“Paul, hush. And Kimber-” Ferney pointed a finger at her. “You go out and get good and laid tonight. You deserve it.”
Kimber laughed, but a blossom of excitement grew in her stomach as she decided her sister was right. Why not? What was she waiting for?
There was no denying it: Nicole was nothing short of smokin’. Her hair fell to her waist in a sheet of brown and gold, her tight body was bronzed and aerobicized to perfection, and her legs ended somewhere in the stratosphere. Not to mention her backless dress completely exposed the orchid tattoo blooming along the length of her vertebrae. All eyes were on her as she and Jay walked through Moquest’s door, and he could tell every guy in the room racked his brain for a way to spend a few minutes with what lay underneath her thong.
Of course, Nicole’s single mortal flaw was that she was boring. Wasn’t that always the case? Even though everything inside him-and Moquest-insisted that he be into her, Jay couldn’t convince himself. Dinner had been excruciating, sitting side by side at the sushi joint, trying to find common ground. She’d apparently run out of things to say after telling him how she’d just split from a long-term relationship with a guy ten years her senior and had spent the duration of their meal asking him awkward questions he thought died with the concept of video dating. She had actually asked him what his favorite holiday was. When she inquired about his taste in music, he rattled off a few bands, many found at the low end of the dial so he wasn’t surprised she wasn’t familiar with most of them. However, he nearly fell out of his chair when she did say, without confidence, that she “might’ve heard of” Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney! No wonder he hated dating so much. What misery.
It didn’t help that Kimber was also at the party, looking beyond phenomenal in a short red number. If that wasn’t enough to drive him mad, she was giggly and happy, enjoying herself and mingling with the other partygoers. He wondered what his evening would’ve been like if he were on a date with Kimber instead of Nicole. She probably would’ve gotten the High Fidelity joke he’d cracked over shrimp rolls earlier. Hell, she probably would’ve corrected him, insisting he quoted the line wrong.
Jay took a swig from his lager, forcing himself to focus on his date. After all, everyone else was. Here he was, the envy of all the other guys at the party for being with the hottest girl there, and he was anything but happy. Talk about that grass always being greener.
Moquest staggered into him, clamping a heavy hand on his shoulder. Jay could smell the Jim Beam on his friend’s breath mingling with the scent of Axe. “Having fun?” he shouted in Jay’s ear.
“Sure, why not?”
“Exactly.” Moquest leered at Nicole, who was chattering away with Moquest’s girlfriend, Gina the Stripper. Actually, it was Gina the Ex-Stripper, though it was impossible to tell from her black mini dress with the plunging neckline and her Lucite platforms. Jay wondered what Gina and Nicole could possibly be talking about. He couldn’t imagine it being remotely interesting in any way.
Moquest’s grip turned fierce, and Jay turned to see his friend’s concerned brown eyes focused on him. “You all right?”
Before Jay could respond, Moquest’s gaze flicked across the room to where Kimber stood, surrounded by a knot of men who were likely interested in more than just hanging onto her every word. Her throaty, infectious laugh reached his ears and he looked away, taking an angry gulp of his beer. Why couldn’t she just want him the way he wanted her? Nothing made sense to him.
“Don’t worry.” Moquest clapped him on the back and drew away. “I got some things in store to switch up the atmosphere.” He bit his lip and hummed an unrecognizable tune best suited for porno background music as he danced from foot to foot, waving his hands raise-the-roof style.
Jay arched a brow. “Should I be afraid?”
“No.” A wicked grin spread over Moquest’s face. “You should be stoked. And you will be. I promise.”
One hot red dress, two cups of Moquest’s jungle juice, and more than a few head turns had Kimber feeling pretty damn good. Fuck Dane, and fuck Jay, too, seeing as he couldn’t even deign to say hello to her that evening. Fuck everybody. Why not? As far as she was concerned, the night was all about her. In fact, all nights should now be about her. It was high time.
“So how come I haven’t seen you around before?” asked Bryan, whom she’d been talking to for the past half hour. “I can’t believe Moquest never introduced us.”
“We’ll have to have a word with that boy.” She couldn’t believe Bryan seemed so interested in her; he could be a runner-up in a Jake Gyllenhaal lookalike contest. Where did Moquest ever meet this Adonis? She wasn’t used to guys this gorgeous chatting her up. Then again, she’d been tied up with Dane drama for years, so she’d never really had or been open to the opportunity.
The reminder of the time she’d been without any real happiness and attention sent a bullet of sadness through her chest, but she shook it off. There was no need to think about the past when the magic of the present was so real. She couldn’t change any of it, but anything could happen now.
Kimber tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and gave Bryan a shy smile, all the while wondering what it would be like to go to bed with him, and not just someday-tonight. Sex had always seemed so sacred to her, something she could only do with someone she loved. She couldn’t believe that sex was something that anyone could just have, at any given moment. Now she realized she had the option-and the power-to do that, too.
She could be having sex with someone in a few hours. All she had to do was say so.
And she wanted to say so. She’d wasted years being good, too good. Where had it gotten her? What was the point?
It was time to live it up a bit, but how? How did these things just happen? Despite her desire, she was nervous. Kimber had always preferred relationships to bloom organically. Judging by the past, however, that had had limited success.
Moquest’s girlfriend, who was wearing an outfit straight out of Frederick’s of Hollywood, stepped in the center of the room and clapped her hands overhead. “Okay, everybody, who wants to play a game?”
Everyone in the vicinity turned toward her; she’d delivered her announcement in a way that suggested the game she had in mind wasn’t exactly a friendly round of pinochle.
“I propose,” sang Moquest’s girlfriend, “a favorite pastime you all thought you outgrew.” She held up an empty wine bottle like a sword of victory. “Spin the Bottle, anyone?”
The partygoers whooped in response, as if they were all still teenagers. After wrestling with the nasty reminder of when Dane had taken part in the game, Kimber surrendered to the excitement at the prospect of playing. This could be the exact opportunity she’d been looking for to get closer to Bryan. Considering the way he glanced at her, his thoughts ran parallel to hers.
The guests dropped into seated positions, drawing Kimber’s attention to the few left standing, which included Moquest, who was dancing in a way more resembling humping. Jay stood beside him, slugging his beer with an unreadable expression on his face. His gaze flicked to her and she risked a smile. In response, he polished off what was left the bottle and left the room.
A sudden rush of anger replaced Kimber’s guilt and worry. If Jay wanted to rebuff her at every turn, fine. He was obviously unconcerned about repairing the rift in their friendship. She alone could only do so much, and she wasn’t going to let him ruin what she had a feeling was going to be one of the most important nights of her life.