With his free hand, Kyler reached over and tugged my sweater down past my waistline. I squirmed further away. “I’m not saying that. Sasha knows him. Said he’s a creep and I have to agree.”
“Oh.” I started laughing. “Does Sasha know him? How?”
Kyler frowned. “Because Sasha is from here and yes, they used to date or something, Syd. I told you I knew her.”
“I bet you know her, know her.”
His lips pursed and he didn’t respond for a few seconds. “Not like that, Syd. Sasha and I aren’t like that.”
He hadn’t had sex with Sasha? Wow, we must be the last two women on the face of the Earth. “Well, you should get back to Sasha. I will get back to the creep.”
He sighed and tipped his head back. With his hair falling back from his face like that, he looked like an angel staring up at the heavens.
All right. Quite possibly I was really drunk.
“Why don’t you come over and sit with me?” He tugged me closer, and for a moment I stopped trying getting away. My thighs bounced off his legs, and I was staring at his chest again. Unfortunately, he was wearing his hoodie.
I leaned in, pressing my cheek against his chest. He smelled amazing. I closed my eyes and breathed him in.
Kyler chuckled softly. “How much did you drink, baby?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “A couple.”
He let go of my arm and dropped his over my shoulders. “What were you taking shots of?”
“Tequila.” I sighed.
He let out a surprised laugh. “Ta-kill-ya? Oh, shit.”
I giggled. “It’s not that bad. Kind of burned, but ya know, now I don’t feel anything at all.”
Kyler laughed again. “I bet you don’t.”
“Mmm…”
He got a hand between his chest and my face, placing his fingers on the tip of my chin. He lifted my head up. “Are you going to come back and sit with Sasha and me?”
I jerked away and stumbled back a step. He had me right up until the whole “Sasha and me” bit. Disappointment seeped in, threatening to kill my buzz. I knew I shouldn’t feel bad—or feel anything at all—but I did.
“I’m going to dance some more. See ya.”
Kyler’s atrocity of curse words were lost in the pounding of my heart. As soon as I exited the hallway, Zach was there, grabbing my hand. “I thought you’d gotten lost.”
“Nah,” I said, letting him pull me toward the dance floor. “I was—”
An arm snaked around my waist, pulling me to a stop. For the first time in my life I was literally stuck between two boys. Huh. And here I thought it would be more fun than this.
“Hey now.” Kyler’s breath stirred the hair around my temple. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Good question.
Zach turned around, frowning when he saw Kyler. “And I was having such a good night. What do you think you’re doing?”
“It’s not really any of your business.” Kyler’s arm tightened around my waist.
Oh dear…
Zach’s grip was firm. “Well, nice to see you again, but we’re about to go dancing.”
“I think she needs to sit down.” Kyler stepped around, so that he partially blocked me. “All right?”
Indignation rose. “I don’t need to sit down.”
“Well, you heard your friend,” Zach replied, tugging me forward. “She doesn’t want to sit down, so I think you should just let her do what she wants.”
Kyler laughed—a cold, nasty laugh that warned trouble as he caught my other arm, holding me in place. “Yeah, I don’t give a fuck what you think, and I’m sure you already know that, but I can tell you right now, what’s on your mind is not going to happen.”
Whoa. This was weird. For two people who barely knew each other, there was a lot of hostility here.
“Excuse me?” Zach said, eyes narrowing.
“Yeah, you heard me just right.”
I don’t know what happened next. Zach’s grip on my hand tightened, and I yelped out of surprise. The next thing I knew, Kyler had let go of my arm and his hands had slammed into Zack’s chest, knocking him back several steps.
“You don’t touch her,” Kyler growled. “You get that? Not now. Not ever.”
I was pretty positive Kyler was overreacting.
“You don’t know who the fuck you’re dealing with,” Zach warned, taking a step forward.
“He’s a ski instructor,” I felt the need to explain. Yep. Fountain of helpful knowledge right here.
Kyler got right up in Zach’s face. Well, he was much taller, so he pretty much looked down his nose at the dude. “I know exactly who I’m fucking with, buddy.”
“Is that so?” Zach started forward, but Kyler was too fast. He caught the ski instructor by the shoulder and pushed him back into the paneled wall. The checkered dartboard rattled around the nail it hung from.
“Better think again,” Kyler said. “I have no problem with wiping the floor with your face.”
I tugged on the back of his sweater. “Kyler, come on. Let’s go.”
Kyler ignored me.
“You think you little rich fucks can come up here and push people around? Yeah, not happening.” Zach’s eyes flicked over Kyler’s shoulder. “That goes for little cock-teases, too. Seems like your taste in females is the same.”
“What?” Now pissed off for a whole different reason, I tried to get around Kyler. “I am not a cock-tease, you ass-hat.”
“Whatever.” Zach shrugged off Kyler’s hand and edged around him, about to tuck tail and run, but not before he threw out a, “You two have a great time up here.”
Kyler looked like he was about to follow him across the bar, but the unfriendly faces that had started paying attention—probably locals—had him thinking otherwise. “God, where do you find these creeps, Syd?”
“Hey!” I smacked his back. “He wasn’t a creep until you got involved.”
“Whatever. You don’t know him.” He reached down and took my hand. The weight felt different and about a thousand other things I couldn’t figure out. “Come on. Let’s go back to the house.”