She grabbed the wine and sipped, enjoying the smooth warmth of it and hoping it would settle the jumpy feeling Lane’s presence was causing. “Must be nice.”
“It is.” He peered her way. “So why are you so uncomfortable?”
“Never said I was.” She took another long gulp of wine.
“Right. So you’re totally chill with watching the guy you used to hook up with fawn all over his new woman?”
The wine caught in her throat, making it burn and forcing her to cough. No one except Marin was supposed to know about her and Donovan’s history. They’d been so careful. “He’s not—we weren’t.”
“Calm down. Not judging. Just observant.” He glanced back at Donovan and Marin as the two goofed around and danced to some upbeat country song drifting from the jukebox. “If it helps, she turned me down for him. So that just proves that fate had a plan for them.”
She snorted. “Fate?”
“Absolutely. Because, let’s face it, I’m really hard to turn down. I mean, look at me.”
Elle turned automatically and he grinned.
“Made you look.”
She groaned. “Can you go away now?”
He swigged his beer. “Nope. This is fun. We should do this more often. Or are you afraid my hooker cooties are going to get on you?”
She sniffed. “If you’re expecting me to apologize for stating an opinion, don’t hold your breath. You get paid to get off. I call it like I see it.”
“Is that right?” He cocked his head. “Always so sure you know it all, huh? Must be a nice view from that glass tower.”
Her teeth pressed against each other.
He leaned in, getting way too close, and lowered his voice. “Truth is, you don’t see me at all, doc. You don’t try to see. Not me or anyone else at this party.”
She glared.
He tipped his beer back, finishing it off and holding her gaze, then plunked it down on the table. He turned to face her fully, arm still on the back of her chair.
“But they don’t see you either,” he said. “Because you don’t want them to. And because they’re not willing to look hard enough.” His gaze traced over her f
ace, down her throat, and then back up to her eyes, challenge there. “But I see more than you think, and that freaks you out.”
The assuredness of the statement cut right through her, made her muscles go tense, her defenses heighten, but something else charged along with them to the surface. Awareness. Deep, visceral awareness of this man who was now so close.
“I know this game,” he continued, his voice like a rough caress. “Get them before they get you. I can play it better than anyone. Believe me. But nobody wins that game. It’s a miserable fucking existence. You came to a party with people who aren’t your friends to do what? Sit here in judgment? To prove a point? To show him that you moved on? What? It’s certainly not to try to make friends because I’m the first person to really talk to you tonight, and you’ve done everything you can to chase me off.”
She wet her lips, defiantly holding his stare. “I don’t need a friend. If you’re here for that, this is the wrong tree to bark up.”
Something flickered in his gaze at her tone and his jaw flexed. “What do you need then?”
The question hung between them, taunting her. What do you need? What do you want?
The silence stretched on until she could hear her heartbeat in her ears.
“Tell me,” he said, quiet command in his voice. “And maybe you’ll get it.”
That was what she was afraid of. She knew what she needed, but he was the last person she should get it from. This was why she should’ve walked out when he sat down next to her. “I need to forget.”
The words slipped out as his thumb moved along the back of her chair, giving an inadvertent, barely there brush to her shoulder. It set her on fire.
“Forget what?