"She's sleeping in another room?" Mel asks, seeming skeptical.
Shit.
"No. That's just the room she keeps her stuff in. She prefers not to share closet space. Besides, she wanted to surprise me," I lie, just like I do every time someone questions this relationship.
It's a lot of work to have a fake girlfriend.
Before anyone else can try to ask questions, I turn away to do something I absolutely hate, but it'll shut them up.
"Give me a shot," I call to Brock as he lines up at least thirty shot glasses, and I move into the dining room next to him.
"Hell yes," he says, offering me one almost straight away.
They act like it's a treat to see me take a shot, since I rarely do it. But it works. No more questions arise about me and Raya, but I take another glass for good measure, making their cheers roar.
I'll regret that later.
When I walk back into the living room, a divine body wrapped in a perfectly-fitted white dress is moving toward me. Her dark hair is loosely curled, her perfect lips are edged up in a sexy grin, and her glistening legs seem to go on for fucking days. Yeah... I just forgot how to breathe. That's not good.
I have two choices—grin or let my jaw flop. I choose to grin, since it seems to be more respectable.
"Hey," I say, trying to sound as casual as possible. But my eyes refuse to stay on hers, and I let my gaze rake up and down her, swallowing hard but discreetly. "Need one?" I ask, holding up my cup.
It's hard to speak right now. The fewer words I try to use, the better.
"Here." I hand her a cup, and then move to fill one up for Ember, the girl whose jaw dropped when she walked into the house.
I feel bad for not talking to her, but I had too many people to deal with already, and I wanted her to rush Raya along. Talking to her would have delayed her bringing down this ravishing creature in white. Fucking white! Ah, hell. Mel's game.
I hand the cup to Ember, who starts twirling her hair, acting like she wants attention. My eyes are otherwise engaged, though. You couldn't peel them off Raya right now if you tried.
"Feel like introductions?" I ask, moving closer.
She sighs and frowns as though I've said something wrong, letting her eyes drift to the girl beside her for a second. Did I miss something?
"Yeah, sure. Ember, this is Kade. Kade, Ember."
I laugh while shaking my head as my hand moves to the small of her back. I stifle a groan when I feel how thin and tight the dress is. She's officially trying to drive me insane.
"I've already met Ember when she came in to find you. I was asking if you wanted me to introduce you to everyone. Let you get a feel for the crowd."
Her eyes become fixed on mine, and I almost feel drunk. Maybe it's the shots. It has to be the shots. I only had two, but there's no other reason I should feel like this.
"Not right now. I think I'll stick to nursing a beer and observing."
I feel disappointed already. Her friend has abandoned her to go dance with Eric. But Raya doesn't seem too worried. In fact, she looks happy about that.
Jacob comes to talk to me about a research paper just as Raya's eyes come to rest on me. I pretend not to notice her appraising me, slowly moving her eyes all over my body. Damn, that feels good. Did she just lick her lips? Ah, hell. If I make it through this night, I'll be shocked.
Then Jacob draws my attention with his next words.
"Dad's bringing me on next year to run the shipping side of the business; let me get a feel for it."
Crap. Now I have to go play the game. He'll want someone to talk about this with, and I'm the perfect ear.
"That's a really good opportunity," I say, nodding. "Congratulations. I'm sure you'll handle it without a problem. Hang on just a second."
I don't want Raya to wait on me, knowing how bored she'll be, so I lean over to talk to her.