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Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it. Dammit, I couldn’t stop myself. Just a quick glance to check if he was still talking to the stunning redhead. Yep, he was. Double dammit, because I had all the subtlety of a brick and Stef totally caught me.
A mischievous grin spread across her face. “Ooooh, like that, is it? You got a thing for Rhett, and you’re weirded out seeing him with another woman.”
I felt my cheeks flush. “What? No! Of course not. I was just... looking around.”
Stef laughed, not buying my denial for a second. “Sure you were. Don’t worry, the exact same thing happened to me.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“When I got here for Esme’s wedding last year,” she explained, her eyes gleaming. “I caught Grayson hugging that exact same woman in the foyer. It was a moment, let me tell you.”
I frowned as I tried to process what she said. “Oh. Well, she gets around, I guess.”
Now she was really laughing. What the fuck? “No, you’ve got it all wrong. That’s Caitlyn Rivers.”
Right. Okay. So, she’s a relation. But was she a close one? I mean, what if she was his fourth cousin, three times removed? Pretty sure those types could do the horizontal tango.
Stef must have seen the perplexed look on my face, because she quickly clarified. “Caitlyn is Rhett’s sister.”
“Great. Not that I care.”Liar.“How about we grab a drink, and you introduce me to one of these single guys you were talking about?”
“Good plan.” Stef led me to the bar and ordered us a glass of champagne each.
When I turned back to face the room, Rhett had moved on from Caitlyn and was laughing with a very elegant, sophisticated blond woman.
I downed half my glass in one gulp, trying to ignore the weird fluttering in my stomach as I watched Rhett laughing. No,flirtingWho was she? A colleague? An ex? The thought made me unreasonably irritated.You DO NOT CARE,I told myself.
“Earth to Scarlett?” Stef waved a hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my distracted staring. “You still with me, girl?”
I turned away so I couldn’t see him anymore. “Yup! Let’s do this.”
“Okay, first let’s go get Esme. She’s always good for this sort of thing.”
“Perfect!”
We found Esme, stunning in a burgundy velvet dress that accentuated her slim figure and blond hair, standing with Wolfe. After Esme and I had said hello, Stef took charge.
“Sorry, Wolfe, we need your wife.”
“You can’t have her. She’s mine.” He pulled her close to his side and pressed a kiss to her hair.
“Cute. But it’s an urgent mission. You can have her back as soon as it’s done.”
Esme laughed. “Sorry, babe. It sounds important.” Wolfe let her go reluctantly and as soon as we were out of earshot, she said, “What’s up?”
“Our girl needs a hot date for the evening.”
“Ooh, I’m on it!” Esme said enthusiastically, scanning the crowd. “Let’s see, let’s see...” Her blue eyes lit up. “Ooh, there’s Nate Carmichael. He’s a lawyer too, works at Henderson & Ross. And he’s pretty cute, in a wholesome boy-next-door way.”
I followed her gaze to a tall, sandy-haired guy in a navy suit. He was good-looking. I’d give her that.
“What do you think?” Stef nudged me. “Should I call him over?”
I stole one last glance at Rhett, just in time to see him throw his head back in laughter at whatever the blonde said. “You know what? I’d love to meet Nate. I’m ready to mingle.”
Ten minutes later, I was regretting agreeing to this. Turned out that Nate Carmichael had all the personality of a wrung-out dishcloth. And could talk about trademark law in minute and exhausting detail. Jesus fucking Christ.
I was seconds away from faking a family emergency or pretending to pass out when a familiar voice cut through Nate’s drone.