"I don't know, you're the wingman."
"But I've never done this before."
"Which is why I'm kind of curious to see what you come up with." He raised his left eyebrow at me.
Stop being so sexy! "Okay, I have an idea." I grabbed Rory's arm and dragged him over to the dance floor to dance with me.
His hands slid to my waist as the song suddenly changed to a slow paced one. "Shit, sorry," I mumbled. But I wasn't sorry at all. I loved the feeling of his hands on me. The smell of him was quickly engulfing me. This was the most intimate we had been since we had slept together.
"That's okay," he whispered. He looked over my head. He wasn't noticing me at all.
"So what is she doing?" I asked.
"She moved to the side of the dance floor and is just talking to her friends."
"Hopefully she'll come back out after this song."
"Yeah, or else you're a terrible wingman," he said and smiled down at me.
I heard a buzzing noise and Rory pulled his cell out of his pocket. There was a message from Connor that said, "Sorry I couldn't make it. Still good for poker night?"
I looked away from it. Any thought I had of this being a date quickly disappeared. That's what I got for eavesdropping. Part of me was hoping that he had never even invited Connor and Jackson. I took a deep breath. Stick to the plan.
Rory put his phone back in his pocket without texting Connor back. His hand returned to my waist. I looked up into his hazel eyes, even though they weren't on me. He was so handsome.
As soon as the music sped up again, I turned around and put my ass against him. The blonde girl and her friends had returned to the dance floor, fortunately even closer than they had been before. I dipped low, pulling out my best dance move. Rory pulled my waist in closer. I smiled to myself and reached my hand up behind his neck. "Spin me," I whispered.
"I'm kind of liking this." His breath was warm against the back of my neck.
Me too. I closed my eyes tight. "Trust me," I said.
He grabbed my hand and twirled me. I pulled back more than he expected and ran right into the girl with blonde hair.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," I said.
She gave me a dirty look.
What a jerk. I literally just apologized to you. "Hey, have you met Rory?" I pointed toward him.
He gave the girl one of his dazzling smiles.
"No, hi," she said and held out her hand.
"Want to dance?" asked Rory. Before she could respond, he grabbed her hand and pulled her in close.
She laughed as he spun her around.
I realized I was awkwardly standing there staring at them. I quickly walked off the dance floor and sat down at the bar. Phase one was complete. However bad I was at being a wingman, I had successfully gotten him together with the girl he had picked out. Watching them together wasn't fun at all though.
"You're not a great dancer," a deep voice said.
I looked up at the man sitting down next to me. He was smiling at me.
"I'm actually a really good dancer. I was just helping out a friend." I used my beer to point at the blonde girl grinding against Rory. Slut. I downed the rest of my beer.
"Two more beers over here," he said.
"Thanks." I smiled at him. He reminded me a lot of my most recent ex. The same ex who got engaged several months after he dumped me, even though he had said he just wasn't ready to settle down. I hated men.
"Cheers to a fun night," the stranger said and held up his beer.
I picked up the beer that the bartender had just given me. Now it was time for phase two. "Cheers," I said and clinked my bottle against his. "So, what's your name?"
"Brian."
"It is nice to meet you, Brian. I'm Keira."
"So, Keira, do you usually wingman for your friend? What's her name?"
Of course he thought I was wingmanning for one of my girlfriends, not Rory. I didn't feel like explaining the awkward situation. I looked over at Rory and the blonde girl. "Jessica," I lied. "And no, I don't usually. But she's been having a rough couple days. Her boyfriend just broke up with her and she's desperate." Her hands were all over Rory. It was hard to watch.
Brian laughed. "She does look kind of desperate."
I smiled and peeled my eyes away from them. "So how about I prove to you that I'm actually a good dancer?"
"Sounds good to me." He put his hand on the small of my back and escorted me to the dance floor.
When he stopped, I grabbed his arm and pulled him over closer to Rory. I needed Rory to notice me ignoring him. I quickly turned around and wrapped my hands around the back of Brian's neck. He smiled down at me.
"So what do you think?" I said as he spun me around and grabbed my waist with one hand.
"You're right, you're not so bad."
"Not so bad?" I spun around again and let myself get lost in the music. It felt good to have someone's sole attention.
"You're so good that you're even stealing the attention from the guy you set your friend up with."
"Really?" I looked over at Rory. If he had been looking at me, he wasn't anymore. He was making out with the blonde girl. Fuck you, Jessica! I couldn't help but laugh at myself. I began to wonder what the odds were that her name actually was Jessica.
"Are you okay?" Brian asked.
I realized I had stopped dancing and was staring at them. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. You know what though? I forgot that I have an important meeting tomorrow morning and I have to wake up really early, so I'm going to get going." I couldn't watch them kissing in the middle of the dance floor. I felt sick to my stomach.
"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked as we both got off the dance floor.
Walk me home? I didn't usually hang out in bars. But it seemed like a walk home was synonymous with a one night stand. And I never wanted to have another one of those again. All I wanted was Rory. Over and over and over again. But part of my master plan to win Rory over was to go on a date with another man. I needed to make Rory jealous. But I definitely didn't want to lead Brian on. It would be better if I went on a date with a pretend man. "No, that's okay. It was really nice meeting you, though, Brian."
"You too, Keira. Hopefully I'll see you here again one night."
I smiled at him and disappeared through the crowd. The fresh air immediately calmed me down. When I was walking with Rory, I hadn't noticed how far away the bar was. But now that I was alone the walk seemed endless. My heels clicking on the sidewalk was starting to drive me crazy.
I wasn't sure how long I could play it cool around Rory. Seeing him with that girl was really hard. Two days into my plan and I was already feeling desperate again.
Chapter 20
Ouch. I had fallen asleep at my desk writing and my back was killing me. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. The paper in front of me was filled with notes about what I had tried so far. At the top was written, "How to Play with a Player." Ever since Rory had moved in, I hadn't been able to write. Until now. I had a feeling my editor was going to love it.
I opened up my laptop and typed up my idea for the article. The only problem was that my editor was going to expect me to follow through, and I wasn't sure if I could. Rory had made it clear that the one night we had spent together was all we'd ever have. I was quickly running out of ideas on how to be sexy and fun, yet unattached. All I wanted was for him to ask me out for a romantic dinner and sweep me off my feet.