Chapter 12
LONDON
“ T his party is bumpin’!” I grinned as I looked around. “I’ll take a thank you for getting us the invite any minute now.”
Liam cringed, smacking a palm over his face and slowly letting it drop. “Bumpin’? That’s almost as bad as ‘single and ready to mingle,’ Walker. Come on. How old are you?”
I hip-checked him and squared my shoulders, striding confidently across the sand to the makeshift bar. Although I didn’t look, I could feel Liam following me. Honestly, as outdated as he seemed to think my lingo could be, I knew I wasn’t wrong. Bumpin’ was the exact right word for it.
The sun was down and the party was getting louder.
All kinds of spinning lights whirled in time with the music, painting dancing bodies in shifting colors.
Bonfires had been set up along this stretch of the sand.
Their flames licked at the sky, their circumferences so large that easily a dozen people fit around each one.
A DJ was spinning away from the deck of the nearest house, presumably where the host lived, and tons of people had shown up.
Some talked in groups and others coupled up, holding each other as they danced like it was the last night on earth.
As I looked around, getting a lay of the land, I absolutely loved the vibe they had going here.
The ocean was glistening under the moon, everyone was laughing and happy, and the DJ was playing songs all of us could jump and sing along to. I got a feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good, good night.
I sang along to that one in my head, wholeheartedly agreeing with the sentiment. Why yes, my dear Black Eyed Peas , I do in fact have a feeling that tonight’s going to be a good night.
As I got close to the bar, New Guy from the convention came up to me. What was his name, Derrick?
I smiled when I saw him. “Thank you for inviting us. This is an amazing party.”
“You’re so welcome. Glad you made it.” He stepped up close and leaned in to brush a kiss to my cheek. “Can I grab you a drink?”
I turned to see if Liam would be okay on his own, but it looked like he’d already worked his magic. With a stunning brunette on his arm, he was walking toward another bar that seemed to be serving only some kind of signature cocktail.
A brunette tonight? That’s weird. I thought he was into blondes.
Shaking it off, I turned back to Derrick and smiled again. “That would be lovely. Thank you.”
He ducked behind the bar and helped himself to two beers, leaving a generous amount of tip in the jar on the bar. I frowned at him. “I didn’t realize self-service was available.”
He chuckled. “It’s not but my buddy organized this thing, so we’re VIPs.”
“Aren’t you just full of surprises?” I found myself squinting up at him as we carried our beers to a bonfire and sat down with our asses on the sand.
Derrick was a perfectly nice guy who was perfectly okay looking and as far as I could tell, there was absolutely nothing weird or shady about him. So why can’t I feel something?
I waited for a spark. An attraction. A freaking will to give it a chance.
But I came up dry. There just wasn’t anything there.
Derrick asked me about how the job fair went and we chatted about it, but my heart wasn’t in it. I was mostly daydreaming about a different man altogether. Where had Liam gone off to?
He’d always been a playboy and could have himself a good time anywhere, whereas I had a harder time branching out romantically. None of which was to say that Liam didn’t have a heart. He really did, and it was a good one. He simply didn’t let it get involved with his trysts .
Derrick continued to bore me to tears. He was telling me about where to find answers to the universe’s great questions. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about a religious experience or a TV show he was bingeing. Either way I wasn’t interested.
When I almost fell asleep, I finally decided it was time to let Derrick get back to the party. A place where he might meet a woman who appreciated him for all the amazing qualities he had, unlike me who was struggling to give a single shit.
“You know, I should go find my cousin,” I said, shooting him an apologetic smile. “He tends to get himself into trouble when I leave him to his own devices, but thanks again for the invite and I hope to see you around.”
To my relief, he didn’t seem particularly bummed by my abrupt departure, giving me a wave as he stood up. “Enjoy the party, London. Welcome to Miami.”
I laughed when he pumped his eyebrows on the phrase, and then he was gone and I was heading back to the bar. My beer was done and I needed something a little more interesting. We never had stopped for any fun drinks on the way over, which meant I was stuck with whatever they served here.
As I got near the cocktail bar, intent on trying whatever their signature drink was, a figure appeared out of the shadows like a ninja and made a beeline directly for me. I recognized this ninja, though.
Unafraid but unable to believe my bad luck, I folded my arms and glared up at James. “Seriously, are you following me or something?”
He let out a low chuckle that, just a couple weeks ago, would’ve had my stomach in anticipatory knots. “No, but I sure am glad to see you here. Without your boyfriend or whoever he was.”
I pulled my phone out of my cross-body purse and fired off a quick text to Liam.
Me: SOS. JAMES. By the cocktail bar. HELP!
Knowing I had to buy time until he got here, I lifted my gaze back to my ex’s after stowing my phone away. “ Whoever he was? Why would you even say that? I told you exactly who he is. All man and all mine.”
James stared at me like he could x-ray the inside of my brain. “Yeah, but you’re not usually into PDA and that was some hot and heavy shit back at the convention, London. Made me wonder what was really going on.”
Crap. How could I forget that he’s not completely stupid? Right, because he’s mostly stupid.
“I wasn’t into PDA with you , James. That was your name, right? I still don’t really remember us being together, but I only enjoy public displays of affection when I feel genuinely affectionate toward a guy.”
I saw a fire lighting his eyes, but I might also just have seen the reflection from the actual fire nearby. Since part of the thrill with James had been not ever knowing what he was thinking, I still couldn’t be sure. I was just a lot less interested in trying to guess now.
Liam showed up then, his hair ruffled and his shirt off. I didn’t have to pretend to feel the attraction that coursed through me as soon as I saw him. His stacked abs. Tousled hair. Eyes zeroing in on mine, protective as hell.
“Hey, babe.” He took my hand firmly in his and tugged me to him, using that smooth talking voice I’d heard him use with other girls. “Let’s go take a dip. It’ll keep the pests away.”
James gave him one look and scoffed before turning his attention back to me. “I’ll be around if you want a real man, London. Someone who won’t cheat and definitely not when you’re at the same party.”
As he walked away, he kept shooting glances at us over his shoulder, but only until he joined a group of guys standing near one of the bonfires. I winced as I looked up at Liam. “I interrupted you. I’m sorry. Thank you for coming, but you can go now.”
“We should probably play it like this for as long as he’s around.
If you want him to believe you’ve moved on.
” He leaned in close, his lips brushing against my ear and sending a shiver racing down my spine.
“Lesson number two, always make them jealous. It’s the best revenge, Walker.
Now let’s go. Just keep looking at me the way you were pretending to a couple minutes ago and we’ll be golden. ”
Pretending to? Thank heavens.
Obviously, Liam hadn’t figured out yet that I hadn’t been pretending at all, and I’d rather cut out my own gallbladder than let him know about it. “Sure. Okay. Yeah. Sounds good. Thanks, dude.”
I’m so going to hell , I thought, but if it was between this and sending him back to the brunette while I took my chances with James, then he’d better believe that just for tonight, I was Liam Jones’s devoted, loving girlfriend.