Number one and number two. So far, anyway. Drew, from the infamous Unaligned clan, and Alek, chief Gemini. They both had swagger, but of a very different kind. Alek was a guy I felt like I understood, someone I could talk to even if his confidence could sometimes be considered arrogance. But Drew was something else. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. An attitude that trickled down from his father and rolled off of him in waves. It seemed to thicken the atmosphere in the bar. I didn’t know if that was on purpose or not, but it was intense. Drew had to at least know that all eyes were on him.
“I’m not interested in him coming here,” Hatcher muttered. “I’m looking forward to Karly arriving.”
Interesting. Hatcher didn’t seem like an open and honest person to just anyone, but he liked Karly so much that he was willing to let her name roll off his tongue easily. I was just about to comment on that, say something to him about Karly, but I didn’t get the chance because, like a goddess walking the red carpet, the doors opened wide and in she came. Karly and the rest of the news team. Holy hell, she looked even better now than she did before. The red dress she had on made her look like a tasty snack I wanted to consume.
“Hey, Ben!” Chase rose to his feet and waved at the other news anchor, immediately drawing them to us. Thankfully, this kept up from having to wait for Karly to come to us. “Good to see you guys.”
Everyone slid into the booth, making it so much cosier than it was just a moment ago. Not that I minded, because she was here now, and that tight dress wasn’t leaving much to the imagination. My mind was well and truly running away with itself. If I breathed in deeply, it was only her scent I could smell. My groin tightened in appreciation as everything around me grew livelier. Or maybe it was just me, maybe I was livelier because she was here.
More champagne came to the table, enough for all of our glasses to be full, and the conversation flowed easily around me. I found myself unusually quiet, observing everyone instead of being in the middle of it where I would normally be. I didn’t really want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to keep sharing smiles and looks with Karly. She was smiling at me suggestively, and all I wanted to do was pounce her. My bear was incredibly hard to control.
“Oh, Karly,” Ben suddenly cried out. “I love this song. Come on, we have to dance.”
“I don’t know about that, Ben…oh!”
Karly wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Ben grabbed her hand and tugged her to the dance floor, and she laughed along with him. Now I definitely wasn’t worried about the chatter going on around me, I was too fixated just on her. She was seductively shaking her hips and drawing all the bear attention to herself because she was such a freaking fox. Did she know the effect she was having on everyone else? Especially me? My heart was thundering so painfully in my ears I couldn’t even hear the loud music. I couldn’t see anyone but her, I was awestruck, wholly captivated.
Karly caught my eye and curled her finger, asking me to join her on the dance floor. I didn’t know whether to move or not, at least I didn’t until I felt both Chase and Hatcher rise to their feet. Shit, she wanted all of us. My bear brimmed at the attention, the hairs on my body prickling with delight. I sat my glass down on the table, giving up the drink so I could make some moves on the dance floor. It looked like we’d all be dancing with Karly. It would be fun.
Apparently, it wasn’t just us three drawn in by Karly, because Alek was making his way over too, seemingly determined not to be number two in her eyes, like he was in the rankings. But somehow, that didn’t deter me, it didn’t put me off at all. If anything, it pulled me in closer to Karly. It just made my bear want her attention that much more, and I guess I wasn’t the only one. The dance floor of Pleasures was about to get a whole lot hotter.