Joy skittered through her. It was so very . . . normal. The way having a real boyfriend should be.
Of course, it was mostly about the sex, but she wasn’t about to ruin a perfect night reminding herself that Stone belonged to her temporarily. At least, his temporary was more than she’d ever gotten before.
She was going to enjoy every moment.
STONE STOOD IN THE circle of men and watched the women dance. He tried not to shake his head at the awful moves they attempted in public, but their enthusiasm made up for their lack of true R&B talent.
Kennedy’s man, Nate, held some kind of odd drink in his hand and seemed to be thinking the same thing. He grinned and jerked his head toward them. “Gotta give them credit for trying.”
Stone chuckled. “What are you drinking?”
“Darth Maultini.”
Stone raised his brow. “Cool, I love Star Wars. Arilyn said you used to work for NASA?”
“Yeah. Then when it disassembled, I focused on private space travel.”
“Impressive. I don’t know too many aerospace engineers.”
Nate’s face lit up. “You got the term right.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Wolfe laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “’Cause everyone calls him a rocket scientist and pisses him off. Good to see you again, Stone, especially off duty.”
Stone had met Wolfe over the summer, had the unfortunate task of arresting him once, and admitted he’d always liked the guy. With his serpent tat, badass attitude, and tenderness toward Genevieve, he was someone he could definitely hang with at the billiards room. “Good to see you out of a jail cell,” he hit back, which gained him a hearty catcall all around.
The groom himself leaned in. “How’s it going with Arilyn?” Slade asked curiously. “She’s the most mysterious out of the group, you know. I’m glad she got rid of that Yoga Dude. Kate hated him.”
His lips twitched. Something told him this group of men was just as bad at gossiping as the women. Another thing he liked about them. Stone enjoyed dishing the dirt. “Well, it’s been a strange ride. Anger management classes aren’t the ideal way to build a relationship. But after we decided we weren’t mortal enemies, we figured we’d try dating.”
Slade grinned. “Cool. She comes off real chill, but inside she’s tougher than nails. She ever make you do hot yoga?”
Stone shuddered at the thought. “Hell, no. Even I have my limits.”
“It was insane. Cranked the temps to over one hundred degrees and then drilled my ass like an army sergeant. I didn’t think I’d survive.”
Nate lifted a brow. “Hot yoga, huh? Now, that could be interesting.”
Slade shook his head. “Not. My body cut out on me, and I got embarrassed in front of Kate. That shit’s hard-core.”
“Bet sex after that type of workout would be off the charts,” Nate murmured thoughtfully.
They all fell silent. Huh. Stone never thought of it like that.
“Gotta keep Kennedy on her toes, huh?” Wolfe commented. “Maybe she’d finally agree to marry you if you exhaust her.”
Nate looked calm and resolute. “She’ll say yes. Just a matter of time. I already calculated the odds of how many times she can reject me, so my projections tell me within the next three hundred days I’ll secure a yes.”
“Or I can just throw her ass in jail until she agreed,” Stone suggested.
The guys laughed. “Welcome to the club, dude,” Slade said. “It’s a bit crazy here, but we take care of our own.”
Wolfe nodded. “Damn straight. And them, of course.”
They watched as their women swung their hands up in the air off beat, tipsily stamping around the dance floor while Kate’s veil whipped around the crowd. And for a little while, Stone realized how badly he wanted to be part of this group of men who knew how to joke and gossip, and loved their women without question or apology.
ARILYN DANCED HER ASS off, making a good-natured fool of herself as the crowd clapped around the bride in happy abandon. After a solid set of oldies but goodies, they limped off the dance floor to recover with cosmos and a quick summary of events.
“Wasn’t the ceremony amazing?”
“I’m so glad you picked the goat cheese salad to offer. It was delicious.”
“Did you see the way Slade teared up at the ceremony? I swear I almost lost it.”
“I thought I was having a heart attack when the little button thing busted off your train, but no one’s noticed.”
“I’m not taking you to the damn bathroom again, let Arilyn do it next time. Seeing your white ass is not on my bucket list; that’s Slade’s.”