Ryan Hunter (9 page)

I shoved his shoulder for that last remark, and Alex laughed as he grabbed the edge of the pool table for balance.

Donovan hoisted himself onto the mini-bar, feet dangling, and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs. The fat silver chain around his neck slipped out from under the collar of his T-shirt and swayed against his chin. “I never knew you felt anything for the chick.”

Jeez, I’d rather we didn’t have to discuss my feelings and could just continue with a nice evening of playing pool. “I’m not saying I do.”

“Right, that’s what you have us for,” Alex said, still struggling to stop laughing. “And, dude, it got you bad.”

As if I didn’t know that. When I cut a glance over to Justin, the only one in the room who had known from the start how I felt, he shrugged, clearly telling me that I had no choice but to face it with the guys.

Frederickson got to his feet, grabbed my cue, and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Sincere condolences, Ry. That girl won’t let you get within a yard.”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I couldn’t bite down a smirk. “I believe I was way closer to her than that just a couple of minutes ago.”

“Oooh,” a collective taunting echoed through the room. I hated it when the guys behaved like some silly chicks at a bachelorette party. But at age seventeen, almost everything was worth making a fool of oneself. I’d totally be with them if the joke wasn’t on me tonight.

I dropped to the couch and leaned my head on the backrest, dragging my hands over my face, mostly to cover my stupid grin.
“Shut up, you fuckers.”

Alex made tsking noises before he made the first stroke and the balls were knocked in all directions.
“Language, dude.” When none of the balls dropped in a pocket, he dumped his ass next to me and waited for Frederickson to make his shot. His long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, he cast me a sideways glance. “Seriously, you think you stand a chance with the chick? To me it looks like she’s forever happy to be Mitchell’s groupie.”

At this point, I wasn’t sure if determination and charm alone were enough to change Liza’s mind, but I was ready to die trying. By what she showed me tonight, she wasn’t totally resistant to everything I said or did. Maybe the problem was just that she’d never considered a different future for her than one with Anthony Mitchell’s ring on her finger. But there were so many possibilities for her, if only she would open up. And, dammit, I was definitely one of them.

“That’s because she doesn’t know what she’s going to miss while running after him,” I said to Alex.

“You’re going to show her?”

“Yeah. Hunter’s just the man for that,” Chris pointed out with an impish waggling of his brows. “I bet he has her in his bed before the week’s over.”

“Twenty that she doesn’t even let him kiss her in that time,” Frederickson countered.

“Guys!” I shouted to get their attention then nailed them all with a severe stare. “Don’t you even
think
of making a wager on this. Matthews isn’t a girl you fool around with for winning a bet. First, because she’s the friend of a friend. And second—” I paused then slowly lifted one corner of my mouth. “Because I would hate to see you lose your money, Frederickson.”

That made the guys hoot and whistle, and they all wished me luck. I definitely needed it if I wanted to land Liza.

A few minutes passed before everyone was cool again, and we could play pool for a little while without distractions. When we had raided the mini-bar down to the tonic water, I left the guys to grab some drinks. “Going to get beer. Anybody else wants one?”

Alex said yes, and Justin ordered soda.

As I walked into the kitchen, my hands immediately fisted by my sides, and I had trouble unclenching my teeth. Liza sat on the counter, and Mitchell stood between her dangling feet. At the first look I thought they were kissing, and my heart hurt so bad that I wondered if someone should call an ambulance because I was suffering a cardiac arrest. Until I realized Cloey was with them and Liza apparently had some trouble sitting upright. I had sent her off with Sprite. How the hell did she end up drunk?

Cloey pulled on Mitchell’s arm, but he didn’t seem to be ready to go.
“Anthony, you promised to dance with me,” she nagged him.

And then, in spite of my rage about Tony standing so close to Liza, I had to suppress a chuckle when Liza iterated with the voice of a preschooler,
“
Anthony, you promised to dance with me
.”

That sure pissed Cloey off
. “What’s wrong with
her
?”

“She just had a little too much of the wine coole
r,” said Tony. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

I was about to tell him he should go with her now and let me handle Liza. In her condition it wasn’t a good idea to let her deal with Cloey and the crap she didn’t know about them yet.

But at the same moment, Liza’s head dipped to his shoulder. “I’m so tired. Can we go home?” she whined.

Cloey took a step back and folded her arms over her chest, which threatened to jump out of her plastered-on black dress.
“Aw, come on, Anthony. You’re not going to leave already. It’s only eleven. Take her upstairs to one of Hunter’s guest rooms. She can sleep there.”

Oh no.

“And not bother you any longer?” a moan came from Liza who looked like she was already falling asleep on Tony’s shoulder.

Not up to getting involved in the drama of the night, I walked up beside Mitchell and said, “You don’t want to do that.
In her state, she’s not safe in any of the guest rooms. You know how the parties go on the later it gets.” So what option did we have left? “Take her to my room.”

“
What
?” Liza and Tony shouted, Liza suddenly sitting straight with her eyes wide open. So much for getting her in my bed before the week was over.

“Don’t be ridiculous, guys.” I rolled my eyes as if the thought of doing anything with Liza was totally absurd. If they knew the truth, Tony wouldn’t trust me one bit.
“She’ll be awake and gone before I even get upstairs.” Unfortunately, that was the truth.

Since Liza was as drunk as a rum truffle, it was up to Mitchell to decide for her. He was, after all, her best friend and therefore responsible…somehow. But he was reluctant.

“Hell, do it already, Anthony, and come back fast,” Cloey demanded.

When Tony pressed his lips into a straight line, I thought he would never agree. But then he said,
“Come on, Liz,” and pulled her off the counter. With his arm around her waist, he steadied her and walked her to the door.

After only three steps, she slipped away from him and knocked against the fridge, bounced back, and stumbled.
“Pardon me,” she said as if the fridge had just grown a soul.

She was going to run into the counter next, so I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her tight against me.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from the strawberries?” I growled into her ear, immediately getting high on her beautiful scent.

“Strawberries?
There was one in my last soda.” The silly girl grinned like a loon. “It was yummy.”

“Yummy, all right.
” I chuckled. Then I scooped her up. Lord, had I known that this was Heaven, I’d have tried to be a nicer guy in the past. Her body was light and soft, and her warmth seeped through my shirt, causing my skin to prickle with a certain need to feel her rubbing against me. My hands lay on places that I wouldn’t have dared to dream of touching her just a couple of days ago.

“I’ll carry her to my room, Mitchell. You can grab her when you go. Or come back for her in the morning.”
Or…don’t come back at all and just leave her with me.

“You sure?”
Yep, he didn’t trust me at all.

“Yes. Go dance with Cloey or she’ll pester me next.”

He looked at Summers, and she flashed a radiant smile at him. All right! The battle was won. Mitchell handed Liza into my care. If she’d been my best friend, I wouldn’t have done that.

Savoring every second of cuddling Liza to my chest, I carried her upstairs. She
wrapped her arms around my neck, and suddenly her head rested on my shoulder. I briefly closed my eyes and my jaw tightened as I struggled to stay cool.

“You d
on’t like dancing with Cloey?” she murmured.

I touched my cheek to her brow.
“Would you?”

“I don’t like her, period.”

That was obvious. “And I know exactly why that is.”

“Really?”

I just wanted to tell her that everybody knew how she was in love with my buddy, but she distracted me when her nose brushed against my neck and she inhaled deeply. “You smell good,” she said in her lovely jag, and I knew that without the strawberries I would have never heard this from her lips.

It made me happy and made me laugh, and though I would have loved to get her into a conversation where she could tell me all the other things she might like about me, I knew it was wrong, because she would hate me for it tomorrow.
If she even remembered it then. “Time to go to bed, Matthews.”

Opening the door to my room with Liza in my arms wasn’t an easy thing, but I managed it with my elbow and carried her over to my wide bed underneath the window. Before I laid her down, I pressed her a little tighter with the intention that whatever else happened, I’d always remember this wonderful moment where I held the girl I had loved for years for the very first time.

When she snuggled up in my pillow and sniffed like she couldn’t get enough of the scent on it, I smiled to myself. I pulled her shoes off, covered her bare legs with the quilt, then squatted down beside her, staring at her sweet, pale face. “You comfortable?”

Her eyes were closed as she made a made a whiny face.
“I’m not sure. But can you check if my head sprouted rotor blades?”

I stroked her soft straight hair, brushing the long bangs from her forehead. “No rotor blades, baby,” I whispered so low that she couldn’t hear. A little louder I said,
“That will go away when you sleep. If you need anything, the light switch is right in front of your nose and the bathroom is next door on the left.”

She didn’t reply or move. I was afraid she’d already fallen asleep without hearing the most important information when one was drunk and sick.
As much as I adored this girl, I’d rather she didn’t puke in my bed. “Did you hear me?”

Her mouth curved into a strained grin.
“Light, nose. Toilet, left. Gotcha.” She even gave me a thumbs-up, which reassured me.

I rose from the floor, but just when I wanted to walk away, she said my name.
“Hunter?”

Hunkering down again, I leaned my forearms on the mattress.
“Hm?”

She dragged a deep sigh.
“Sorry about the pool game.”

Yeah, I know you are. But I am not.
The way our gazes had met across that table was special. Way too intimate to be brushed off as harmless flirting. I let my glance move around me, scanning the familiar things in my room, then I looked back at her, the one thing that was totally unfamiliar in here. She made everything complete for me.

Gently, so as not to wake her up again, I stroked her warm cheek with the back of my fingers.
“Sleep tight, princess.”

Chapter 6

WITH MY THOUGHTS continuously drifting back to my room and the one person who lay in there right now, I went back down to the party. If only it was possible to kick everyone out right now, end the night early, and return to Liza. I wouldn’t take advantage of her drunkenness. I wouldn’t put any moves on her. The only thing I would do was sit by her side all night and look at her beautiful face.

But then I’d gotten so much out of this night already. We’d flirted and she had hugged me when I carried her upstairs. She’d told me that I smelled good. Gee, I was a seriously lucky guy tonight.

When I sauntered back into the poolroom without any drinks, the boys wanted to know where I had been so long. I told them I had to take care of a drunken guest, but I didn’t let slip who it was or where I had taken her. Justin was the only exception. I filled him in on everything when the two of us hung out in front of the house to cool off after a couple more beers.

Tony came out with Cloey tucked under his arm. “Cool party, Hunter,” he told me. “We’re off. Do you think I should take Liza home with me?”

“Nah, let her sleep. She’s all right up there. I don’t think being woken up now and riding in a car is what she needs or wants.”

He nodded, and Cloey seemed more than relieved about his decision to leave Liza with me. And so was I. When the two left, Justin
clinked his bottle against mine and flashed a grin so typical of the Andrews boys. “Seems like this is your lucky night. Why are you not upstairs?”

I took a swig, wondering the same thing.
“Because I’m a gentleman.”

Justin laughed at that, and I swallowed the rest of the beer in one go. The truth was that I must be an idiot. And I hated not being with Liza right now.