Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
I’d gotten Milo to invite me to watch his band, Knot Me, play at a casino, but his best friend Ryder was supposed to be there. This would be a telling night. It might be our first and only date. Every time Milo talked about Ryder, his eyes lit up.
I strolled through the casino, past the humming slot machines and flashing lights and headed into a posh bar with white leather booths and chairs and a cool blue glow under the white marble of the bar that centered the room.
My gaze caught on Milo, wearing a sequined crop top over some body-hugging silver shorts.
The black of his panties rode up over his hips. God damn…he looked hot. My dick woke.
Milo sat at a few tables pushed together with a lot of other men and ate a fry, then widened his eyes and said something to the man next to him. He wiped his fingers on his napkin, then stood up.
A muscular man twisted in his chair and frowned as his brown-eyed gaze met mine under waves of long, dark bangs.
As I approached the table, I swept a grin across my mouth. “Milo, damn, you look hot.” I held my arms out to Milo.
Milo fell into my arms, and I wrapped him up in a quick hug, then released him.
He kept one arm hooked around my waist. “Uh, Archer, this is my friend, Ryder.”
“Hi, Ryder.” I stuck my hand out. Yeah, I could see why Milo might like him. He was gorgeous.
Ryder stood up and shook my hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Archer.” He dropped into his seat.
My attention drew to Milo. “I seriously love this get up, Milo.” I ran my finger along the lace on Milo’s hip, then planted a long kiss on his lips.
Tenting his hands over his plate, Ryder stared at his food.
As Milo broke our kiss, he asked, “Have you eaten yet?” He kept his focus on me.
“I have, as a matter of fact.” I perused the table. “Are these all the guys in the band and their boyfriends?” What was wrong with Ryder? He didn’t look so happy all of a sudden.
“They are. Come on and I’ll introduce you.” Milo threw a glance at Ryder, pursed his lips, then twined his fingers in my hand and led me around the table.
After greeting everyone with waves and handshakes, Milo brought me to his end of the table, our arms winding around each other’s waists.
“Are you done eating, Ryder? Maybe we can all grab a drink at the bar,” Milo said.
“Yeah, sure.” Ryder wiped his mouth with his napkin, then stood up, flashing a thin-lipped grin at me.
As Milo led me to the bar with Ryder following us, I slid my hand down to cup and squeeze Milo’s ass cheek. He was turning me on something fierce in this outfit and right now, I didn’t care about this thing with Ryder.
With a sharp giggle, Milo shimmied out of my hold.
I peered at him and let him go. Was he uncomfortable with his friend around?
We stopped at the bar and slid up onto the last two open barstools, then I glanced back at Ryder, ambling along.
“Come on, Ryder.” Milo waved him over.
With a wide smirk, Ryder stepped between us and planted his hands on the bar top. “So, how about a shot or something?”
“Sure. Tequila?” I leaned forward, sending a coy grin to Milo. I knew a challenge when I saw one. I was right. There was a weird dynamic between Milo and Ryder.
“Tequila it is.” Ryder waved a female bartender to us and ordered our shots, then faced me. “So, Milo tells me you’re a hockey player for ASU. What position do you play?”
“Left Defenseman.” I barked out a laugh. “And you’re a firefighter? You get to bunk with a bunch of hot men?” Shit, that sounded a little stupid.
“I do, but some of us are women.” He lifted his chin.
“And you’re straight, right?” I tapped his chest with the back of my knuckles. Maybe I’d find out the truth. “So, was there ever any hookups in the fire house?”
“It’s not a fire house, it’s a fire station. And uh, no. Doing that on the job could lead to termination.” He tapped his fingers on the bar, then glanced at Milo, propping his elbow on the bar and his chin in his hand, watching us.
“So, have you been in any of those big wildfires up north?” My grin dropped. “Seems like a pretty dangerous job.” It had only just dawned on me that I was pretty much talking to a hero. How many lives had he saved?
“I have been in a lot of them.” He dipped his head. “Last summer we had a shit ton of jobs.” He drew in a deep breath. “You know, there is pretty much always a fire burning somewhere in Arizona.”
“Yeah, I could see that. I mean, it’s dry as fuck out here.
” I looked around. Not like my home state of Minnesota.
“Which makes me wonder, where are our drinks?” I stood up from my stool, then wound around to Milo’s side.
“Here, have my seat.” I draped an arm over Milo’s shoulders and kissed his cheek.
There, now Ryder wasn’t cock-blocking me anymore.
“Simone is coming. She’s busy.” Milo straightened in his chair.
Ryder climbed onto the barstool.
The bartender set our shots down, along with limes and a saltshaker. “Here you go.”
“Put them all on here.” I threw my credit card on the bar top. “I’ll let Dad pay for these.” I grinned at Milo, then Ryder. Yeah, this would be payback for the shitty call I’d get after our first game.
Ryder pressed his lips into a thin smirk. “Your daddy gave you a credit card?”
“Yeah, but I’m on a hockey scholarship, so he doesn’t have to pay tuition.
” I picked up a shot glass. I wasn’t going to mention the life insurance money Dad had gotten after Mom had died.
It was my money, too. “To best friends and hot dates?” I slid my arm down Milo’s back and tucked my fingers under the lacy band riding up Milo’s hip. Heat flashed over my skin.
Ryder picked up his glass. “Yeah, best friends and hot dates.” He tapped his glass on mine with Milo doing the same. Keeping his gaze affixed to mine, we both downed our shots.
“Damn, you guys. I can’t drink this stuff straight.” Milo licked his hand, poured salt on it, then licked it again, his gaze finding Ryder’s.
Ryder stared at Milo’s tongue.
The dude was not straight. Not looking at Milo like that. My chest pinched with heat, and I hung my head.
With a shiver, Milo drank his shot, then stuffed the lime in his mouth.
Ryder cleared his throat and adjusted himself.
I snuck my fingers into Milo’s shorts. Would he let me? It was a test of sorts.
“Hey, stop that.” Milo shifted on his stool and tapped my chest. “You need to wait for later.”
With a wicked grin, I nuzzled into Milo’s neck, nibbling him. He was playing hard to get, or was he?
Milo squirmed and wriggled away from me. “Archer…”
“I can’t help it. That outfit is driving me crazy.” I threw a glance at Ryder, then focused on Milo. “Want to check out a stall in the bathroom?” Maybe then I could get some clarification from him. The situation was a little weird.
As his eyes grew wide, Milo snuck a peek at me. “Uh, no. That’s not um…” He tossed a glance toward the band wives’ table. “We need to play any minute.”
“Come on. It’ll be quick.” I bit Milo’s shoulder. How else could I get him alone? “You’re such a tease, Milo.”
“That’s enough.” Puffing his chest out, Ryder straightened his spine. “He said no.”
Both me and Milo stopped and stared at Ryder, mouths dropping open. He was pissed. Was he jealous? We were only playing, something we did all the time in Milo’s bedroom.
Ryder pursed his lips and swallowed hard.
“Thank you, Ryder.” Milo pushed my chest.
I stumbled a step back. What the hell was going on?
“Stop pawing at me,” Milo said.
“If you didn’t want me to paw at you, why did you dress like that?” I furrowed my brows. This was a completely different Milo than the one I saw in his bedroom. What the fuck?
“Did you really just say that out loud?” Ryder climbed off his barstool and planted his forearm on the bar, crowding me.
I threw my hands out in front of me. “What? I’m sorry. Okay? I-I didn’t mean anything by it.” I brushed my knuckles on Milo’s cheek. I was losing this battle. How do I get through to him, so I didn’t look like a dick to his friend? “You know what those lacy panties do to me, babe.”
Ryder rubbed his temple.
“Yeah, okay. I know.” Milo leaned his cheek into my touch.
Finally, he was coming around. My heart warmed.
Gabe, the drummer for the band strode to us.
“Hey, everything all right here?” He looked each of us over, then focused on Milo.
“We’re ready. The place is filled to capacity.
” He ticked his brows, then grabbed Milo’s hand and pulled him off his stool.
“He’s mine now, boys.” With a sly grin, he led Milo to the stage where the others were adjusting mics and fiddling with instruments.
Ryder snuck a glance at me.
With a peek at Ryder, I pressed my lips together. I had to make this right somehow and get to the bottom of it. “Look, I don’t know you well, but I know you and Milo have something special. He gushes about you.” I flagged down the bartender and ordered us both beers.
“Yeah, okay.” Ryder inhaled deeply.
I’d just give him the truth. “Maybe I’m a little jealous, you know?” I tilted my head, wrapping my hand around a beer glass as the bartender dropped them both off. With a shrug, I said, “I don’t know how to act around you.”
“Yeah, I guess I know what you mean. I wasn’t sure how to act around you, either. Milo’s never brought a guy around me that he was interested in.” He sipped his beer.
“So, what do you say we call a truce? We both care about Milo, right?” If nothing else, we should all leave here as friends. I held up my hand.
He gave me a bro shake without the hug. “Yeah, we both care about Milo.”
The stage lit up and Devin, the singer, pranced to his microphone, then ripped it off the stand, his long red bangs covering one of his heavily lined and shadowed eyes.
“We’re starting off with a new song that Milo, over there on keys, picked.
” Pointing at Milo, he lifted the edge of his mouth.
“I don’t know, but I think he likes it because it has a cool keyboard sound in it. ”