“You know, babe, if you’re needing some money for rent or whatever, you don’t have to do this. I can take care of some of it for now.”
It took her a couple of seconds to understand what he meant. “Oh! Oh, no. I’m not working.” She swallowed a lump the size of her humility down her throat. “It’s not like that. I was just… um…”
“You told me you couldn’t hang out tonight because you already agreed to go out with the other guy.”
“I am out with him.”
Of course a guy who buys a cottage at La Mariposa comes to The Dark Hour.“Where?”
Eden looked so sheepish that he couldn’t help but pity her.
“Let me guess.” He wrapped his arm around hers and led her out of the center spotlight and toward the wall, where a single bistro table remained unwiped from the last person who used it. Nevertheless, he put down his glass and said, “He’s in a room. You’re on patrol for someone to join you two.”
She was speechless.
“I know that trick, Eden. I actually like to think I came up with it, but that’s absurd. I’m sure it’s as old as human perverts.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.” He leaned his elbow against the table, realizing too late that it was a little sticky. “Wow. Liam caught you having a threesome without him.”
“I wasn’t… we weren’t…!”
“Relax.” He offered her a sip of his drink, which she accepted with alacrity.There it goes.She made such a face at his choice oftequila, but it didn’t stop Eden from washing down some of the shame she apparently felt. “Do you think I’m mad? Hardly. Just kinda sad you didn’t think of me first when he wanted to throw down.”
“It was very sudden,” she explained, handing him back his almost-empty glass.
“Eden.”
“What?”
“A man like that doesn’t bring you to a place like this for vanilla sex, let alonemonogamoussex if that’s not what you’ve founded your relationship on. Take it from me.”
“Are you a pro at this sort of thing?”
“Unfortunately. Which is why my next question is how long do you have that room for?”
She was almost like a deer caught in the headlights, but she quickly relearned how to speak. “An hour. He gave me thirty minutes to find someone before I should go back to the room so we could, um…”
Her cheeks being so red weresoadorable. “Uh-huh. And how long have you been on the hunt, my dear?”
Finally, there was a little pep in her step as she placed a hand on her hip. “Fifteen minutes.”
“You haven’t had a bite in a whole fifteen minutes? A hot thing like you?”
“You could be at least alittlejealous.”
“More angry on behalf of your honor. Any woman I date should have men lining up to fuck her if she puts herself out there.”
Eden rolled her eyes. Eventually, they snapped back in his direction. “Hey, I know…”
“Babe.”
“Come on…” She rounded the table, putting on those flirtatious airs that were sure to do him in. “You were telling me that you wanted the three of us to hook up.”
“Yeah, but I was thinking it would be like… we knew about it ahead of time. We’d have some drinks at a cozy lounge. Make sure the vibes checked. Go back to somebody’s place or grab a hotel and just pound you until sunrise, love. Maybe high-five a couple of times in between you making a mess everywhere.”
“You had this all planned out, I see.”