The Offer(25)

“And no worries about being her reference,” Bram calls after him. “She’s got me for that.”

He nudges me in the side with his elbow. “Come on, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

We walk to the van where Steph, Kayla and Linden are watching us. I quickly give Bram a sidelong glance. “You really want me to like you, don’t you?”

He smiles, dimples and everything. “Oh, you like me. You just don’t know it yet.” He nods at Linden. “Come, brother, let’s go.”

I walk over to Steph who will drive me and Kayla in her car.

Kayla calls out at Bram. “Did you really notice all those violations?”

Bram nods. “I’ve learned something as a building manager. And believe me, next week, I am putting a call into the fire department.”

The three of us stand on the curb and watch as he gets in the van and it starts with a rumble.

“Damn,” Kayla says as they drive off. “That was some hot shit.” She looks at me. “You’re lucky you’re moving in next to that guy.” She pauses, lips pursing. “Are you going to move into his bed too?”

I roll my eyes. “Hell no. I mean, maybe he’s a bit nicer than I thought at first,” Kayla raises her brows, “okay, a lot nicer, but he’s still a jackass.”

“Jackass is a strong word for you, miss manners,” she teases. “Does this have anything to do with what happened at the wedding?” she asks.

“No,” I say, glaring at her before I walk over to Steph’s car. “And you didn’t see anything, so don’t go thinking something happened between us. It didn’t. It really didn’t.”

I can feel Steph and Kayla exchanging a look behind my back.

Later in the car as we drive down Van Ness, Kayla taps me on the shoulder from the backseat. “Why do you think he’s a jackass?”

I blow a piece of hair that came loose from my bun. “Because…he’s a manwhore.”

“That doesn’t make him a jackass. That makes him fun.”

Which makes me “no fun,” I think, remembering what he’d said to me at the wedding.

“I just don’t trust guys like that,” I tell her after a moment.

“But you’re not dating him,” she says. “So you don’t have to worry about that, do you?”

I shake my head. “You’re right. I don’t.” And really, I shouldn’t. But that night plays over and over in my head, the sweet feel of his lips, the sharp sting of rejection. It probably doesn’t help that the last man I kissed, the last person who turned me on and made me feeling something, instead of nothing, was Bram.

Once you go Bram, you won’t give a damn. But I did.

“Why all the questions Kayla?” Steph asks, her tone cautious as she eyes her in the rearview mirror.

“I can ask questions,” Kayla says.

“Mmm hmm. But you’ve got that look in your eyes.”

“What look? I’m Asian, you racist.”

“Shut up,” Steph says. “You know the look. The one you get when you find your next lay.”

Oh? I turn in my seat and look at Kayla. Yup, she’s got that look.

“Are you interested in Bram?” I ask her. Kayla had broken off her engagement with her ex-boyfriend a couple of years ago and now was always perpetually single but not for lack of trying. Any hot bod and she’s all over it. She even had a fling with Linden for a few weeks back in the day when Steph and him were just good friends. I’m not sure how Steph dealt with that but she doesn’t hold a grudge like I do.

Kayla shrugs casually but I can see right through her. “I don’t know. He’s just really hot, that’s all. And he’s got money. And he’s got that bad boy appeal but like the ante is upped because he’s a man, not a boy. I mean, now that’s a man. Like if you hooked up, he’d probably ruin your vagina for everyone after.”

I scrunch up my nose. “Way to be classy.”

“Yeah, Kayla, that’s my brother-in-law you’re talking about,” Steph admonishes her.

“So,” she says. “You’re not blood relatives. You told me you thought his brother was hot.”

“I did. But he’s not Linden.”

Kayla rolls her eyes and flops back into her seat. “Of course he’s not Linden. How dare anyone be even close to Linden?” she says mockingly. “You know, Steph, just because you’re married doesn’t make you blind.”

“Sure, but I don’t try and think of Bram as hot. Still, you’re right. He is. And if you don’t mind being played, then go right ahead and have your fun,” she says. “But don’t come crying to me if it doesn’t work out and don’t you dare fuck anything up with the nice relationship everyone has at the moment. You know you’ve done that once before,” she adds under her breath.