Page 13 of Twisted Play

“Rory,” her friend said. “I’m Eva’s plus one.”

My heart plummeted to my feet. Eva was taken. Of course she was.

“Dating?” Haruto asked.

“Best friends,” Rory answered absently as she looked around, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “C’mon,” she said to Eva, ignoring me and Haruto. “I promised you a great time tonight, and that means dancing.”

My eyes narrowed.Icould give Eva a great time. My frustrated sigh caught Haruto’s attention. His gaze snapped between me and Eva before his lips curled up in amusement. My jaw clenched, and possessiveness roared through me. She wasmine.

His smirk turned into a full-out grin, the fucker. “Or you both could stay and help me test out new cocktails.” Cockblocker!

Rory looked at Eva, grinning. “Sounds like fun!” She looked more closely at her friend, whose face had turned blankly pleasant. “Or we could go dance.”

“Why don’t I show you around while your friend helps Haruto?” I inserted myself smoothly into the conversation. “And when we come back, these two’ll have something better than Kool-Aid and vodka for you to drink.”

Carefully, I took her cup out of her hand and set it on the counter. I didn’t intend to bring her back, but she didn’t need to know that. Not yet.

Haruto gave me a long look. I deserved that. I’d fucked up our sophomore year with drugs, a DUI, and endless fights on the ice. I could spend the rest of my life proving I was sober, and he still wouldn’t believe me.

To my surprise, he made space behind the kitchen counter island that doubled as a bar and immediately involved Rory in a conversation about craft cocktails.

Then, he pointed at his eyes and mine, to let me know he had his eye on me.

I deserved that too.

Relieved, I wrapped my arm around Eva’s waist, desperate to touch her softness. When she didn’t object, I guided her through the press of people and back out into the open area we used as a living room. “Welcome to the team,” I murmured, brushing my lips against her ear, determined to seduce this gorgeous creature so I could fuck her, get her out of my head, and move on.

“Thank you,” she said. Her lips curved up into a polite smile that I wanted to replace with the genuine one I’d seen when she walked in the door earlier. “Who lives here?”

“Six of us now. Eight once classes start, but Tristan and Andrzej go home for the summers.”

“And you don’t?”

My gaze cut to hers. Fuck no, I didn’t move back into my father’s cold mansion and put myself within his grasp to manipulate until I was as cold and evil as he was. Did she not know who I was? The attraction compounded until all I could think about was pressing her against a wall and showing her exactly who she was talking to.

“Cole?” she asked, shaking me out of my thoughts. I realized I hadn’t responded.

“No, I don’t,” I rasped, getting a firm grip on my filthy thoughts. I’d just met her. Didn’t know her. Didn’t know anything about her or what she wanted. Definitely had no idea if she was into my kinks in bed or even looking for a hookup. But Christ, I wanted her so fucking bad. And I was used to taking what I wanted. So I would.

We made our way through the party, and I introduced her to everyone as the team’s newest medic, turning on the charmuntil she relaxed. Jealousy streaked through me at every person whose eyes caught on the scandalously short hem of her dress then jerked their gaze away when they realized I’d noticed.

I broke off as Eva stumbled. My grip around her waist tightened, steadying her. The curve of her hip burned against my palm. She inhaled sharply but didn’t pull away.

“Want to dance?” I asked her, desperate to drag her body against mine and seduce her as thoroughly as she’d seduced me by just fucking existing.

Eva laughed. “You don’t seem like the dancing type.”

“For you, I would be,” I vowed. Her expression softened, and she let me lead her out to the middle of the room, where couples were turning up the heat.

I spun her in my arms so her back pressed into my torso, wrapping one hand around her waist and splaying the other across her collarbone, covering a scar that stretched along it, disappearing into the neckline of her dress.

To my surprise, Eva threw her head back, pressing her ass into my pelvis. “Yes,” she whispered as I tightened my fingers until they loosely circled her throat. “I’ve had a shitty day,” she confessed. “And I’d like to forget.”

“I’ve had a shitty year, pretty little sparrow,” I murmured in her ear, loving the way the skin on her neck pebbled under my breath. “Want to forget with me?”

She spun around until we faced each other, and she stared at me, her bottle-green eyes swirling with too many emotions to discern.

“My friend?—”