by Piper Rayne
Minute Man: Care for a refresher course? I’m sitting alone in my apartment, you can swing by.
My body is screaming yes, yes, oh God what is wrong with you? YES! But I cannot allow my body to make the decisions where Dean’s concerned.
Me: It’s girl’s night. Gotta go. Have fun.
Minute Man: Okay, I’ll just pop in Steel Magnolias. I can never get enough of the female star.
I swallow, cross my legs and uncross them. God, why am I this aroused just knowing he’s watching the same DVD I watched a few nights ago? The one I almost took a lighter to last night because my willpower was waning.
Me: Have fun because that will never happen again.
Minute Man: Oh, sweet Chelsea, I’ll be under you again. I guarantee that.
My mind blanks. I have no smart comments to hammer back at him. I sit there staring at the text he sent because as much as I hate it, I’m woman enough to admit that this is the one time I hope I’m wrong and he’s right.
Chapter Eleven
A knock lands on my door at six o’clock on Saturday.
I twist the cap back on the mascara, examine myself in the mirror, and take a deep breath, silently telling myself that I’ve got this. I only have to be alone with him on the way there and back. A nice goodbye at the end of the evening and I’m done.
A knock hits my door again.
“Always impatient,” I murmur, leaving the bathroom and heading to the door. “You got this,” I remind myself.
I open the door and my pep talks from the past hour were all for naught. Dean stands there in a pair of black jeans, a black V-neck shirt with a black leather jacket over the top. His hair is styled messier than during his work day. He really is trying to torture me. Did he put on Chapstick? His lips are a light pink, his dark eyes even more mysterious when paired with an all-black wardrobe.
“I’m game if you want to stay in.” He walks past me into my apartment.
Uninvited I may add.
The only good thing about his entrance is that I get a view of his ass. Don’t worry, it matches the ensemble perfectly.
“The polite thing to do is wait to be invited in.”
He circles around, hands in his pockets. “You know I ain’t got no manners.”
I giggle. Giggle. Like a damn school girl! At least I stopped it quickly.
“Let me grab my coat and we can get this over with.” I breeze past him toward the hallway.
“Usually my dates beg for more.”
I ignore the stab of pain in my chest at his comment while he follows me down the hall to the closet. When the two of us are in the darkened small space, it feels like I’m suffocating. I should’ve turned the light on.
His cologne. Wait, cologne? Dean never used to wear cologne.
He leans forward to look into my bedroom. “What are you doing?” I step back. “Excuse me.” I place my hand on his chest to push him back. Wrong move. The hard muscles tense under my touch.
“Just getting the lay of the land so we don’t bump into any walls tonight.” It’s too dark to see his expression, but I’d bet his eyes are lit up like Michigan Avenue at Christmas.
“You’re incorrigible.”
“After you doubted my skills the other night, I have to do some legwork. You know I’m not a young buck anymore.”
“Yeah, need a cane yet, twenty-six?” I shake my head.
“Twenty-seven,” he corrects, and my shoulders falter a little. “It’s okay, I forgive you.”
His birthday is in February, so he’s already turned twenty-seven. Fuck me. Why do I feel so bad for not remembering? I bet he doesn’t remember mine.
“You forgive me?” I grab the coat off the hanger because I need to escape this area. It’s like a sexual trifecta with him, me and a bed five-feet away.
“You could make it up to me...give me a belated birthday gift,” he says from behind me.
“I can only imagine what you had in mind.” I stop in the family room and push one arm into my coat when suddenly the back of the coat is held up for me.
“Nah, you never were the birthday blow job kinda girl, were you?”
I say nothing because there’s currently a fire igniting between my thighs and I know it’s only going to spread.
“I think you loved my cock more than I did,” he says in a low, gravelly voice.
There it goes, a full five-alarm fire between my thighs.
I slide my arm through my other sleeve. His fingers brush the nape of my neck as he straightens the collar.
“November third,” he whispers my birthday into my ear. “Figured you were wondering.”
“You figured wrong.” I move to the table to grab my clutch, my eyes never meeting his. “I don’t like to be late.” I yank open the door, but he grabs the edge, motioning for me to go first.
I was so wrong about this only being a ride. I’m not sure myself or my panties are going to survive.
Somehow, I did just that—survive. Mostly because I made sure to stay on my side of the Uber car. Thankfully, Dean took the signal and stayed on the opposite side. We discussed RISE mostly, he wanted more information on the charity he only volunteered his services to help so that he could have a “casual” run-in with me.
I admit, Hannah’s right, I like the fact that he sought me out way more than I should.
We make our way into the building and one of the three doormen direct us to the elevator and steps in with us.
“Why did Hannah start RISE again?” Dean asks, dangerously close to me.
“Because her ex was an asshole.”
The doorman glances over his shoulder with a smirk.
“Those damn ex-husbands,” Dean jokes. “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”
Giggle number two. I’m going to count them the entire evening, so if you’d like to grab a piece of scrap paper, you’d be doing me a service.
“I could live without mine.”
His hand lands on my hip. It doesn’t mold, just stays there and the heat between us makes it feel like he’s branding me.
The elevator dings and the doorman holds his hand on the doors so they don’t close on us. Dean’s hand finds the small of my back to lead me out.
“Have a good night.” The gentleman nods to us.
“You as well. Thank you.” Dean puts out his hand, shakes it with what I assume is money.
“Where did the farm boy go?” I ask.
“I told you I’ve changed.” He shrugs.
We stop in front of a woman dressed in black and white who’s holding her hands out. “May I?”
Dean helps me with my coat and hands it over to the woman, and then sheds his leather jacket. For some reason, I have a momentary lapse of judgment. Before he hands it over, I twirl around and place a hand on his chest. “Don’t go stripping away the old you completely.”
He smiles down at me, his hand covers mine and we stare into each other’s eyes for a moment. I want to look away. I need to look away.
“Chelsea!”
Thank God.
“I’ll be keeping that.” Dean keeps his jacket, sliding his arms back through the sleeves, leaving his cool persona intact.
“You look gorgeous.” Victoria approaches, Reed at her side. “Spin.”
“No.”
“Come on, spin.” Victoria’s eyes are expectant. Are they handing out crack at this party? What the hell is wrong with her?
“No.”
Dean steps up beside me and links his fingers through mine and holds our hands up in the air between us. For some reason that I can’t fathom, I don’t pull away.
“Oh, I’m not supposed to like you,” Victoria says with dreamy eyes.
“You’re Victoria?” Dean asks.
Reed steps closer, putting his arm around his woman and planting his hand on her hip. “And I’m Reed.”
“Down dog,” I joke. “This is Dean.”
“Dean?” Reed questions and then he removes his hand from Victoria and ex
tends it out to Dean. “The ex-husband?”
“The one and only.” Dean shakes his hand while still holding my arm up with his free hand. I fight to lower my hand, but he’s stronger and wins out.
I spin quickly to get it over with. Victoria claps. “Just gorgeous. Love the dress.”
I swear she’s transformed into Mary Poppins since Reed came into her life.
“I couldn’t agree more, Victoria.” Dean’s hand extends to Victoria.
She stares at it and then glances to me, hesitantly letting Dean’s big hand swallow her petite one.
“You look beautiful. Spin,” I say back to her with a shit-eating grin.
She laughs, spinning without the assistance of Reed. Even does a curtsey.
“Reed, are you giving her drugs?” I ask.
He chuckles and kisses her temple. “If happiness is a drug, then she’s overdosed.”
I roll my eyes. “They’re newly together.” I point to the happy couple and look at Dean.
He nods. “Hopefully they’ll rub off on you.”
I roll my eyes and glance around the room, trying to spot Hannah’s German Shepard, Lucy. When I don’t spot her trying to climb up anyone’s leg, I turn to Victoria.
“Where’s Lucy?” I ask.
“Hannah said things did not go well when the caterers came to start setting up, so she begged Tad to take her for the evening.
I chuckle. “She’s going to owe him big time.”
“Who’s Lucy?” Dean asks.
Before I can respond, Reed spots someone behind me. “Raegan!” Reed raises his hand and Victoria slides to the side to see past Dean.
“Oh. My. God.” Victoria’s face pales.
“I told you, she doesn’t like me. See, she brought a date with her.” Reed argues against Victoria’s jealousy of a lawyer who did some intellectual property work for us pro bono. He introduced us to her and she helped us out of a jam.
Victoria’s hand smacks Reed in the stomach. “Give me some credit.” Her eyes find mine and her voice lowers. “It’s the silver fox.”
“What?” I spin around and sure as shit, the silver fox is helping Raegan with her coat and handing it to the lady who just took mine.
I spin back around to Victoria, my gaze scanning the immediate area for Hannah.
“Last we saw her, she was on her way to the kitchen to make sure everything was going smoothly.” Victoria bites her lip.
“What am I missing?” Reed asks. “Is that Hannah’s boyfriend?”
“NO!” we both screech.
“It’s her ex-husband’s attorney,” Victoria says.
“Divorce attorney,” I clarify.
“So, he might be more hated than me at this party?” Dean asks.
Reed and Victoria laugh.
“I don’t hate you,” Reed chimes in.
“I don’t…” I narrow my eyes at Victoria. “Let’s find Hannah,” she suggests.
Whose side is she on?
“I’ll be back.” I eye the silver fox and then Dean.
“I make friends easily.” He slips his hands into his pockets and shrugs.
“I’ll show you to the bar.” Reed nods in the direction of the other room.
Dean’s smile dims slightly for the first time tonight and my stomach flips. His smile returns after a moment and he leans forward so his lips are at my ear. “Relax. As I think you remember, I’m a big boy.”
I suck in a breath and he winks, nodding his head in the direction I need to head in.
Go Chels. Move your feet. Up and down. You’ve been doing it since you were eleven months old.
His hand lands on my back and he nudges me forward.
“Come on.” Victoria’s already ten steps ahead of me, her expression telling me we don’t have time to waste. There’s a bomb we have to diffuse, and it’s set to go off soon.
Victoria and I meet Hannah as she’s coming out of the kitchen. She’s elegant in a conservative yet sexy champagne colored dress. Her long chestnut hair flowing down over her exposed shoulders, her smile bright and welcoming.
“Chelsea, hi. Is Dean here?” She pulls me into a light embrace and we half attempt to kiss each other’s cheek without messing up our makeup. “I bet he lost his voice when he saw how gorgeous you look.”
“Dean never loses his voice.”
“Where is he?” She looks at Victoria. “Are him and Reed doing shots at the bar?” She laughs softly.
“Um, Hannah?” Victoria places her hand on Hannah’s forearm.
“Is there a problem with food or drinks? This is why I hire party planners. I don’t want to be in charge. Let me go find her.” She steps forward to slide between Victoria and me.
“Don’t go in there.” My hand lands on Hannah’s forearm, but a lot firmer than Victoria’s touch.
Hannah stops, stares at me in bewilderment. “What am I missing?”
“Raegan’s here,” Victoria says and cringes at me from behind Hannah’s back.
“Oh, great.”
“She brought a date,” Victoria continues.
Hannah smiles and looks from me to Victoria.
“She brought the guy from Torrio’s.”
Hannah says nothing, her smile still in place on her face. Maybe she doesn’t understand.
“The silver fox,” I say.
“I understand. Okay, thanks for telling me.” Her smile widens and glows if that’s even possible.
“I don’t think you did,” I said, glancing at Victoria for a quick second.
“No, I did. Roarke Baldwin is here. I heard you.” Turning to both of us, she seems too calm and put together. Like the eye of a hurricane or the calm before the storm. “Let’s go greet them, shall we?”
She steps forward first, Victoria and I following like the two other Charlie Angels in our clique, exchanging a ‘what-the-fuck’ look. I can’t help the feeling that this is either going to go very, very well or very, very bad.
Chapter Twelve
Reed and Dean step away from the bar when they see us approach. My head might be somewhere else, but my eyes focus in on Dean’s left hand. To say the glass with ice and dark liquid with a lime doesn’t scare me would be a grave understatement. Tonight is the real test to see if he really has changed.
Victoria shakes her head to Reed who halts in his footsteps, watching from afar. Dean follows suit, bringing the drink to his lips, eyes intent on the scene that’s about to unfold.
“Raegan,” Hannah coos with a fakeness I’ve never heard from her mouth.
“Hannah.”
The two lightly hug, kissing cheeks like I did with Hannah moments ago.
Victoria and I stand in the wings like the pink ladies.
“I love the dress,” Hannah compliments her. “The color brings out your sparkling green eyes.”
I glance to my side at Victoria. Never in the time I’ve known Hannah have I seen her have such a Valley of the Dolls/Stepford Wife vibe.
“Thank you. You look stunning as always.”
Hannah waves off the compliment. “I’ve owned this forever. Glad it’s still in style. After my divorce and his lawyer taking me to the cleaners, I rarely shop anymore. I’ve had to get inventive, you know?”
Raegan’s timid smile suggests she’s uncomfortable with Hannah’s forthcoming. “Well, it’s a great dress.”
Roarke is talking to someone just a few feet away and as I wait for him to notice Hannah, my heart starts racing.
“Thanks. I thought you were bringing a date?”
“Yes.” Raegan glances back behind her. “He’s right there.”
Hannah pretends she didn’t know, exaggerating her movements as she leans to the side to spot the silver fox. “Oh, you brought Roarke Baldwin?”
It’s like watching a master, ladies and gentlemen. I want to be Hannah Crowley someday.
“You know him?” Raegan asks.
“Not personally. Not in a friendly way. Just from the courtroom.”
Raegan being the s
mart girl she is, puts all the pieces together now.
“No way,” she says, her eyes wide.
Roarke Baldwin’s reputation is well known. He’s the man you hire to stick it to your ex.
“Yes, he was my ex’s lawyer, but hey, no hard feelings.”
If we were anywhere else, I’d cough out bullshit, but this is Hannah’s fight.
“I’m so sorry, I wouldn’t have brought him,” Raegan says in a hushed voice.
Hannah smiles. “Of course. How would you know?”
Roarke breaks apart from his conversation and all four of us women stare at him as his attention flickers our way.
He’s a man who seems to have it all together, but for the briefest moment, I see fear flash in his eyes. But instead of running, he proves his reputation of a damn pit bull, approaching with a swagger that would suggest he expected this all along. Like he knew this was Hannah’s condo.
“Ms. Crowley,” he extends his hand, a large, expensive watch peeking out from under his suit sleeve.
“Why Mr. Baldwin, I have to say, I never thought I would host you in my home.”
Raegan’s eyes are volleying between the two and I think we all probably look like a pack of kids watching their parents argue.
“It’s a great place. Family owned?” he asks with a smirk.
“Is that your assumption because you weren’t able to take it from me?”
“It was just a question,” he says in a lazy way.
“Questions, questions.” Hannah’s smile hasn’t faltered and I’m wondering how long until she loses that high society etiquette and punches the guy square in the nose.
Dean and Reed approach and at this point I’m grateful.
“Hi,” I say, and Dean hands me a glass of wine while he watches on, his eyes on the couple.
“We were thinking we’d go out on the terrace,” Reed suggests.
Victoria nuzzles up to him and accepts the glass of wine he has for her. “Perfect.”
“Hannah, you’re good?” I lower my voice and lean into the back of her head.
She nods.
“Please enjoy yourself, Mr. Baldwin, and hands where I can see them. Maybe there’s a silver fork somewhere you think my ex deserves.”
