Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
I was a loser. No, really, I was. And it wasn’t just because I’d slept with my sister’s fiancé.
I mean, that wasn’t my fault. I hadn’t even known that she was dating anyone.
It wasn’t my fault that my Mr. Miracle Tongue was going to be her husband.
Oh my God, it would never feel right, saying that.
Saying the words my sister’s husband, knowing that he was my one-night stand, was awful. Slightly titillating, but still awful.
I know; I know. I was awful.
How could I think that was even vaguely exciting?
How could a part of me still feel so alive, knowing that the man in the living room had been my lover?
Albeit for one night, but still, we’d had sex a lot in that night.
And when I said a lot, I meant a lot. Though I supposed it wasn’t a good idea for me to brag about that right now.
Or the fact that when I had ridden him like a Texan cowgirl, he’d held my hips and told me, “Ride this cowboy all night.”
That wasn’t even the worst part.
When I got to my bedroom after hurrying out of the living room, I ran to the mirror to check my makeup. Yes, I wanted to make sure that I’d looked good when I saw Xander again.
And, oh my God, what sort of name was Xander?
Was he a Greek god wannabe? Or maybe a Roman god wannabe?
Or maybe he thought he was a superhero? Or his parents thought he was going to be a superhero?
I mean, who called their kid Xander? I mean, I wouldn’t mind playing superheroes with him.
I’d quite like to see him in a mask and cape, like some sexy Batman.
But, yeah, that was an inappropriate thought as well.
Nearly as inappropriate as the way I checked my makeup and then checked my overnight bag to see if I’d brought anything even remotely sexy to wear.
And when I said sexy, I meant subtly sexy.
Not obvious. Just like a quick peekaboo sort of thing.
I told you I was a loser. Instead of praying for some sort of redemption for hooking up with my sister’s fiancé—I could barely even say the word without throwing up—I was looking to see if I had any cute clothes.
What was worse was that I felt disappointed when I realized I didn’t have anything remotely cute or sexy.
All I had were some jeans—not skinny either—and some baggy, loose-fitting tops.
Nothing that was going to wow anyone. Which should have been good, right?
I mean, what sort of self-respecting woman wanted to impress her sister’s fiancé with a tight top, exposing her ample cleavage?
None, I tell you. No good sister would be hoping to look hot in front of her sister’s man.
I could barely believe it, by the way. How was Mr. Miracle Tongue engaged to my sister? How did they even know each other? And what sort of cheating dog was he if he’d cheated on her with me?
This was such a mess. How was I going to go to their wedding, knowing that I’d had sex with the groom at the last wedding we’d both attended? And would he be expecting a repeat, like some sort of sick reunion sex? Was wedding sex going to be our thing?
I groaned at the stupidity of my thoughts. We had no thing. We’d had a one-night stand that was now made more complicated by the fact that he was a dirty scoundrel.
I needed to speak to Xander and Gabby separately and find out exactly what their story was.
Maybe everything wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
Maybe they weren’t really engaged. Maybe Gabby had hired him as an April Fool’s joke.
Yeah, it wasn’t April, but Gabby was kooky about jokes.
She was always pulling bad practical jokes, and her timing was atrocious.
This had to be a joke. A really, really bad joke.
I would tell her off for it, but then it would all be okay.
We’d all be able to laugh about it. And she wouldn’t be upset to know that I’d spent the last weekend in a hotel room with Xander.
I tried to ignore the fact that it was a pretty impossible joke for her to pull, seeing as she didn’t know I’d slept with Xander.
I rubbed my forehead and fell down to my bed.
I was pretty confident this wasn’t a joke.
I was pretty confident I was in the middle of a really bad situation, and I had no idea how to get out of it.
I didn’t know what to tell Gabby. If I should tell her anything.
I mean, what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, right?
She didn’t have to know that I’d ridden Xander like I was galloping and that I’d slapped his ass until I could see red handprints.
She didn’t have to know that he’d called me his sexy cowgirl and that I’d spoken in a Southern accent while telling him to fuck me harder.
I knew my face was going red, just thinking about that night.
I walked to the bathroom quickly so I could wash my face with cold water.
I didn’t want to think about the things he’d done to me.
Or what I’d done to him with the ice cubes that had been delivered to the room with the bottles of water we’d ordered at three a.m. I stared in the mirror at my reflection, and I could see the embarrassment in my eyes as I thought about the fact that I had sucked on my sister’s fiancé’s balls and liked it.
I wasn’t surprised to hear the knocking on my door.
There could be any number of people on the other side, and I didn’t want to talk to any of them.
I just wanted to call Alice and tell her what had happened.
She’d know what I should do. She’d be able to give me advice and tell me everything was going to be okay.
Though I knew everything wasn’t going to be okay, and I knew what I had to do.
There was really only one solution. And that was to do nothing.
I should pretend that I’d never met him. That was what I should do.
Bang, bang.
The person banged on the door louder this time, and my stomach curdled in fear and anxiety.
You sucked on his balls, Liv. How are you going to tell Gabby that?
“Who is it?” My stomach rumbled as I waited for an answer.
“Mr. Tongue,” he said lightly and deliciously.
I could picture the look of amusement in his green eyes, even though I couldn’t see them.
“Can I come in?” he said, this time speaking slightly louder.
Shit! I groaned inwardly, though I had to admit, a thrill of excitement curled my toes up.
It was him on the other side of the door, wanting to come in. And he was Xander. Shit, Mr. Tongue had a name. A sexy, delicious-sounding name, and I was drowning in fear and anticipation of speaking to him again.
“Liv?” he said and knocked again.
“Yes?” I squeaked out, not moving, my hands pressed against the door.
“Can I come in?”
“Why?” I swallowed hard.
I wasn’t sure I trusted either of us in my bedroom, alone. Not after our last time in a private room. Shit, we didn’t even need a private room to get down and dirty.
“Can we have this conversation in your room and not through the door?” He laughed. “Unless you’d prefer I say what I have to say about what happened at the wedding through the —”
“Come in.” I hurried to open the door and pulled his arm into the room. “What do you think you’re doing?” I glared at him.
“Getting you to open the door to your room.” He grinned at me, his eyes looking as merry as I’d imagined them to be.
“Why would you want to come into my room?” I glared at him again as I closed the door behind him. “This is very inappropriate.”
My face was bright red as I stared at him with my hands on my hips.
Why did he have to be so handsome? Why did he make butterflies flutter in my stomach?
His green eyes were dark and vivid and reminded me of a forest at twilight, full of secrets and scary delights.
I knew I shouldn’t venture in to explore the hidden depths beckoning to me, but I just couldn’t stop myself from continuing to explore.
“I thought we should talk.” He ran his hands through his perfectly silky hair. I would pay a thousand dollars to have hair as silky as his, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. He was already far too cocky for my liking.
“You think?” I stared at him with wide, angry eyes. I wanted to let him see that I was not okay with what he’d done. Not that I thought he cared. But I wanted him to know he couldn’t charm his way out of this.
“I know this is somewhat awkward.” He smiled.
Obnoxious jerk! How can he be smiling right now? Somewhat awkward?
“You think?” I said again, trying to keep my tone light. I wanted to smack him.
“But I think we can work through this.” He gives me a dazzling smile like he and I are old friends catching up. Like he thinks I don’t think he’s a piece of shit.
“You think?” I said sarcastically, and I watched as a huge smile spread across this face, making him even handsomer than before.
I’m disappointed that he’s acting like this.
I didn’t know him well, but I’d hoped he was more of a standup guy Than he was proving to me. My taste in sucky men had struck again.
“Yes, I do think,” he said and then paused. “Do you know any other phrases, Liv?”
“Like what?” I said sarcastically. “I know another phrase. One you might not want to hear. One that goes a bit like, I slept with my sister’s dirty-dog fiancé, and I don’t know what he’s doing in my room.”
“I know you most likely have questions.”
“Yeah, just a few.” My voice rose, and I shook my head at him as I poked him in the chest. Wrong move!
Why did I touch him? My finger tingled from the connection with his taut muscle.
“The first question being, how could you sleep with me when you were engaged?” My voice was accusing as I glared at his sexy face.
“It’s not exactly what you think.”
“Oh?”
“We only got engaged this week.”
“This week?” I frowned. “What?”