The one thing McCarson doesn’t need any assistance with is drinking. All evening he has continuously filled my glass, ordered round after round, and somehow convinced me that we should be celebrating our unlikely friendship and that I deserve the new job. As much as it feels nice to come out of my element and help out Notti Designs, I also miss Oscar and Slonne.
I don’t notice how tipsy I am until he pours me another glass of wine and I misjudge my mouth, spilling the red liquid all over my white dress.
“I think you’ve lost it!”
“Oh, shut up!” I laugh and reach for the napkins.
Not that they’ll help.
Bryce’s chuckle rumbles loud inside my head. I grip the table and launch for the napkins a second time. But every time I do, either it’s in my head or I swear they really do move further away.
“Need help?”
“Nope!”
“You sure?”
My head shake ends up a circle. God, I feel so drunk.
Bryce can’t stop laughing at me as he yanks a few napkins and rounds the table to my side. My adrenaline is high. I haven’t been this far gone in a long while. I attempt to decide if the beat in my head is my own or if it’s coming from the blues band that has been playing non-stop. I don’t know the time, but it feels late.
Very late.
Bryce’s eyes move over my body as he slides into the booth next to me. “Let’s clean you up.”
“What are you looking at?”
He grins. “You.”
“Why?”
“I…don’t have a lot of people around me. You staying around tonight and having some drinks with you really does mean a lot to me. I’m happy to be here with you.”
“Same here.” The drum in my heart beats wildly. Bryce is drunk. We both are. My entire body is on fire. It’s all I can think about as he wipes the napkins against my dress. It’s ruined though and no amount of cleaning up can fix that.
At some point, Bryce lets go of the napkins and replaces the sensation with his touch. There’s an allure in his green eyes when his foreign hand fans out across my hip and slowly rises higher to the dip of my waist.
He’s staring straight through me, asking for permission that I’m yet to give. “Valencia…”
“Yes?”
Bryce tosses the crumpled napkins on the table and turns so we’re face to face. A sea of warmth dances across his face from flickering pendant lighting. “Don’t worry. It’s nothing.”
“It’s more than nothing, Buddy.”
There’s his infamous smirk again. “Who’s this Buddy and what happened to Bryce?”
“Hmmm, wouldn’t you like to know…” I take another gulp of wine and laugh at Bryce’s amused face. Sweeping my tongue across my lower lip has those green orbs tracking the movement. I have no idea what I’m doing, but this…right now…it feels exciting. My mouth twitches up into a smile. “Glad to know I’m funny. Why aren’t you speaking? Dog got your tongue?”
“I don’t think that’s the saying…”
“Boo hoo. You were going to ask me something before. Ask it.”
My chest is burning as I scoot closer to him; the whiff of alcohol crossed with his bergamot cologne takes me back to Giulio. It shouldn’t. This isn’t even his scent, but under these lights, Bryce reminds me of my husband. Perhaps it’s the drinking or just the fact that he’s here with me tonight, making me feel something other than the same torment. Perhaps it’s the way his hand trails up inches from my breasts. Perhaps it’s the warm, sensual lips by my ear as he brazenly asks, “Have you been with another man since Giulio?”
Shaking my head causes his beard to scratch against my cheek and I’m transported back to all the times it used to happen with Giulio. Whenever he kissed my cheek, or I rolled into him in the middle of the night or while we wildly made love…Hmm, yes I miss that.
“Ever thought about it?”
I come to, my eyes heavy at the uptick of McCarson’s brow. “Huh?”
“Have you ever thought about being with another man?”
“I…don’t know.”
“Ever fantasized?”
No. The word gets stuck in my throat and just as I manage to back away into the booth, I lose my balance and lie down instead. Bryce finds a way to instantly appear, holding out his hand to pull me back up with a wolfish smile. “Now, that was a rather dramatic way to avoid a conversation.”
“Thanks, McCarson, but I do it without your help.”
“Oh, yeah?” He chuckles, challenging my tendency to get back up. “Now this I’d like to see.”
Although he’s willing to help me, a part of my brain blurs as my fingers fan out against the leather booth. I don’t have the strength to pull myself back up and so I shrug and continue lying here. “Don’t mind me. I’m just living my best life here.”
“I don’t believe that, but sure. Whatever floats your boat, babe.” Bryce reaches over the table and I watch as he draws the glass of beer to his mouth. My eyes linger on the way his tongue runs over his lips after the second gulp. He must sense me looking because the moment the glass is set back on the table, those green eyes are on me and his brows are arched in amusement. “You’re staring…that must mean I did something wrong. What did I do, babe?”
Now I’m the one smirking. “I told you not to call me babe.”
“And did I call you babe, babe?”
“You did now.”
“Oh. Right now, babe?”
“You’re so annoying!” I laugh.
“I think ya secretly like it.”
“I think ya a bit delusional, babe.”
“Oh, wow. Did you just mock my accent?” Bryce teases with the brightest grin I’ve seen all night. Leaning forward, he slowly props his body over mine. His forearms rest on the leather by my head to separate our bodies. He looks back and forth between my eyes. “Because it’s kind of hot the way you said that before.”
“Maybe…” I bite my lip at my growing drunken smile. “Maybe I
