Sugar on the Edge(11)

I snort out loud, and Brody has no trouble hearing it over the music. His eyebrows rise up in surprise. “What? I’m serious… you’re totally a babe. Sexy hot,” he says with an attempt at a lecherous wink, but it fails miserably because one, I’m so not sexy, and two, Brody is just one of those guys that is so nice, he likes to make everyone feel good about themselves.

Sliding the drink across the bar, Brody says, “This one’s on the house. Now go hang with your girls, you sexy thing you.”

“No way,” I protest as my hand dives into my purse for money, but he’s already turned away from me to see to another customer.

Jerk!

Lovable jerk!

Grabbing my drink, I take a quick sip and my eyes water. Damn, Brody made that strong and I know he did it because he just gave me a double shot for free basically, knowing that my budget is limited. He’s trying to make sure my girls’ night out is fun.

Sweet man!

I head out to the back deck, which Hunter closes off in the winter with drop-down walls and portable heaters. I immediately see Gabby, Casey, and Alyssa sitting at a table with Hunter. He’s identical to Brody in almost every way, especially now since Brody cut his long hair and shaved the beard he’d accumulated in prison. He’s sitting next to Gabby, his arm around her shoulders and his fingers playing with her long hair. They make quite a beautiful couple with his sunny, surfer good looks and her exotic beauty born of having some Cherokee Indian in her bloodlines. Her slanted, hazel eyes pop against her dark hair, and her high cheekbones make her almost look like royalty of some sort.

As I approach, they all turn to look at me with happy, slightly buzzed smiles. They have about an hour head start on me with the drinking. When I reach the table, I look pointedly down at Hunter. “You’re in my seat,” I tell him sternly.

“Grab another chair and pull it up,” he says with a grin.

“Nope,” I tell him. “In case you missed the bulletin, this is a girls’ night out, and you Mr. Testes Between The Legs, are most definitely not a girl.”

“I can vouch for that,” Gabby says with a giggle. “So scram, baby.”

Hunter takes it all in good nature, because he knew without a doubt he wasn’t allowed to hang with us tonight. Leaning over, he gives Gabby a kiss. It starts out sweet and light, but before you know it, he grips her firmly behind the head and dives in for something that borders on pornographic.

“Ewww,” Casey says, wrinkling her nose up in distaste. “That’s just gross.”

“I think it’s kind of hot,” Alyssa says while she watches Gabby and Hunter kiss.

“You’re just saying that because your man is identical to Hunter and you’re wishing you could do the same thing to him right at this very moment,” I quip at her.

Alyssa leans her elbow on the table, puts her chin in the palm of her hand, and sighs dreamily as she watches Gabby and Hunter make out. “That’s the truth.”

Taking another sip of my drink, I smile at Alyssa. Where Casey has golden, beach babe beauty along with a smokin’ hot body, and Gabby looks like an exotic princess, Alyssa wears her brownish-gold hair in a really short pixie cut, only a few inches in length all over. Her face is classically beautiful, which means she has no need to wear makeup or jewelry to enhance herself. She’s one of those women so comfortable in her own skin that she could be wearing a brown paper bag and still be one of the most beautiful women you’d ever behold.

Yup… I’m surrounded by mind-numbing beauty from my best girls, and while I do feel way out of their league, they’ve never made me once feel like I didn’t belong here with them. I’m clearly the one that sticks out in the group, the one that is just a bit different. For example, my idea of my sluttiest dress and theirs vastly differs. Mine is a simple, black sleeveless dress that has a scooped neck that stops just shy of revealing my cleavage and comes just above my knee.

By contrast, Alyssa has on a short, red mini-skirt and low-cut, black halter top that reveals most of her upper back, Casey has on a tight, white dress that is strapless but cut low so most of her breasts are on public display. That, however, is how Casey likes it, and I can’t begrudge her showing off her assets. Finally, Gabby is wearing a silky, flowing top in a blue, tropical print that only has one sleeve, the other revealing a bare shoulder. She has it paired with dark jeans and brown boots. At first glance, it doesn’t look like there is much sex appeal to it, but when you look carefully, you see that there is a keyhole cut out of the material in the center of her chest that gives a scandalous glimpse of the inside swells of her breasts. It’s just a peek of forbidden skin, but it’s probably the sexiest outfit out of all of us tonight.