Page 61 of See You Soon

Cara felt her cheeks heat. “Nope, I bought them today at Phipps Plaza,” she joked, catching Wes’s frown out of the corner of her eye.

“I’m going to get a drink at the bar. What do you want?” His eyes dipped to the generous amount of cleavage on display, before he jerked them away. His lips compressed into a thin, angry line.

“Surprise me. I’ll get our next round,” she said, as he stalked away.

Skye angled her head to where Wes was now waiting at the end of the bar. “I can’t believe you got him to come! He never agrees to come out.” Skye’s eyes ran down Cara’s dress, and then slapped her friend on the ass. “But I think I see what might have enticed him.”

“Where’s this friend of yours?” Cara asked. She didn’t want to talk about what she couldn’t have. She glanced around the group, but none of the faces were strangers.

“He’s not here yet.” She cast a speculative look back toward Wes. “Are you sure this is going to be okay?”

Cara was saved from answering when Wes reappeared and handed her a cut-crystal tumbler with a lime. “I got you a gin and tonic.”

Cara smiled. “Perfect.”

Wes took a sip of his whiskey. “So, where’s the guy?”

“That’s just what I was asking!” Cara plucked the lime from the rim of the glass and sucked at the sour juice. Wes leaned into her space, to avoid a group passing behind them, throwing her off.

Skye checked her phone. “He hasn’t texted, so he should still be coming. He may have gotten stuck on location.”

“Location? What does he do?”

“He’s in production.”

“Is that all you’re going to tell me? ‘He’s in production.’ That’s so specific.” Cara rolled her eyes.

“If I tell you any more, you’ll google him. That would defeat the whole purpose of a blind date. I didn’t give him your name either, not that he’d find much about you.” Skye made a face. “You’re the only person I know without real social media. You’re like a ghost.”

Cara shivered as a finger of unease ran down her spine. A warm palm slipped under her hair and cradled her neck, settling her nerves. Her eyes darted to Skye, but in the low light and bodies packed together she didn’t think her friend had noticed Wes’s movement.

“I don’t have any.” Wes’s voice was even; whereas, Cara found herself barely able to follow the conversation. All of her attention was on the tender skin of her neck where his strong fingers lightly massaged.

“Yeah, but you’re a super-paranoid computer geek,” Skye said, oblivious to the fact that Cara was about to dissolve in a puddle at her feet. “Besides thereisstuff about you, where you went to school, your business, etc.”

“Trust me, if I could run my business and scrub the internet of my information, I would. It’s insane the amount of private data people have floating around.”

Was his voice raspier than before? Cara fought the urge to lean back into him.

Jerrod suddenly appeared before them, and grasping Cara’s hands, he pulled her forward. She instantly missed Wes’s touch.

“You came! Yes! I needed a night out!” Jerrod’s dark eyes were happily unfocused as he swung Cara’s arms side to side, almost spilling her drink. “You are too cute!” He reached forward tipping her glass to her lips. “You’ve got to catch up.”

Cara arched a brow but finished the drink.

Satisfied, Jerrod grinned blearily and wagged a finger. “No baby talk tonight.”

“No,” Cara agreed with a laugh.

“Hey!” Skye objected. “Don’t talk shit about my niece!”

Jerrod’s eyes rounded. “Never. But this is daddies’ night out!” He swung his arm around a heavy-set man watching indulgently.

“Don’t worry, Sis. I’ll get him out of here before it’s a problem,” Todd said to Skye, and she snorted.

“Are you being stood up?” Wes’s leaned close to her ear, to be heard over the bar noise. His warm breath on the sensitive skin reignited the heat between her legs.

If Cara closed her eyes for a moment to savor the feeling, who was to know?