“I’ve never thought of it like that,” Posey says quietly, clearing her throat before continuing. “No one’s ever looked at me and seen a talent, just a spoiled brat who happens to know what necklace goes best with which decolletage.”
“Pose,” Lauren declares, and I almost laugh at how she so randomly assigned Posey with a nickname about three minutes after meeting her, “I say this as someone who had to learn how to match accessories to clothing the hard way. That is most definitely a talent.”
“Can I tell you a secret?” Posey leans close as Lauren nods. “Sandra bought me this dress, especially for tonight. I can’t afford it, not anymore.”
“Typical Sandra.” Lauren smiles, and I frown. Sandra has good intentions, no doubt, but zero filter between her brain and her mouth.
“Everyone treats her like some raging bitch from hell just because she speaks her mind,” Posey agrees with a huff.
“It’s more that she speaks it rather bluntly. She tends to venture into rude.” I turn my gaze to Lauren, only now noticing how close our faces are. “Like asking if she should bother to remember your name.”
“Please, that was a jab at you, not me.” Lauren rolls her eyes, and Posey stifles a snort, and all of a sudden, I’m feeling a bit ganged up on. “Maybe if you wouldn’t have been bringing a different buffer every event, she would have been nicer about it.”
“I’m getting the sense you won’t be looking at me a lot tonight, Rockstar.” I grin at Lauren, and she wiggles her eyebrows at me.
“The rest of us will be doing the looking for her, don’t worry,” Posey provides a bit sarcastically.
“He’s referring to me panicking about not fitting in,” Lauren explains, and Posey raises a skeptical eyebrow.
“Yeah, and thank God for that.” She points a slender finger at Lauren. “I wish there were more of you at these events. I think it’s the first time in a whileIfeel like I fit in.” Posey turns knowing eyes at me. “Isn’t that right, Michael?”
I look at Lauren, the pinkish hue climbing up her neck under my serious gaze morphs that tingle at the tips of my fingers still grazing her skin into electric currents rushing through my body. “I couldn’t agree more, Posey.”
“Well, Pose, you should join our girl’s night, then,” Lauren offers. “No fancy dresses required. But you need to be prepared to talk about orgasms a lot.”
“Wait. What?” I hear my own dumbfounded tone even over Posey’s rolling laughter.
“You know how guys are always taught not to kiss and tell?” I nod. “Well, everyone always assumes us women are all decent and would never dare talk about our sexual encounters, so no one ever tells us that.”
“Okay…?”
“So, in case you didn’t already know, womendotalk about sex. A lot. In great detail,” Lauren explains, and I don’t know why this is making me blush, but my face is rapidly heating.I just had to ask, didn’t I?
“Oh, yeah. In the café I’ve been waiting in, we sit every Monday morning before shift starts and exchange best positions of the weekend,” Posey chimes in, and I’m officially a human furnace.
“TMI, Posey,” I scold her, then turn my attention back to Lauren. “How often do I come up in these conversations?”
Lauren’s grin broadens, the twinkle in her eyes signaling trouble.
“Let’s just say you shouldn’t have disclosed that I saw you naked.” She leans closer, her breath caressing my face. “And that you have no one but yourself to blame.”
I’m tempted. God, I’m tempted. But we’re in public, which means I need to at least try to rein in the comeback to something socially acceptable. My foot is tapping the floor, and my eyes turn up to avoid the temptation that is Lauren’s daring gaze while I stop my mouth from saying something absolutely inappropriate on its own accord by pressing the tip of my tongue to my upper lip. When my eyes return to Lauren’s, the heat in them is unmistakable.
“You’re going to pay for that, Lore.” My voice is low, and my fingers have trailed from her shoulder to her neck on their own device. I would have leaned in and stolen a taste of that enchanting hum off her lips if Posey hadn’t cleared her throat, reminding me where I am.
“You two are too hot,” she declares almost breathlessly.
“Just almost?” Lauren smiles ruefully as I lean back in my chair away from her, trying to tamp down the lightning storm sparking awareness in every cell of my body. “Oh, look, the food is coming.”
The rest of the evening goes without any additional close calls, but if Lauren keeps looking at me like that, with a hint of challenge in her eyes as they flit down to my lips and a quickening pulse visible in her long delicate neck when the heat I can’t stop from spreading reaches my eyes, I don’t know how long I can keep resisting her.
Chapter Nine
Lauren
Chirp.Chirp. Chirp.
My eyes force open, and I grab my phone, wondering who’s bothering me on a Sunday morning with a million messages.