“Okay, I believe you didn’t intentionally hurt me.”
“Great. Let me buy you a drink. Friend to friend.”
They weren’t friends, and likely never would be. But her emotions were ragged from Mandy, Blake, and even from Trey. From the whole weekend. What would one drink hurt? It was what she’d come over here for, needing to escape the disapproval in Blake’s eyes. He’d sided with Mandy. Didn’t men always side with the Mandys of the world?
She shot a quick glance toward Blake. He sat at their table, his expression as dark as his eyes. He didn’t have to crook his finger for her to know he wanted her back at their table, away from Trey. Not this time. This time her date would come to her, would claim her.
She lifted her chin and smiled at Trey. “Why not? I think you owe me a few.”
“That I do.” His gaze raked over her face and he grinned lazily. “And I intend to pay up in spades.”
For the second time that day Blake interrupted Trey Nix making moves on his woman. “I’m cutting in.”
“I don’t want you to cut in,” Darby argued, clinging to Nix’s shoulders.
“Quit lying. The only reason you’re on the dance floor is so I’d cut in.”
Blake had stayed in the background, letting her stew on what had transpired between
her and Mandy and come to realize she’d been the one to ask him to butt into her business by pretending to be in love with her in the first place.
Butt out of her business? Had she forgotten who’d invited whom?
He’d watched her down drink after drink with her first love, watched her glare defiantly, daring Blake to come get her, then flirt with Nix. He’d forced himself to wait for her to come to her senses, to be patient, but when she had gone into the other man’s arms on the dance floor Blake had had enough, and butted into her life yet again.
Darby frowned.
Blake frowned right back, tugging her with enough force to unplaster her from Nix on the dance floor.
“Darby?” Trey said, lines creasing his forehead.
“Hold on a minute, Trey.” She held up her fingers, then turned to Blake. “Maybe you should go find a friend to dance with and leave me alone.”
“No more games, Darby. We both know who you came with tonight, and who you’re leaving with. Me.” He pulled her to him, holding her close so there was no doubt about who he meant.
“Are you so sure about that?” Her eyes flickered with annoyance, then softened, a smile curving her lips. “Did you just growl at me?”
He glanced into her happy eyes—eyes that made him want to dive into their unknown blue depths. “I growled. So sue me.”
“You’re a doctor—you should never say that,” she warned, laughter spilling from her painted pink lips as she waved goodbye to Nix, where he still stood. Her gaze returned to Blake and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Should never offer things you don’t mean. Someone might take you up.”
He inhaled her sweet scent. The fresh, light floral fragrance had been teasing him all night, making him want to lean in, making him hungry. Starved.
“You should never rub against a man who wants to kiss you, because he might take you up on your offer.”
She stopped moving against him. The slightly dazed look in her eyes said she hadn’t realized what she was doing, but then she smiled. “What took you so long, Blake? I thought you were never going to rescue me.”
What had taken him so long? Rescue her? “You were the one who told me to butt out of your life,” he reminded her, still more than a little irate at her blatant flirtation with Nix.
“I didn’t mean it,” she repented, without hesitation. Her eyes took on a serious hue, shone up at him with wide-eyed sincerity. “I want you in my life. Always, Blake. Just you.”
His stomach somersaulted, making his insides churn. Just him. Noting the tremble in her lower lip, the fruit on her breath, he stared closer. Another growl rumbled from his throat. “How much liquor did that jerk ply you with?”
“Liquor?” She blinked, tightening her arms around his neck, laughter in her eyes as she toyed with the hair at his nape. “Trey didn’t give me liquor. Just punch.” She licked her lips. “Mmm, it was good. Best punch I ever had.”
He might have laughed at her innocence if her pink tongue tracing over her lips hadn’t put his entire body into a vice, hadn’t grabbed hold of every nerve cell and demanded full attention.
“You’re drunk, Darby. I should take you upstairs.”