“Help yourself,” Mac says with a grin, completely enjoying the show.
I slide the chair out and over, pushing it right in between Andrea and Savannah. “Scoot over a bit, Savannah. Give a man a little room to sit next to his girl.”
Savannah sighs, because she’s definitely a romantic at heart, and dutifully moves over.
When I’m ensconced at the table, I wrap my hand around the back of Andrea’s head and pull her to me for a slow, long kiss. I do this mainly to piss Gabby off, but also to hear that little breathy sigh that I know Andrea will give me.
She does, and I release her.
With a bright smile, I turn back and give the women a big smile. Leaning my elbows on the table, I say, “So what are we talking about today?”
Gabby crosses her arms over her chest and gripes, “Men aren’t allowed in on our conversation here.”
“You let Brody eat with you one time,” I shoot back, and I see Alyssa lower her face, covering her mouth with her hand to suppress a laugh.
“He paid for it,” Gabby shoots back.
“Yeah… I heard you put laxative in his food or something,” I say as I reach over to Andrea’s glass of water and pull it toward me for a sip.
“It was poison,” Gabby snaps.
“Whatever,” I say dismissively. “The point is… I’m staying so I can spend as much time with my girl as possible. Deal with it.”
“That’s so romantic,” Savannah breathes out.
I turn a grateful smile toward her. “Thank you,” I say sincerely. “I think so too.”
I know this is pissing Gabby off royally, and I know I shouldn’t take such immense pleasure from that… but damn it… this is fun.
“Well, you know I think romance is generally for the birds,” Casey butts in, “but I spent all day and night yesterday with this man that really tried to woo me with romance. He brought me to his yacht… and there was champagne, flowers, and a personal masseuse. He went all out.”
“Wow,” Alyssa says in surprise. “I didn’t think you’d ever be romanced, Casey.”
“Oh, I wasn’t,” she says dismissively. “I mean, it was a nice effort… bonus points and all that. And sure… I gave him a stellar blow job in appreciation, but—”
“Okay,” I blurt out, repressing the urge to slap my hands over my ears. “I do not want to hear that. You’re like my little sister, for God’s sake.”
I hear Andrea giggle beside me, and Gabby’s arms uncross as she looks like this could start to get interesting.
Casey just stares straight at me, completely disregarding my request. “Well, we didn’t invite you here, Wyatt, and sorry… but this is what girls talk about. If you can’t handle the fact that I like sex with wealthy men, and I like it a lot, and I also like to share the deets with my bestie girls, then you need to just leave.”
I snap my mouth shut, because I know my jaw had sunk almost down level with my collarbone over her proclamation. I look around the table, and each woman stares back at me with resolve. I am encroaching on their girl time, and if I’m going to be a temporary member of their little gang this morning, I need to accept the things they talk about.
Turning to Andrea briefly, I narrow my eyes at her. “What exactly have you shared with the girls about us?”
She smiles at me sweetly and pats me on the knee. “Nothing other than how we met.”
I let out a breath of relief because the way we met was highly unconventional and the ways in which we “explored” our attraction to each other before we left Raleigh still causes me to feel guilty. It’s not something we’ve talked about but that will get rectified before she leaves.
Rewarding her with a relieved smile, I turn back to Casey and sweep my hand out in a grand gesture. “Then by all means… continue on with your story.”
And she does.
For the next five minutes, I listen to Casey give the details about some young, rich playboy who is yachting down the coast and who she apparently had a very raunchy time with last night. According to Casey, he’s the perfect man because he’s rich, hung like a racehorse—which fuck… that caused me to blush—and most importantly to her, he was leaving town today.
I always knew Casey shunned relationships, preferring men to come and go out of her life like a revolving door. I have no clue where that stems from because she has a wonderful home life with devoted, loving parents and two brothers that have fallen deeply in love. She has a lot to offer, but I have to wonder… what is it keeping her from settling down?
It’s slightly disconcerting to hear that she slept with this guy without even really knowing him, but then I feel like a neon sign with a big arrow that says, “Hypocrite” is pointed down at me. I know I’ve certainly had my share of one-night stands, as has Hunter. Brody… not so much as he spent five years in prison and then fell in love with Alyssa, but still… I know it’s generally acceptable for men to be able to sleep around, and they’re just considered studs. Women do it, and they’re called whores.