Page 4 of The Encore Effect

“Perfect,” she said, showing off a mouth full of teeth so white he wondered if they’d glow under black lights.

Kat cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. “Say, ‘cheese.’”

The brunette shifted closer, and his hand slid onto bare skin where her shirt had one of those geometric cut-outs. He did his best to hide his grimace. Not that the woman wasn’t beautiful—she objectively was—but nothing was going to happen between them, and he did not need the headache of her thinking it would.

Kat snapped the photo and handed it back to the woman on Jackson’s lap. “Thank you, ladies. But if you’ll excuse us—”

“Come on, Kat. Let us have a little fun,” Jackson said.

Kat’s eyes flicked to Beckett and the brunette, her gaze locking on his hand on the woman’s back.

Nico draped an arm over the back of the chair where the blonde had taken up residence and gave her his best red carpet smolder. “You ladies should come to our show tomorrow night.”

“Show’s sold out,” Kat said.

“But you could get them in if you wanted to,” Beckett said. “If we asked nicely.”

Kat didn’t answer. Instead, she stabbed another piece of popcorn chicken with way more force than was necessary, her lips pressing into a flat line as she pointedly ignored his comment.

“That’s alright. We saw it tonight,” the brunette said, moving to sit on Beckett’s lap. He begrudgingly slid his chair away from the table to make room for her, grunting as she sat on his bad knee.

“I think we’re ready for the check,” Kat said, turning around in search of their server.

“Relax. You can go back to the hotel if you want. We won’t stay out too late,” Jackson flashed an innocent smile that Beckett knew would drive Kat crazy.

But she hardly seemed to notice his brother’s shit-eating grin. She was too busy staring daggers at the brunette in Beckett’s lap.

Interesting.

“What brings you ladies to Vegas?” Zach asked.

“We live here,” the redhead on Jackson’s lap said.

The blonde next to Nico leaned over the table in a way that pushed up her tits and made her neckline drop a half an inch. “We’re dancers at the Velvet Doll.”

“You should come see our show tomorrow night.” The brunette trailed a finger down Beckett’s chest, pressing herself against his side.

“Maybe we will,” Nico said.

“We leave town right after tomorrow night’s show,” Kat said, her eyes laser-focused on Beckett.

“Next time you’re in town then.” The brunette shifted in his lap, the movement sending searing pain screaming through his knee and down his calf. He kicked his leg out without thinking, just wanting the pain to stop, but the change in position jostled the woman on his lap. She pitched forward with a small yelp. He wrapped an arm around her waist, catching her before she could fall.

She stuck her ass out so it was pressed against his groin. “If you wanted me in a different position, all you had to do was ask,” she said with a wink.

It took everything in him not to roll his eyes. “I’ll remember that,” he muttered.

If looks could kill, this woman would be dead ten times over from the glare Kat shot in her direction. He tightened his grip on the woman’s hip, holding her steady on his lap, fascinated by the way nostrils flared in response.

“Alright, Luna?” Beckett asked, unable to hold back his smug smirk.

Her eyes snapped to his, her cheeks turning scarlet. It was a dick move and he knew it. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been with other people since he and Kat ended things—it had been ten years after all. He might still be in love with her, but he wasn’t a goddamn monk. Still, he’d never flirted with someone else in front of her. If this even counted as flirting. He supposed he could have told the brunette to get the fuck off his lap, could have let her fall face first into a plate of nacho cheese fries, but while he might be a dick, he was still a gentleman.

Kat pushed back from the table, her chair noisily screeching across the floor. “Excuse me.”

He watched as she made a hasty retreat towards the restrooms, his stomach churning. What the fuck was he doing? He didn’t want to fight with her and he didn’t want to push her away, so why did it feel like that was all he could do lately?

Maybe because it was the only time she seemed to express any feeling towards him at all.