"Does Cal feel the same way?" Rett asked carefully.
I searched his face. "You know he does. I'm sure he's talked to you about it."
Rett shook his head. "No. Not really. Once your mom left, he stopped talking about her entirely. Like he wanted to ignore that she ever existed."
"Believe me, I felt the same way. But I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm a girl, but I can't just forget and move on. Even though I tell my dad to do that all the time." I cleared my throat. "Here I am using you as a therapist," I laughed. "You are useful. Like you say."
He looked down, tapped his knuckles on the bar and then looked back up again, "Actually, I was hoping I could use you."
I swallowed quickly, pushing away the lurid thoughts that immediately crowded my brain. "Depends."
"My work is having a thing up at the country club tomorrow night," he said slowly. "I pretty much hate every single one of my coworkers." His eyes caught mine and held them fast. "Could you come with me so I have a prayer of having a good time?"
"What? Like a date?"
He looked at me steadily. "Yes. Like a date."
"Does Cal know you're asking his sister on a date?"
"Cal had a baby with my sister. He can't say shit about what I do with his."
A bubble of nervousness trapped in my throat made my voice go funny. "So what? You want me to get all dressed up?"
"It's formal. Yes."
I leaned away from his maddening heat and bit my lip. "Like, I'm just doing you a favor? As a friend, right? Using each other and all that?"
"Whatever you want, Brynn.”
"Will there be food?"
"Good food."
"Dancing?" I teased.
He still held my gaze. "Yes."
"You want to slow dance with me Rett?"
"Whatever you want, Brynn," he repeated.
I had no idea what I wanted. So I did what I always did. I played along. "Sure," I said, trying to hide the panic in my voice. "Sounds great!"
Chapter Ten
Everett
The event was formal, but I defaulted to my standard work uniform of a shirt and tie anyway. Once I stepped out into the warm evening, I regretted choosing long sleeves. Figuring I had the option, since this wasn't a real work event, I rolled my sleeves up to my elbows and hoped like hell Hal wouldn't notice.
I pulled up in front of Brynn's house and threw the car into park, ready to go to her front door and knock. But before I could take my first step, I glimpsed a bright blue blur. She popped up at my passenger door. "Hang on a second, I left the living room light on." She ran back up her porch, unlocked her front door and switched it off.
I stared at her, dumbfounded, the whole time.
Her dress was bright, electric, sapphire blue. The halter neck left a wide swath of her tanned back open, and the way the waist nipped in before falling down to swish around her knees made my throat go dry.
She turned around. "What?"
I shook my head slowly as I took her in, from the sleek cap of her bright blond hair down to her perfectly polished toes. "Damn."
Her mouth twitched upward at the corner. "Is that a good damn?"
"Can't you tell?"
"I never can with you."
"It's a good damn. Josh Withers had better shut his mouth. I win the hottest date contest."
Her cheeks pinkened prettily. "Maybe. But I'm just using you to get trashed on champagne and eat fancy food.” She grinned.
"Fine by me," I said, walking around to open her door for her. Especially if you keep blushing like that, I didn't add.
She did a double take when I opened her door for me, then grinned at me again before she slid into her seat. I smelled the sun on her skin and wondered how she'd spent today. It crossed my mind that I really didn't know anything about how Brynn liked to spend her days. I made it a note to remedy that.
"I can't believe I'm finally getting to the country club," she said, as I pulled onto the main road.
"You mean you've never been?"
"No. I've driven past it a million times, but I've never actually been inside. Your parents belong, don't they?"
I shook my head. "No, but they have friends that do. They've dragged me to a few events there over the years. It was boring then, and it's boring now."
She laughed. "Wow. Way to sell this date, McCabe."
I snuck a look at her. She was looking at her hands, her fingers twisting around themselves. The word date hung in the air. I wasn't sure if I should let it, or if I should let her off the hook.
I decided to make it easier on her.
"Didn't your class have the senior prom at the country club though?" I asked, changing the subject away from dates and whatever it was we were doing together tonight.
"No. That was the year we got caught having an underage party in the woods." There was an odd note in her voice. "A bunch of us weren't allowed to go to prom."
I whistled through my teeth. "That really sucks."
"It did."
"Seems little harsh."
"I'm surprised to hear you say that."
"Really? Why?"
"You're such a rules guy."
Her words struck me like a blow. "Am I?"
She was uncomfortable, so I said nothing more.
We drove in that silence until I turned on my blinker. "Well now is your chance to see it. Here we are."
Fallsview Country Club didn't really have a view of the Falls. But it did have an incredible view of the lake. Situated on a bluff to the north of town, it angled along the bend in the lake, giving a bird's eye view of the full, sixteen-mile length of it. White boats dotted the blue water below us and white gulls wheeled in the blue sky above. Brynn grabbed my arm with an appreciative gasp. "Shit," she said. "It's so pretty up here."
"You're prettier," I told her.
She laughed dismissively. "You're useful for my ego too, aren't you Rett?"
I licked my lips. She still didn't take me seriously. It didn't matter.
She would soon.
Chapter Eleven
Brynn
I couldn't be certain, but I was almost positive that the guy sitting across from me was staring directly at my tits.
I snuck a glance at Rett. His face was the strangest mixture of pride and undisguised loathing as his eyes flicked between me and the hyper-groomed Ken Doll across the table.
I decided to conduct an experiment.
"And so then what did you do?" I asked, batting my eyelashes. I crossed my arms over my chest, subtly pushing my breasts upward as I leaned against the table.
The guy's eyes nearly jumped out of his head. The girl sitting next to him snaked her hand over his bicep and tugged him closer to whisper in his ear as she stared me down.
Hiding my smirk, I snuck another glance at Rett. "That's a great story, Josh," he smirked. I thought I saw him flip a thumbs-up of approval at me from under the table.
I stifled my laugh behind my hand. "Glad to be useful," I murmured in his direction.
He laughed out loud, and his laugh made me laugh too. I'd never seen him so playful. I didn't know if it was the alcohol, the atmosphere, or the fact that we were eating and drinking for free that had relaxed him so much. But I liked this version of Everett McCabe.
"May I take your orders?" a voice interjected.
I did a double take. "I know you!"
The waitress regarded me with baleful dark eyes, then blinked slowly in recognition. "Hi there," she said tightly.
"You're Grace's mother. Adelina, right? Is your last name Moore, like Grace's?" I swiveled sideways in my chair and reached to shake her hand. "I'm Brynn. Brynn Reese. Miss Reese, but then you knew that, right?"
Adelina looked at my hand like I was offering her a dead fish. I let it fall back into my lap. "I've seen you at morning drop-off. But I never got a chance to say hello, so it's so nice to finally talk to you in person and..."
She was staring at me with undisguised contempt. I could see that. I coul
d tell she wanted to get away from me and just keep doing her job. But I couldn't seem to stop the flow of words gushing from my mouth. It's like my brain short-circuits whenever I feel like people dislike me. My tongue just starts spewing out words at a high velocity. Like I think that if I just keep talking, eventually I'll hit on something to make them like me again.
"She is such a sweet little girl," I gushed. "And she's such a good reader for her age, really advanced. You must do so much reading to her at home." Adelina blinked and I thought I saw a little flash of acknowledgment in her eyes, so I kept plowing on. "I'm going to miss her so much next year. I was so glad to have her in my class."
Adelina nodded once. "Thank you for saying so," she said formally.
Progress. I'm breaking though her shell. Soon we can be friends, my brain egged me on anxiously. "You just moved to town, right?" I prodded.
She gave an abrupt nod. But remained silent.
Her silence forced me to keep talking to fill it. "I wish I had your daughter longer," I sighed, running my finger over my glass. "I didn't know you worked here."
"This is the only thing I can do," she said curtly. "May I take your order?"
Her abrupt rejection snapped me out of my chatter-spiral. I swiveled back to stare at my menu, tears stinging the corner of my eyes. "Give me a moment," I said in a strangled voice.
"You okay?" Rett murmured, leaning slightly towards me.
I held the menu upright to hide my face. I hated when I felt like people didn't like me, but even more I hated how badly I tried to change their minds.
"Just trying to make conversation," I mumbled under my breath to Rett as Adelina went around taking everyone's drink orders. I looked over at Rett. He was so composed all of the time. And he never seemed to be bothered about people's opinion of him. "Did I say something wrong to her?" I whispered.
He shook his head emphatically. "She must be having a bad day," he said. Then raised his voice to give Adelina an order for him and me, a nice little chivalrous touch that I resolved to tease him mercilessly for doing.
I swallowed and straightened my shoulders. Already I could feel the rearrangement going on in my brain. If somebody didn't like me, even after I tried to be their friend, then I needed to hate them in order to justify my hurt feelings. I shot Rett a haughty grin.
"Or, she might just be a bitch," I said loudly as Adelina walked away.
Rett reddened.
"You can call a bitch a bitch, Rett," I teased him. "You don't have to be chivalrous all the time."
"What about to you?"
"Nah." I waved my hands. "I'm being a bitch too. this bitch is using you to fill her face hole with bourbon and filet mignon."
"I'm enjoying watching you fill your hole," he deadpanned.
I choked on my drink and grinned at him. Maybe he was using me to make his co-workers jealous. Maybe I was using him to eat fancy food I couldn't otherwise afford on my puny salary.
But if using each other like this meant I got to spend more time with Rett McCabe, maybe getting used wasn't a bad thing at all.
Chapter Twelve
Everett
I felt like a goddamned genius for inviting Brynn tonight.
I'd pictured an evening full of awkward silences and even more awkward small talk, with Josh's occasional dick-measuring contest thrown in for good measure.
But Brynn kept everything smooth and amiable. She asked questions, shared stories and just generally kept up a stream of adorable chatter that made the dinner fly by. Even better, Josh could barely get a word in edgewise.
It was incredible. She had the whole table laughing and talking animatedly.
I was actually having fun.
As I watched her skillfully guiding Josh's dumb-as-a-doornail date through her love of miniature paintings, I felt grateful. I'd been attracted to her forever. I never realized how much I liked her, too.
When the desserts came out, she squealed and clapped her hands. She'd ordered a caramel creme brûlée with the top crusted over in burnt sugar. "Caramel is my favorite," she declared.
I wanted to put a new alarm on my phone. "5pm Mondays. Find caramels for Brynn."
She leaned over to me with the wickedest grin on her face. "I'm really glad I decided to use you tonight," she whispered. She lifted a bite of her dessert to her mouth.
Then, with her eyes trained on me, she closed her lips around the fork.
Maybe it was the bourbon I'd been sipping all night. Maybe it was my blood rushing away from my brain. Maybe it was the sparkle in her blue eyes. I have no idea exactly what made me lean forward and take her fork from her hand.
But I did it.
I scooped a small bite from her plate. She watched me lift it and hold it just out of reach. "You want more?" I asked.
"What are you doing?"
"I want to know how badly you want it."
"Rett!" She swiped at me. "Give me my dessert!"
"Say please."
"You're a jerk."
"Perhaps. But I still want to hear you say please."
Her eyes flashed angrily. My hand trembled with the effort it took not to grab her and crush my mouth to hers.
Then she licked her lips. Her eyes flicked down to the waiting fork. "Please," she breathed.
I had to dig my fingernails into my thigh as she opened her mouth. Her blue eyes held mine for a moment before she closed her lips around the fork.
I tugged at my tie in a desperate bid to get more air.
"Can I have my fork back now?" Was her voice slightly higher? There was definitely a pink tinge to her cheeks that hadn't been there before.
"You know what you need to say," I told her. She peered at me from behind the dark curtain of her lashes. "Please," she said again, this time with no more prompting.
Something exploded in the back of my skull. Quickly, I handed her the fork and twisted away from her before I completely lost control. I closed my eyes in a bid to steady myself, but the image of her lips asking... begging for permission... made me snap them back open again.
She was completely oblivious to what she was doing to me. She had to be.
Why else would she moan a little with every bite?
"Oh my God," she groaned, pressing her hand to her belly as she scraped the last bits across her plates. "My dress is going to burst off me."
I gripped the table. She had no idea. She couldn't.
I let my eyes fall down the line of her dress and then back up again. "I wouldn't really mind that."
"Mind what?"
It was a risk brushing her hair back from her neck, but I needed to touch her. "If your dress bursts off you."
She widened her eyes.
"I don't think Josh would mind either," I said quickly, to take the heat off me. "He's been staring at you instead of his own date all night long."
I loved the way her cheeks turned just the slightest shade of pink, like she couldn't trust her own embarrassment. "Thanks for making me look good," I told her sincerely.
She lifted her chin. "You can thank me by dancing with me."
My overheated blood reached its boiling point. I took a long, steadying sip of my drink. "Really?" I sighed, feigning nonchalance even as the thought of dancing with her sent my body into overload. "Jesus you drive a hard bargain."
"Remember, McCabe." She rested her hand on my leg. "My prom was here and I missed it."
"You did, didn't you."
She nodded. "Once slow dance out of pity." Her fingers flexed a little. Just one more centimeter and she'd be brushing the head of my cock through my pants.
She was so perfect it was agonizing.
She grabbed my drink, then held my gaze as she finished it, then slammed it down on the table. "There. No excuses." Awestruck, I watched her stand up and extend her hand to me. "Fucking dance one dance with me here," she ordered. "I finally made it to the country club."
I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, fine. You win," I told her, feeling like I'd won too.
Chapter Thirteen
Brynn
I walked onto the dance floor with Everett McCabe's fingers twined in mine. I had every intention of shuffling in a slow, school dance style circle with him, like this really was my senior prom. I never thought he'd actually agree to dance with me. I couldn't imagine staid, conservative, uptight Rett McCabe being able to cut loose on the dance floor.
But then again, this evening was full of surprises. So it shouldn't have surprised me that he took me confidently into his arms and steered me across the dance floor.
But it did.
"Okay," I exhaled. "Now you're the one making me look good."
He grinned down at me. God, he was so freaking tall. How did a person grown that tall? He was like a graceful, sexy tree.
"I actually can't dance for shit," I confessed.
"Follow my lead." He pressed his hand against my back.
I didn't want to let on how good it felt to have it there. "I really don't have a choice, do I?"
He didn't answer. Instead he swept us around until we were at the very center of the small dance floor. A few scattered fifty-something executives shuffled around us with their sequin-bedecked wives. We were the only people our age out here. But for once, I didn't feel awkward. How could I, when Rett held me so close?
I closed my eyes and let him lead me.
The fabric of his trousers brushed between my legs as we swished in a circle. My breath came in short little gasps that had nothing to do with the exertion of dancing. "People are watching us," I said as he turned me in a skillful spin.
"That's because we are the best dancers on the floor."
"Actually, you're the best dancer on the floor. Is there anything you can’t do, Eagle Scout McCabe?"
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