Page 82 of Screwed
He followed Rachel to the great room, where music played and guests chatted in small groups. He immediately spotted Callie talking to her friends Kristy, Charlotte, and Emma in the kitchen. Then he noticed Beau leaning against the long island separating the kitchen from the living space, laughing at something Chris said. Relief expanded inside him, a long breath escaping.
Okay. Callie and Beau weren’t together.
Really? He’d actually been worried about that? Why? Callie was clearly over Beau. Whether Beau was over Callie… Hell. He rubbed the back of his neck. That was probably why he was worried. Only now could he admit he’d been dreading walking in and possibly seeing them together.
Chris looked up and greeted him with a bro handshake. Cash clapped a hand on Beau’s shoulder, since he’d just seen him a few hours ago at the office. Rachel offered him a drink, and he accepted the beer and gulped down half of it at once. Whoa. Better take it easy.
He caught Callie’s eye and her brief smile, and he smiled in return, turning his attention with difficulty to the conversation Chris and Beau were having about the Astros. He’d much rather watch Callie. She was so damn beautiful. Her hair hung dark and glossy around her shoulders, which were bare in a strappy little red dress, and her smile was big and luminous. He snuck another glance at her, just as she looked at him, and their eyes meeting felt like a voltage spike. His skin heated, and his brain fried. He tried not to sound like an idiot as he made a comment about pitcher Frank Mohan. “He shouldn’t start tomorrow night against the Rangers.”
“Why not?” Kristy popped into the conversation. “He played great in that last game.”
“It’s not about how well he’s playing,” Cash replied. His gaze slid to Kristy, and the three women shifted closer to participate in the conversation. “It’s about giving him a rest.”
He didn’t look right at Callie but noticed that she maintained distance from Beau, sipping the glass of wine she held.
His gut clenched. As he had so many times over the years, he despised himself for not being able to control his feelings for Callie. He was a shitty friend. He’d been disloyal to Beau and was risking their friendship and their business because he was helplessly in love with her. Surely he was strong enough to stay away from her for the next couple of hours…right?
“They’ve got six starting pitchers now,” Kristy added, apparently quite the baseball fan. “But that’s not fair to Mohan, Shep, and Gonzales.”
“Sure it is,” Chris put in, smiling. “They need to start the guy who’s the best match for the other team.”
Cash’s eyes met Callie’s again with another burst of heat. Her lips quirked at Kristy’s baseball passion. His groin tightened.
More guests piled into the kitchen, because that always happened at parties, and soon the small space was packed with bodies arguing about the Astros and who their best players were. Somehow Cash found himself next to Callie. His skin tingled at her nearness, aware of her sweet vanilla and sugar scent and her soft skin.
The noise level in the room escalated, and he and Callie slanted each other glances again. She was close enough to touch, and he couldn’t resist the urge that pulsed inside him. Daringly, he brushed his fingers over her hip. She bent her head, hair falling so he couldn’t see her face. He leaned in closer. “Doing okay, darlin’?”
She nodded and flashed a fake smile. “Sure.”
He wanted to slide his arm around her waist and pull her close. The longing to have her near ballooned inside him, pushing at his skin, making it hot and tight, his insides feeling hollow.
His body tensed when her hand closed over his thigh and squeezed. He pulled in a long breath, but someone was pushing through the crowded kitchen to get to the food set out on the big dining table and they were separated.
Damn. He headed to the food as well, trying to put distance between himself and Callie, all the while ignoring the burning in his gut and the tightness in his throat. Jesus. All he wanted was to have her by his side, to be able to touch her and put his arm around her.
Rachel and Chris had had the party catered, and the spread was amazing. Too bad his stomach was so tense he wasn’t sure if he could actually eat anything. He picked up a couple of wings, a chicken finger, and a few shrimp, eyeing the roasted brussels sprouts doubtfully. When did brussels sprouts become cool?
Rachel set out another platter of veggies and dip.
“Great food, Rach,” he said.
“Thanks. It’s from Augustine’s. They do a nice job.”
He and Rachel caught up on news. He tried to focus, but as she told him the story of how Chris had proposed, he looked over to where he’d left Callie.
Restless, dangerous longing filled him as he stared. And hoped. And cursed.
“So that’s why we’re going to Greece for our honeymoon.”
He dragged his attention away from Callie and back to Rachel, barely aware of her words. “Nice.”
He listened to more travel plans, and when he glanced back at Callie, she’d moved, now standing at the far end of the island, and she was talking to…Fuck.
No, it wasn’t Beau. But some other dude was clearly hitting on her. Cash frowned as he bit into a chicken finger that tasted like cardboard. Who the hell was that? Every muscle in his body tightened.
He watched Callie laugh and toss her hair back. The guy stared down at her with admiring eyes, moving closer.
Oh hell no. Something blazing hot surged through him as he watched that asshole flirt with Callie. And she was flirting back, for fuck’s sake! What wasthatabout? Heat boiled in his belly.
