Page 38

Ultimately, Drew never responded. For the next hour or so, Delaney decided “having fun” meant pounding back beer after beer and encouraging Emmy to do the same. It was becoming rapidly apparent that I was soon going to have two very drunk females on my hands. I had no desire to chase down Laney when she inevitably needed babysitting, nor any inclination to watch Emmy try and do it.
Time to call for reinforcements.
Ivan: Hey, I need you to come down to the university and meet me at a party.
Will: YOU want company??
Ivan: No, you idiot, I need your help. I’m watching Emmy, but her roommate is getting fucked up. I’m going to need you to come down here and keep an eye on her so I can focus on Emmy.
Will: Let me get this straight. You want me to leave the comfort of my home and scrap any plans I had for my Friday night to come babysit some fucking drunk college freshman?
Ivan: Yes
Will: Fuck that.
Ivan: You can either leave now, or I’ll call Drago and you leave 10 minutes from now.
Will: You asshole. Where are you?
It pained me to type this next text.
Ivan: Kappa Delta Pi
Will: A fucking FRAT party?? Jesus Christ, to think I wanted that job. What’s Emmy wearing? I bet she looks hot.
I knew he was saying that to piss me off. It was working.
Ivan: Don’t fucking worry about what she looks like. Just get over here.
I looked down at my phone, noting that Will should be here in about fifteen minutes. That would probably be just in time for him to pick Emmy’s roommate up off of whatever surface she will inevitably be passed out on. She had just run to get another round.
I looked into Emmy’s glassy, unfocused eyes and frowned. She’d only had three beers. “Have you ever drank before?”
She pursed her lips in an exaggerated pout that made her look annoyingly adorable. “Of course, I have.”
“When?”
She paused, a look of comic concentration on her face as she considered my question. “There have been a few occasions. I had wine one time with my mom. I admit, I didn’t really like it.” She stared down into her red cup. “I don’t really like beer, either, come to think of it.”
“Yeah, well, you’d never guess by the way you’re tossing it back. You never went to any parties in high school?” I didn’t want to promote more conversation between us, more closeness, but I was unable to control my curiosity about her.
Her brow puckered. “Hmm, no, not really. I wasn’t very popular. Kind of a band geek and scholarship kid. We had band parties, but they were pretty lame—no alcohol.”
I stared at Emmy in disbelief. Band geek? In what fucking universe? However, I wasn’t unhappy with her response.
“Good. High school parties can get out of hand. You shouldn’t ever drink when someone isn’t there to protect you. Even if Orlov wasn’t out there, you shouldn’t come to a party like this without someone to keep an eye on you.”
Instead of getting angry at my lecturing, a wide grin broke out across her face. She swayed toward me and pointed a finger. “You’re like a…sexy nanny.”
Again, I wanted to be annoyed, but her ridiculous words had me struggling to contain a smile. “Nanny?”
She gave me a lopsided smile that I was certain wasn’t meant to be seductive, but definitely had my dick responding.
“Well, yeah, you take care of me and protect me and make sure I don’t get myself in trouble, but you’re also ridiculously hot.” She slid her finger up my chest and leaned closer to me, her delicate fragrance wrapping around me like a boa constrictor. “But there’s only one problem, hot nanny. Instead of making me behave, you make me want to act really, really naughty.”
Eyes that had been unfocused with inebriation moments ago, suddenly looked smoky with sensual intent.
Jesus Christ. Staring at her, I was horrified to realize that, up to this point, she had been making no effort to seduce me. I had been struggling to control myself, to keep from touching her, kissing her, fucking her, because she was just naturally fucking irresistible.