She pursed her full lips but didn’t argue.
Strange—the girl doesn’t seem to say much for herself, does she?It was something to watch out for.
“You said you’ve done this before, and you didn’t need to say it ended badly. How long ago was that?”
She sighed. “Do we really need to discuss this? I thought the idea of a masquerade party was to be anonymous.”
“I’m not asking for your name and number, Fox, but if you just got out of whatever it was yesterday, tonight isn’t a good idea. I don’t get involved with anyone without knowing the basics about my partner.”
“It’s notinvolved,” she said quickly, as if it were an instinct that bypassed her wholedon’t talkrule. “We wouldn’t be involved.”
Talk about commitment issues.
“If we get our hands on you, that’s involvement.” Garrison added a wink, and even with his mask, she seemed to catch it.
The time it took for her brain to catch up, to recognize the other part of what he’d said, was downright adorable.
“We?”
Trent nodded. “That’s right. See the masks? Think of us like a pack. Sort of a three-for-one deal.”
“If you’re not interested in that, it’s fine. You can walk out at any time.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed, and it forced Garrison to think about how he wanted to drag his tongue up the fragile column, how he wanted to nip at her collarbone, how he wanted to pull down those teasing little straps and see her bare.
But she was nervous, so they would have to go slow.
She took another long moment, as if running logistics on how it would work—if it would work, if she was interested, what it would mean.
And when she took that lip of hers between her teeth?
Garrison was glad he was sitting down, because he’d have gone to his fucking knees for a chance to bite that lip.
“Okay,” she said, voice soft.Nerves? Sure. Uncertainty?
He didn’t think so…
More like wanting something but being afraid of it.
Trent leaned forward but didn’t cross the touch barrier. “So, how long ago was it?”
She dropped her gaze, as if she wanted to hide. “Five years.”
“And you’ve had counseling?” Connor asked, voice hard. It was easy to see that whatever she’d been through had left its scars, and none of them wanted to make it worse if she hadn’t dealt with it.
She nodded, rubbing her palm over her knee. “Years of it.”
“That what brought you here?”
“Sort of.”
Garrison waved his hand for more information.
She blew out a long breath. “I wanted to prove I didn’t want this anymore,” she said. “I came here to prove this isn’t for me.”
Connor let out a snort, one that said what they all were probably thinking.
The girl was reacting like a Christmas light, turning on and off in the way that meant she might notwantto enjoy this atmosphere, but she sure as shitdid.