Which was fine with Emma, to a point. She was itching to know everything Suz could tell her.
But first, she needed more details on Suz’s evening—the woman had been unflappable since they’d met. Seeing her friend in such rough shape seemed way out of character. “Did you get the license plate of the bus that ran you over?”
“I’d shake my head, but I’m afraid it might fall off my shoulders.” Suz took a deep breath, braced herself and aimed for vertical. She went too far, swinging past a full upright seated position, headed toward the floor.
Emma darted across the space between them, stopping Suz’s slow roll. She held on for a moment until Suz stopped reeling. “You’re still drunk.”
“Maybe. I was doing shooters.”
Ha. “Oh, sweetie. Didn’t you get that out of your system the night I outdrank you?”
Suz mustered up an evil grin, a flash of her usual enthusiasm emerging.
“Are you kidding me? I took everything I learned from drinking with you, and that’s why today I stand before you as this month’s ‘Shoot the Shit’ champion. Or I would, if I were standing.”
Emma laughed. “I’m glad I inspired you to the gold.”
Suz waved a hand. “Enough about me and my evening. I looked for you before I left, but you’d vanished.”
During her long, sleepless night, Emma had plotted some of how to deal with this. Straight-up announcing she had a past with Dean was out of the question, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t morbidly curious to know what he’d been doing since they’d parted ways.
Or rather, since he’d walked out on her and left an empty space in her chest where her heart used to be.
But…semantics.
“I headed home after the blackout.”
Her friend looked disappointed. “I’m sorry you didn’t have a good time.”
“I did have fun, but I’m better in small groups,” Emma admitted.
Suz rolled her eyes, immediately wincing. “Ouch.” She laid a hand on Emma’s knee. “I’m an idiot. You told me you don’t like crowds, so what do I do? Haul you to a party with a million people you don’t know.”
Emma raised a brow. “A million, huh? Were you drinking before the party as well?”
Suz ignored her and continued melodramatically. “And once I got you surrounded by a teeming mass of rowdies, I abandoned you!”
They both cracked a smile at the same time, followed by laughter.
“I take it you’re feeling a little better?” Emma asked drolly.
“A little? Maybe.” Suz winked. “Tell me you had a good time? Even the teensiest moment of fun?”
Emma flashed back to the combustible lust Dean had dragged from her with barely any effort. Fun?
That was an understatement.
Which only pissed her off, because…well, damn him. And damn her traitorous body for responding. Her subconscious should have been able to figure out who she’d been locking lips with. It should have set off warning bells in her head before any part of her even got close to Dean.
“I did,” Emma said awkwardly. “I…uh, got to meet some of your friends.” She paused. “They were nice.”
She paused again, long enough that she had Suz’s full attention.
“Oh shit.” Suz frowned. “Which one of them made a pass at you? And if you say Parker, I swear to God I’m driving over there right now, no matter how hung-over I am, and slicing his fucking balls off—”
“I didn’t meet anyone named Parker,” Emma interrupted with what she hoped was a reassuring look.
Relief filled Suz’s eyes. “Oh. Good. Because his fiancée is my best friend.” The suspicion returned. “But you didn’t deny that someone made a pass at you. Who was it?”
Emma put on a casual voice. “He said his name was Dean? He was flirting, I guess—” You guess? You kissed him! “—but I wasn’t having any of it.”
She waited for a reaction, and boy, did she get one. Suz’s mouth gaped open for about five seconds before her lips twitched, and then she shook her head, quickly stopping as she pressed her palms to her temples and gritted her teeth.
“Once this hangover wears off, I’m going to have such a good, hard laugh. I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who ‘wasn’t having any of it’ with Dean the Sex Machine.”
Emma’s shoulders stiffened. “A sex machine, huh?”
“Oh yeah, although I’m probably the only woman over twenty-one in this town who hasn’t slept with him. I’m not exactly sure why, because I’ve heard over and over again the man is a wizard between the sheets, but ours is not a sexual connection.” Suz laid a hand over her heart. “We’re soul mates.”
Emma’s body went impossibly stiffer. She wasn’t surprised to hear Dean was a player, not after his boast about knowing how to go all night. No, it was Suz’s comment about soul mates that sent an unwelcome and involuntary thread of anger snapping ice-cold along her spine.