Fuck. Dylan stopped himself from saying the word out loud—barely—but seriously, fuuuuck.
Just as he leaned in to whisper his closing line into Mia’s ear, he caught a pair of blue eyes gaping at him from a seat by the window. Blue eyes he’d recently become intimately acquainted with. Including the way they looked clenched shut in pleasure.
Except now they were wide open, watching him cop a feel. Could this day get any worse?
He yanked his hand away from Mia, then gave Dani a smile and a head nod. She was alone, but there was a beer at the place setting across from her and a man’s coat hung on the back of the chair.
He swallowed hard, something bitter stinging the back of his throat. Was she on a date? Maybe she was just with a coworker, a business meeting.
No. This wasn’t a business meeting type of place. Not that any of that mattered to him.
“Dylan?” Mia looked up at him with big brown bedroom eyes, her lip between her teeth.
“Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you want to get a car.” She trailed a finger down the buttons of his shirt.
This was his cue, but for some reason his answer stuck to his tongue, his previous line disappearing into thin air.
What the hell? Of course he wanted to get a car. That’s why he was there, but he also had a cat-killing curiosity about whose jacket that was on the stool across from Dani. And he should probably go say hello, right? Any other time he would go say hello. “Yeah,” he said, giving Mia a smile and a wink. “Just give me a minute. I see a friend I want to say hi to.”
“Ok. I’ll come with you.”
Fuck. “Great.”
He zig-zagged through the crowd, Mia at his heels, until he got to Dani’s table. She looked spectacular—tight dress, knockout heels. A memory of her in those little lace boy shorts, her hair loose and wild, flashed in his brain, making his mouth go dry.
“Dani-pie.” He leaned in for a hug, pressing his lips to her forehead, then shoved his hands in his pockets so Mia wouldn’t get any ideas about holding his. God, he was a dick.
“Hi, Dylan.” Dani’s eyes flicked to his date.
He cleared his throat. “This is Mia.”
Dani gave Mia a smile that was entirely disingenuous, and a little thrill slid down his spine. Then he mentally kicked himself for it.
“Nice to meet you, Mia.”
“You here with a date?” he asked, glancing at the jacket.
“Um. Yeah.” She gestured to the street. “He just had to step outside.”
Dylan’s jaw clenched. As hypocritical as it was, given the woman standing beside him ordering them up an Uber, hearing about Dani’s dating life after he’d seen her naked was intolerable.
Mia seemed to pick up on the tension. She looked between them suspiciously. “How do you two know each other?”
“Uh, my best friend married Dani’s best friend,” Dylan said safely.
Dani’s fake smile fell. “Yup, Josh and I are old friends.” She looked pointedly at him and he winced. For God’s sake, he knew how to run into a woman he’d slept with. It happened more than he liked to admit. But for some reason, this time felt different.
Mia’s gaze drifted to the crowd as she seemingly tired of this awkward little dance playing out in front of her. “I’m going to head to the ladies room,” she said. “Dylan, I’ll meet you at the door.”
Dani watched her go, then turned a tight smile in his direction. Tension whipped and crackled between them, making his palms sweat. Why should this be uncomfortable? He knew he was going to see Dani again, obviously. And seeing her with another guy was perfectly normal. But when he’d kissed her forehead, and she’d wrapped those surprisingly strong arms around his back, that coat and beer across from her had taunted him, sucking all of the enjoyment out of it. Normal was weird now and he fucking hated weird.
“All right, Dani-pie. This is a little uncomfortable, right?”
She smiled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He glanced after Mia, glad when he didn’t spot her. “You’re the one who said you wanted things to go back to normal.” Unless you changed your mind and you want to go back to you and me in that hotel room.
“This is normal.”
“Totally. I just wanted to make sure you thought so.”
“Well, I guess we’re all good, then.”
She crossed her arms to end it there but he wasn’t letting her off that easy. “Are you coming to my Fourth of July party?”
Dani’s lips parted and she stuttered at the quick subject change. “No.”
“Why the hell not?” She’d been there last year, just like he’d been to Emma’s Christmas Cocktails get together, and he’d run in that charity 5K Sonya’s hospital sponsored. Josh and Cat’s relationship meant they all spent holidays and stuff together. It had been that way for two years now.
Dani leaned back in her stool. “Dylan…”
“Bring your date if you want.” His hand curled into a fist at his side at the thought, but whatever got her there. This new dynamic was unsustainable and they both knew it. Dani had said she wanted things to go back to the way they were, and her coming to his party was the way they were, goddamnit.
She chewed her lip. “Are you inviting Mia?”
“Nah, she’s more of a ‘when I’m in town’ type of friend.”
Dani rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine, letting him dangle. It was working. Moisture formed on the back of his neck as he waited. He could hear his heart beat like a loud clock ticking in a silent room. For whatever reason, he really wanted her to come.
“It’s a little late to find a date,” she finally said.
“Or come alone.” He shrugged. “You know you’ll have a good time.”
Her pretty lips pursed and all of his blood rushed downward.
“Fine. I’ll come.”
His breath whooshed out, and he mentally pumped a fist in the air. He’d count that as a win.
Six
Dani opted to walk to Bruno’s, though she’d spent the entire seven blocks looking over her shoulder for dark SUVs. Sonya was right—only her. After Dylan had left with Mia, and Nick had returned, giving her some story about it being his mother on the phone, she’d pulled out one of her ready-made excuses and left him with a full beer and the basket of bread to himself.
How the hell had she let herself get set up with a drug kingpin? That was probably romanticizing it. For all she knew, Nick was just selling weed to high school kids.