those jeans are something else.” He pointed a very not casual finger at Rocco—who was now in one of the dozen huge leather seats chatting with Dani and Salome.
I lifted a shoulder and passed him a plate. Getting him distracted with free food was the only weapon I had. “Here. This looks good, right?”
José started putting stuff on his plate. “Uh-huh, amazing, chicken wings and baby carrots,” he said distractedly, as he piled stuff on his plate and gestured in Rocco’s direction again. “What was happening with you two when we walked in? It looked intense.” His stage whisper was not low at all, because why not have my life out for public consumption?
I avoided looking at José and kept putting shit on my own plate as I compulsively looked over at the man in question. He seemed to be focused on whatever he was reading on his phone though.
“What’s he doing?”
“Looking fine is what he is doing.”
I ignored José and kept staring at him like a creep. After a moment, he put his phone down, and stretched to grab the bottle of water on the table in front of the huge leather recliners that overlooked the field. I could see the top of his tattoo peeking out from his tee and I legit shuddered.
* * *
“Damn, friend, now I really want to know what you two were up to. It may have been a while since the lure of the dick had me addled and confused, but I can still recognize the symptoms.”
I rolled my eyes at José munching on a tortilla chip hard enough to dislocate something. “Nothing happened.”
José’s mouth twisted to the side. He, of course, was not buying it. “Gurl, who are you trying to fool? But fine, suit yourself. I’m just going to say this—he’s been sending you the same looks you’re giving him. Neither of you are very good at being coy.”
I laughed at that as we both grabbed our plates and headed to the bar. “Gee, thanks.” It occurred to me that Tariq was still not here, and he was supposed to arrive with José.
“Where’s Tariq?” Just as I asked the question, the man himself came through the door.
“Hey, guys.” I couldn’t blame José for looking a little peaked—that boy’s smile was a force of nature. He came in and kissed and hugged his way through the group and then zeroed in on his biggest fan. As per usual, José’s attention fell solely on the new arrival, and I was free from further interrogation. I was not the only one who was getting distracted with a fellow member of the GEC.
As José helped Tariq get some food and drinks, I walked over to where Salome, Dani, and Rocco were sitting.
Salome winked at me as Dani inspected my plate.
“Looks like there’s stuff for me to eat. At least I won’t starve since José tricked me into being DD today.” I laughed at Dani’s aggravated tone and nodded.
“Yeah, there are lots of veggie-friendly choices.”
“I’ll go look too,” Salome piped in and soon those two were off, which left Rocco and me on our own again.
Rocco leaned in to inspect my plate too and I got another whiff of him. He smelled earthy and little bit like an essential oil of some kind. I was not going to press my nose to his neck to figure it out though.
“What’d you get?” Why did him asking me about ranch dressing and seven-layer dip sound pornographic?
I was too flustered to respond with something appropriate, so I did what any sane person would do in an emergency situation. I stuffed my mouth with chicken and pressed a celery stick to his mouth.
* * *
The game was about halfway in and I’d finally managed to get my shit together after what had been a very close call. Rocco was