Page 49 of On the Rocks
“I’m not,” I said quickly. “I just know how you feel about him, and I don’t want to play into it anymore.”
“I don’t even know him,” he responded. “I don’t feel anything toward him.”
“Sure,” I said, twirling out twice before I slipped into his arms again. “I totally got that vibe with the barrel tasting earlier. And with everything you said to me on Sunday.”
“I told you I was sorry for that.”
“Yeah, but did you mean it?”
His jaw clenched at that, and he watched me for a long moment before his eyes cast up to the top of the tent and back down. “You’re infuriating, you know that?”
“Well, then, it’s a good thing you’re not the one marrying me, isn’t it?”
Noah slowed, his hand on my waist squeezing a little tighter. He opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes skirted behind me, and he cleared his throat, forcing a smile as Anthony slid up beside us.
“Mind if I cut in?” Anthony asked. His threatening tone wasn’t lost on me.
Noah swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing hard in his throat before he released me, offering my hand to Anthony like I was some sort of prize. “Of course not. She is your bride-to-be, after all.” He looked at me with those words, and I felt those eyes like the hot blade of a knife. “Thank you for the dance, Ruby Grace.”
Without another word, he dropped my hand, tipped his hat at Anthony, and walked calmly off the dance floor.
A flurry of girls chased after him — ones who’d been watching us dance from the sidelines — and when he granted one of them her wish of completing the dance with him, my stomach twisted.
Daphne McCormick.
No one could keep a secret in this town — and it wasfarfrom a secret that Daphne and Noah had hooked up a few times, that she had had him in her bed more consecutive nights than any other woman in town could say. And the way her long fingers curled around his bicep possessively as she dragged him back to the dance floor, she knew it.
His smile was tight as he took her in his arms, but then she said something to make him laugh —reallylaugh — and seconds later, he was spinning her around the same way he had me.
I tore my eyes away, ignoring the sinking in my stomach and smiling at Anthony as he wrapped me in his arms. I started to waltz, but Anthony’s face screwed up in confusion before he slowed us into a gentle sway like the rest of the patrons.
Except for Noah and Daphne.
“What’s up with that Noah guy, anyway?” Anthony asked, noticing that my gaze had shifted again.
I snapped my attention to him, frowning in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Did you two used to date or something?” He was eyeing Noah menacingly, like he could somehow squash him like a bug with that look.
“Of course not,” I assured him, shaking my head. “We’re just friends.”
“Friends,” Anthony murmured, watching Noah a long moment before he turned his gaze to me. “Before, he was just the guy who showed you the barrel. Now you’re best buds.”
“Don’t be like that,” I said, voice low. “I’myours, okay?” I held up my hand with the Harry Winston diamond on it to prove my point. “Yours. No one else’s.”
Anthony let out a long breath, nodding as a smile bloomed on his face. “I’m sorry. I guess you just bring out the possessive side in me.”
I smiled at that. “Guess that means you like me, huh?”
Anthony kissed me long and slow, stopping our dance altogether so he could frame my face.
And somewhere across the room, I felt another pair of eyes on me.
Later that night, when we were back at my parents’ house, Anthony strengthened a kiss between us, turning that sweet and romantic one from the dance floor into one heated with passion. He peppered my neck with hot, sucking kisses, his hands roaming, breath picking up speed in the hallway outside my bedroom.
“Anthony…” I sighed, pressing my hands into his chest to stop his advances. “I think we should wait.”
“Wait?” he asked, one brow cocking. “I took your virginity a month after we met, Ruby Grace. I think we’re past waiting.”