“I hate these parties, man.”
“Me, too,” he said. “I think it’s going to be fun until I actually get here.”
“Is this bartender on a go-slow?” I wanted to save Anna from Clarissa.
Just as we picked up the drinks, we were ambushed by the Zetter twins and some girl I’d never seen before. I worked with their father, so couldn’t brush them off as easily as I had Julie. Julia. Whatever her name was. But eventually we broke free and headed back to Anna and Mandy.
Chapter Eleven
Anna
“Do you have parties like this in London?” Mandy asked.
I shrugged. I didn’t know what that meant. “We have parties. But indoors, mainly.” She laughed. I looked over to the bar. A tall, very tanned woman wearing a very short skirt had her arm draped over Ethan’s shoulder. Had he slept with her? Was she his type?
“Hey, Clarissa,” Mandy said, as an equally tanned woman came to join us.
“Hi.” She smiled. It wasn’t a warm smile. There was something off about it. She kissed Mandy on the cheek and then held out her hand to me and actually looked me up and down. Wow.
“Clarissa, this is Ethan’s girlfriend, Anna.” I took her hand and shook it.
“Ethan’s girlfriend?” she asked.
I should have set her straight. I should say that we were just friends, or lovers, or … how would I describe us? ‘Oh, I’m just having hot sex with him for a week to get over my ex’? I was pretty sure that wouldn’t be appropriate. And besides, I liked to see Clarissa squirm, which was apparently what she was doing.
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“Yes, we had dinner together last night. They are so cute together,” Mandy said.
“Well, nice to meet you, too,” Clarissa said. It felt like she had to force the words out. “I was just on my way to the ladies room, so excuse me.” And she turned and walked away.
“She is such a grade-A bitch,” Mandy confided. “She’s been trying to land Ethan for years. She’s pissed as hell to meet you.”
“But I’m not his girlfriend, Mandy. You got that, right?”
She shrugged. “Well, you’re both putting on a pretty good act, and it’s as close as he’s ever come.”
There was no point in arguing with her. I glanced over at the bar and Ethan was draped in a different woman now, and there were two others that were also hovering around him. I felt a pang of jealousy. Would one of them be next in line, after me?
“He’s attracting his fair share of admirers over there.” I nudged Mandy as I looked over at him. He caught my eye and I quickly looked back at Mandy.
“He always does. Look at the man, for Christ’s sake. He’s hot and rich and charming, and most importantly, unattainable. He’s not short of women who want him. I’m sure every woman he fucks just wants to be the one who tamed him.”
“Don’t you think it’s a bit cruel of him to have a series of one-night stands with women who want something more?”
“I’ve had this discussion with him a million times. He says to me—and I believe him—that he makes it clear from the outset that he’s only in it for one night. He has these rules to keep things from getting ‘complicated,’ as he puts it.”
“Rules?” I prompted. I thought I was the one with the rules.
“Yeah, like, he never stays the night with them. He never takes them back to his apartment, never takes their number. A couple he sees more than once, but only if he thinks they can handle his rules, and even then, never more than once a month. So the waters don’t get muddied, or so he says. There are others. I can’t remember them all.”
“So he’s like an ethical man-whore?”
Mandy laughed. “I suppose. I keep thinking he’ll grow out of it. He’s been like this since I met him in college. But he never has, until you.”
“Mandy, the rules may have been flexed a bit, but only because I live 3,000 miles away. There’s not going to be a happy ending here.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
Before I could convince her, Ethan and Andrew came back with our drinks.
“You’ve been making new friends,” I said softly to him.
He shook his head and bent his head to kiss my neck. “You’re the only new friend I want to make this evening,” he whispered into my ear.
My skin tightened with goose bumps and my hands snaked around his neck.
“Get a room, guys,” Andrew admonished, and grinning, we turned back to them as Ethan slid his hand over my pantyless ass. Why had I suggested we come to this party? I was an idiot.