Authors: Mahalia Levey
“Darcy sent me a text message.” Suz
anne
pointed to where the
others were sitting
. “
Al
l
right
,
a
l
l
right
, t
hey have a
pitcher, for us
. Time for the real fun to begin.
”
Inside he
r friend’s
bubbly interior a lush lay waiting to come out to play.
“
E
nthused much?” Briar laughed. She was s
urprised
to realize how good laughing felt again. “Come on
.”
S
he dragged
Suzanne
after her
,
weav
ing
through the packed crowd.
“Bout time
.
” Darcy smiled
,
pull
ing
out
a chair
for Bri
ar
.
“Intervention time
.
” Carissa
’s gaze
inspected the crowd
around the
m
. B
r
iar
k
new she was looking for possible
victims or guinea pigs
for her
.
“
D
a
mn
it
,
I don’t need intervention
.
” Bri
ar
poured
Suz
anne
a margarita from the pitcher
before
pour
ing
herself
one
.
She
scooped a shot of ta-kill-ya off the table
, toss
ing
it
down the hatch.
As t
he burn made her stomach turn,
she lifted
the drink to her mouth
,
flicked her tongue across the gritty sour salt
and
sipp
ed
her favorite drink
. Strawberry margaritas tasted indescribable, especially
since
she hadn’t had a drop of liquor in months.
Strains of soft rock played from the house band, sectioned away from the big screen televisions with various
football
games stretched across the best
entertainment
systems money could buy. Briar
scanned the crowd while
toy
ing
with her drink, a ploy to make sure she paced herself.
A
few
good-looking
males without females on their ar
m
sat at the bar and a few tables
. No
doubt her
three
best friends would pander her to the first hottie they set eyes on. When
Suzanne’
s jaw open
ed
wide
with her
hummina expression, she whipped her head around to see what provoked
the
instant lust.
“Aye papi
.
”
Briar had never seen any
body
so attractive
.
He had to know his utter affect on
anyone with a pulse
. God help the
person
he landed,
because
they woul
d
need
nerves of steel to deal with the onslaught of attention sent his way.
Why
am I thinking this?
Suz
anne
nudged her under the table with a boot. “
Briar, s
top staring,” she hissed under her breath.
“I
…
ah-oh
…
”
T
earing her gaze
away,
Briar
felt her
chee
k
s
heat, looking
at her friends. “Sorry, guess that happens when you all go speechless.” She shrugged
,
taking
a big gulp of her
margarita.
A choking pain seized her
before
a
coughing
fit
ensued as she tried
to clear the alcohol from her wind pipe
. “Ohh the burn,” she
whimper
ed.
“
R
ight there
is one piece of sin I’d go to Hell for
,
” Carissa crooned.
“Amen
,
”
b
oth Suz
anne
and Darcy
chimed
.
She wouldn’t agree and give them the opportunity to set her up with him.
“He’s okay.” Briar
snuck
one more peek. Her interest leaned against the bar with a beer
bottle
against his lips. Lucky for her, he couldn’t see her raking her gaze
over him
, taking in the tattoo running the length of his left arm. Nor could he see her body tremble, or smell the faint scent of her sex dampening her panties from just
siz
ing
up
his entire package. She drained her margarita and turned back to her table.
Her three friends
gave her knowing
stares.
“He is the one
,
” Darcy
said with a smug grin
.
“Definitely
.
S
he can’t take her eyes off him. And wait
. Check out the way he keeps glancing our way,
”
Suzanne
exclaimed
.
“Stop. I don’t want him.” Okay
,
that lie didn’t count. She did want hi
m—
so bad she could taste how his skin felt on her tongue. She wanted to lick him from top to bottom like no
one’s business.
However
,
her friends did not, in no way, form or fashion
,
need to know that.
“
We just got here
.
C
an ya’l
l tone
your
craze
to get me laid down a tad, please? I repeat I do not want him.”
“Think her nose’ll grow?” Carissa grinned.
“
Wonder where he came from
?
H
e’s not homegrown here in
Kansas City
.
He could be just passing through which is too good an opportunity to pass up girlfriend.
”
Suz
anne’s
words rang true. She
’
d have a chance for a one night
stand
without the hassle of awkward phone calls or second dates. A sexy man passing through could be the one thing to get her moving forward
again
.
“What color do you think his eyes are?” Darcy asked as she refilled glasses.
“Chocolate brown
,
” Bri
ar
answered
, licking
salt of
f
the rim of her drink.
“I say black as sin
,
” Suz
anne
countered
.
“Dark blue, so dark they border on black,” Carissa
supplanted.
Hmmm
,
was there such a thing as blue-black?
If they kept
star
ing
his way
,
he
wouldn’t need
their loud whispering
to know they were talking about him
.
“We’re out of margaritas. Here Bri
,
you go get the refill and report back to us the color of his eyes.”
Darci
thrust the empty pitcher to her, sporting
a mischievous glint in her eyes.
She took possession of the sticky container and wiped her hand on the side of her pants, hoping she didn’t leave a streak of margarita salt on them, wishing for hand sanitizer
.
“You thre
e waste no time. I love you all
,
but seriously? One of you could easily go see for yourselves.”
H
uff
ing
a breath
while
glar
ing
daggers at them,
Briar
tossed
her hat off her head
, making
sure
it land on her
chair
. She sauntered up to the bar, b
eaming a smile at the bartender
before
setting the empty container in front of him.
“A
refill please
,” she
requested
as she
opened
her purse to
withdraw
her credit card.
A hand snaked out to stop her
and grazed over the top of her knuckles.
Jolts of energy spiked across her skin, traveling with
a rush
to her core.
She swallowed hard in an attempt to formulate a coherent sentence.
Tingling deliciously
from the
tiny touch
, the stranger’s
presence overwhelmed her.