“Yeah?” It’s all I can get out, because my body is still trying to convince my mind that getting tangled up in the sheets with Cash wouldn’t be so bad. Still too dazed to stop him, all I can do is watch. He has the bottle by the neck and is heading for the nearest waiter, who’s struggling under the weight of a dessert tray.
This is bad, my mind says. But the part of me that has been on too many bad dates tells me to shut it and go along with the plan.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I say, trying to block Cash’s actions from the rest of the room. A room full of my colleagues and clients. The last thing I want them to see is my “boyfriend” going all sticky fingers on the champagne.
“What?” He shoves the bottle of champagne at me and pulls a fifty from his wallet. He sticks it into the waiter’s hand. “Stop looking at me like that, I’m paying for the champagne,” he says with a wink. That signature Cash Gardner sexy wink. The one that gets ladies to drop their panties whenever he uses it. “Thanks, man.” Cash nods to the waiter and heads for the exit. I’m not following him. “Savy, come on. This is my proven bad breakup cure.”
“I thought that was tequila shots.”
“No, that’s for a bad date. Huge difference between a bad date and celebrating your liberation from an asshole. Clearly you need more tutelage, and that’s why I’m here.”
“You’ve listened to one too many drunk girls.”
He stops and holds up his hands. “Tell me I’m wrong and I’ll stop this. Just say the word.”
I’m going to tell him that there was nothing between me and Tanner, but it’s already been a night of denial. Instead of answering, I cross my arms. Cash looks at me.
“Go on, I’m waiting.”
For once I want someone to know how this man ran my heart over and chains me still.
“Not that I can hold you accountable for your actions right now, as you’re not willing to address the fact that you are, in fact, going through a breakup,” he says.
I haven’t told anyone about Tanner, and here Cash is and already figured it out. All of the careful walls I’ve built. Gone.
Cash Gardner has me eating out of the palm of his hand.
“We are not talking about this tonight,” I say, trying to sound more like the confident woman Cash knows me as. I only come across sounding like a petulant child.
“Say no more.” He taps my chin. “Chin up, Savy. We still have to make our grand exit. Live a little. You landed a huge account, your boss loves you, and the room thinks you’re about to run off and have crazy wild sex with me. If anything, they want to be the ones running away from this party. So let’s bail. Make them all insanely jealous.”
“As long as you promise not to sit on those glasses in your pocket, because I don’t want to spend the rest of my night in the ER.”
It’s his turn to snort.
“Always so worried about me, Savy. Don’t worry, I keep the important parts of my anatomy protected. Always.”
We don’t talk on the way down, but he is still holding my hand from the grand exit we just made. It’s not until we’re out of the hotel that the spell breaks. A woman walking in, eyes Cash with an open invitation. I want to cut her eyes out, but I can’t. He’s not mine. We’re out of the party now, and there’s no need for Cash to continue acting like my boyfriend. Five floors up, I would have been obligated to take the girl out, but here on the ground floor he’s a free agent.
Cash doesn’t even seem to notice the girl as she makes a show of bending over to fix a strap on her heel, clearly putting all her assets on display. I try to take my hand out of his. A silent way to tell him to go on — chase it — be yourself, but he won’t let go. I try to pull away and he gives me a playful tug and side glance. Okay, maybe it’s just until we are away from the valet attendants.
“You didn’t have to come,” I say, because I have to put this back in normal territory. The place where we’re just friends, and I’m not ten seconds from surrendering to my basest wants.
“‘Thank you, Cash, for coming to my rescue. I’m so lucky to have you,’ is a more appropriate answer.”
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, but I asked you to find Cassie and have her come pick me up.”
Yes, let’s argue over our verbal contract. That I can understand. That I can fight about, and it will distract me from what I really want.
Cash only smirks down at me. “Do you have a problem with me saving you?”
“What…no. It’s just that you have the bar and your job to take care of. It was…”
“Family first,” Cash says.
“I’m not your family.” Thank God, because then the dirty things I want to do to you would not only be a bad idea but also illegal.
“Not that kind of family. The five of us guys are a family—Shelby, too, and Cassie’s now part of that, and you’re grandfathered in through Cassie.”
“That’s not how grandfathering works.”
“Never argue with a lawyer,” he sighs.
“Damn straight.”