Page 41 of Tempt

“Fine. But you have to promise me one thing.” I squinted with one eye as I held my finger in James’ face.

“Anything, love. You know that.”

Smooth little wanker.“If I fall asleep you have to promise to get me home safely.”

He grinned wickedly. “Does that mean I get a look in your phone at all those dirty little messages?”

“No.”

“Spoil sport,” Ava sighed from behind me. “What’s the fun of getting her drunk if she isn’t going to tell us anything juicy?”

“Are we going, or are you just torturing me?” I asked.

Ava shook her head and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the elevators. We joked our way down to the ground floor and out onto the street. Night was falling quickly and most of the light was already gone from the fall sky. The weather was being finicky, colder than cold one day and just wet and nasty the next. And yet somehow, I still loved it. I pulled my coat a little closer and jammed my hands in my pockets. I had a feeling in another month or so I’d be wearing hats and scarves on my way home.

“This week was brutal. Absolutely brutal. Thank fuck its Friday.” Luis moaned dramatically.

“It wouldn’t be nearly as brutal if everyone else would just agree that I’m brilliant and accept my design,” I said, only half joking. My proposals were different and cutting edge. It was too much for some at HDM2 to swallow. But it was part of why Margaret had brought me over, so I was going to push my ideas even if they were unpopular.

“True,” Luis agreed. “I stand by your design and I think you are doing a stellar job of knocking their objections down one by one. But don’t expect next week to be any fun, either.”

Everyone groaned.

As we stopped at the corner and waited to cross, I got a strange feeling that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I was suddenly very aware of myself—where I was and who I was with. It was as if for a split second I was on display. I grabbed James’ hand and squeezed to steady myself.

“You all right, love?”

“I think I’m just tired and the sudden stop went to my head,” I lied. It felt different than that.

Like someone was watching me.

Yeah… that wasexactlywhat it felt like.

“I’ve got you,” he reassured me and tucked my hand into the crook of his elbow.

I gave him a smile and glanced around. I didn’t see anyone I recognized, and I didn’t see anyone who stood out, so I shook it off. Maybe it was exhaustion getting the better of me. Somehow I doubted that.

But since I couldn’t pinpoint where the feeling was coming from, I decided to ignore my instincts and trust my friends. After all, I was fucking exhausted and all of this could be nothing more than my body insisting I get a good night of sleep immediately.

We had just ducked into a dark pub and claimed a large booth when my phone started vibrating in my pocket. It was Theo.

Any plans tonight?

“Oh…” James teased, “Is it a dirty one?”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Can’t a girl just have some fun?”

Ava shot me a look. “You know you bring this on yourself, right? The more you keep it a secret the more elaborate these two imagine your fuck buddy is.”

“He’s not elaborate and it’s just sex.”

“So it’s a he!” James grinned. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

These three were going to kill me. I loved them to pieces and our friendship was growing by the day, but I still wasn’t close enough to them to feel comfortable sharing my sex life with them. Not yet. Especially not one as complicated as mine.

“How about this, I’ll show my secret file of messages if you stop asking questions?”

They looked at each other for a split second before they all yelled, “Deal!”