Pure Wicked (Wicked Lovers #9.5)(9)
Author: Shayla Black

When the waiter began taking the food away, she’d barely touched hers. Instead, she peered at him as if he was a riddle she needed to solve. The intelligence on her face, coupled with an unconsciously sultry thing she had going on, piqued his interest. Blood rushed south. Against his better judgment, his cock stood up and saluted her.

Shit, he’d jumped into this situation to help—nothing more. He’d just rolled into town and wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He hadn’t cast himself in the role of her boyfriend in the hopes that she’d let him fuck her.

Everyone around them was laughing and imbibing. The engaged couple kissed again. Bristol tried not to look at them. Jesse wanted to wring their necks.

“Walk with me?” he leaned closer and asked in her ear.

She turned his way, her big green eyes snaring his gaze. “Where?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to this place. Where can we talk without technically leaving the party?”

She paused, then turned to Jayla. “Will you distract my mother for a few minutes, pretty please?”

“You did not just ask me to do that.” Her bestie crossed her arms over her chest and gave her a glare full of attitude.

“I’ll make you a whole batch of peanut butter blossom cookies,” she wheedled.

Suddenly, Jayla gave her a dazzling smile. “Deal.”

“I think I got played,” Bristol told him with a fond shake of her head.

“I’d say so.” He held out his hand.

She tucked her cell phone in her pocket, leaving her purse with her friend, then she placed her hand in his outstretched palm as they strolled the perimeter of the restaurant/bar. “So…what made you jump in? Did I look like a sad spinster, so you decided to end my singledom for a night?”

“No. I’m a sucker for engagement parties. Can’t you tell? I saw all the white balloons with the cute pictures of the bride and groom attached and I couldn’t resist. If I’m lucky, maybe we can catch another sappy speech and drink some terrible champagne.”

She sent him a skeptical glare. “Have you ever been to an engagement party?”

“Not since my neighbor’s daughter married an alpaca farmer. I was twelve,” he admitted.

Bristol laughed, and Jesse loved hearing the light, lyrical sound. That giggle was a music all its own. “Made a big impact on you, huh?”

“The cake did. But the marriage lasted about as long as I think your sister’s will.”

“It took me longer to decorate the ‘save the date’ cookies she asked me for tonight than the whole marriage will, I suspect. The wedding is next month. Mama wanted her to be a June bride. Presleigh isn’t ready to be anyone’s wife.”

“And he’s no Prince Charming.”

She nodded. “There is that.”

“Why did you date him?”

“That’s a good question.” Bristol hesitated. “He found me after I broke my ankle and took me to the doctor.”

“You felt as if you owed him?” Jesse asked.

“No. I liked him—or I thought I did. But that was before I actually knew him.”

“How did you get hurt?” Even in the dimming light, he saw the flush in her cheeks, and Jesse sensed a story. “Okay, ‘fess up.”

“Well, I bought this aerobics video and I was trying it out but…”

“Your ankle snapped, did it? Were you doing some crazy Insanity shit?”

She twirled a section of her hair around one finger and looked anywhere but at him. “Um, no.”

“So…what were you up to?”

Biting back a smile, she sent him a coy glance. “It was supposed to be pole dancing but I didn’t have a pole, so I used a column in my apartment. I didn’t know it was hollow and wouldn’t hold me. I landed wrong and…it was embarrassing.”

He gave a hearty laugh. “I don’t mean to make light of your pain, but you have to admit that—”

“No, it totally sounds funny. And if anyone could have seen it, I’ll bet it would have been hysterical.”

Maybe, but he’d bet that before her fall, he’d have found her sexy as hell. “So he took you to the hospital?”

She nodded. “Yep. He also brought me roses while they set the cast. Then he filled my prescriptions and took me home. He even tried to pet my cat, Shakespurr.”

“That’s what you named your cat?”

“Yeah, he’s a feline so he’s clever and creative. And just like the Bard himself, before I had Shakespurr fixed he liked older women.”

“Right.” Jesse enjoyed her sense of humor and quick wit. He wondered how many of the women he’d taken to bed over the years he might have liked if he’d bothered to get to know them. Probably none. This one seemed really different. “So you decided you liked him because he tried to pet your pussy?”