Page 67 of His Temptation

“That bad, huh?” I asked, before taking a huge bite of my burger. As my teeth sank into it, juice dripped from the back. God, it was heaven on a bun.

“She’ll be a pain in my ass for a while,” he said, eating some fries. “But she’ll get over it.”

“Just don’t be a dick to her,” I said, feeling sorry for the girl. “Breakups suck. And, not to piss you off or anything, but you’ve been a shitty boyfriend. Least you can do is not make it worse by being nasty about it all.”

“First of all, fuck you,” Ryan said, pointing a fry at me. “Second… you’re right.”

“Say that again?” I asked with a smile.

“Fuck you.” He flipped me off. “There, I repeated it.”

I laughed and took a drink of my water.

“I’m gonna miss your ugly-ass face when we go off to college,” Ryan said, after we’d eaten a little more. “Gonna be weird not having you around.”

“I know.” Even though I’d eaten most of my burger and a crap load of fries, my stomach felt empty all of a sudden. “You might be an asshole, but I love ya.”

“Love ya too, man.” Ryan stuffed the last bit of burger into his mouth. He swept a gaze throughout the room, and I wondered if he avoided eye contact because he didn’t want his emotions to get away from him. His eyes were kind of glassy. Then those eyes narrowed. “You gotta be shitting me.”

“What?” I followed his line of sight and went still.

Emery was sitting at the bar. And he wasn’t alone.

One of the sexiest guys I’d ever seen sat beside him. Short blond hair that fell across his brow, a slender but athletic build, and a face so damn perfect I wondered if he was a model. He was leaning toward Emery, smirking as they talked.

I hated their body language.

I hated the spark between them.

I’d told Emery that Ryan and I had plans that night, and he’d been okay with it, saying he had plans as well. Theplanin question laughed at something Emery said and took a drink of his beer.

Is he on a date?It sure as hell looked like one.

I felt sick, and I didn’t know why.

“Hey, can we get the check?” Ryan asked the waiter.

“I’m not done yet,” I said, tearing my gaze from Emery and the heartthrob.

“Then get a damn to-go box,” Ryan shot back, pulling out his wallet and tossing some bills on the table. “I’m not stayin’ here.”

Ryan placed forty bucks in the ticket book and gave it back to the waiter. “Keep the change.”

As he stormed away from the table, I cast another glance at Emery. He and the other guy were oblivious to us. Emery smiled and said something to the blond. I studied his perfectly styled black hair and his button-up shirt. Not business attire but not overly casual.

Date clothes.

“Dude, come on,” Ryan called from a few feet away.

The blond guy glanced over at me. He smirked and gave me a not-so-subtle wink.

What the fuck?Did he know who I was and was rubbing it in my face?

Emery then looked at me over his shoulder, and I froze. So did he. The blood rushed to my face, and my knees wobbled a bit. Then I turned and left the restaurant. Practically running. Ryan stood on the sidewalk waiting for me.

“About time you got your ass out here.”

“Sorry,” I said, trying my best to cover up my hurt feelings. Ryan would never understand why I was upset, not without me spilling everything to him. So, I jumped in with a question before he could ask me one. “Why did you wanna bail? Didn’t you want to say hi to your dad?”