a refill. Before we made it there, she decided to hit the ladies’ room, so I decided to go get some air.
I headed out of the ballroom and back down the sweeping stairs, and out the front entrance of the hotel. I looked around at the masked people still arriving for the party, unloading from cars.
Okay, so I was totally looking for Cary.
And then… I saw him.
He was here.
Goosebumps erupted across my skin.
He made it. He made it to the party.
Well… almost.
I saw the familiar cut of his shoulders. The black dress shirt, sleeves rolled up below the elbow. The black dress pants. His tall, lean form like a shadow, just beyond the traffic loop. I darted between the limos and taxis and up the little path between the sculpted shrubbery—and there he stood, at the top of a few stairs leading down to the public sidewalk. Just standing next to a giant stone plant pot with shrubbery growing out of it, like he was part of the stonework or something. A handsome gargoyle.
He had his back to me, but I would know Cary Clarke anywhere. The soft waves of his blondish hair. That butt. He had his hands in the pockets of his pants and they were snug on his ass cheeks.
I smacked his ass as I came up beside him. “Where the hell have you been?”
He looked down at me from the shadowy eye slits of the coolest masquerade mask I’d ever seen. It was completely silver, covered most of his face except his beautiful mouth and jaw, and he half-smiled at me. The mask had exaggerated, sculpted features, with dramatic eyebrows, sharp cheekbones, and a beautiful scrolling design that made up the lines of the forehead. Even though there was no mouth, there was so much expression around the eyes that I could tell one side was laughing and one side was crying, like the comedy / tragedy masks of ancient theater.
“Wait, never mind that,” I amended in awe. “Where the hell did you get that mask?”
He shrugged. “Where do I get anything? Internet.”
“You came,” I gushed. “You look incredible. That is the coolest mask I’ve ever seen.”
“Sorry I’m late,” he said.
Before I could respond, I heard my best friend’s voice. “Taylor!” I turned to find Danica climbing out of a limo, wearing a gorgeous, fluttery dress in pastel layers, with glittering, pastel butterfly wings and a matching mask. She was with Haz, Ashley’s bodyguard. A man stepped out of the limo behind her… in black leather pants, no shirt, tattoos, and—
“I’m sorry, I have to take that back,” I told Cary. “That is the coolest mask I’ve ever seen.”
Ash’s mask was big, black-and-gold, demonic, and featured a set of massive, twisted horns. He stuck his tongue out through the mouth hole and waggled it in our direction.
“You guys coming in?” Danica called over, but none of them headed our way. Obviously, they recognized Cary, too.
I realized he hadn’t moved from his spot. He didn’t even turn to face the hotel.
“In a minute!” I told them. They were rallying up with Zane, Maggie, Elle and Seth, who had climbed out of the limo behind them. Both thankfully and regrettably, Zane wasn’t naked. He was fully dressed in a Viking get-up, including war paint and a bronze metal mask.
“We’ll see you inside!” Danica called out as they all headed up the steps into the hotel.
I turned back to Cary. “Where were we? Oh, yeah. I was freaking out over the fact that you’re here. And you look incredible.”
“Taylor,” he said, looking me over carefully, “you look fucking breathtaking.”
“Purrr-fect,” I said, playing up my cat theme in the cheesiest way possible, which won me a tiny smile. “Then you’ll come inside with me?”
“That was the idea. Actually… I wanted to walk in there alone. I wanted to surprise you.”
“Then what are you doing out here?” I asked him gently.
“Trying to find my balls?”
“Hmm.” I reached down and cupped his balls, giving them a gentle squeeze. Then I remembered what Dean had said about guys and their balls, and fondled them a little. “Well, I found them. Let’s go.” I hooked my arm through his.
But he didn’t budge.
“You’re not pissed that I’m late?”
“Nope.”
“You’re not pissed that you had to come alone?”
“I didn’t come alone. I came with friends.”
Actually, he seemed pissed. At himself. “You’re not pissed that I left you fucking dangling, wondering if I was coming at all?”
“Let me think.” I pretended to think about it. “Nope. Not mad