Hanging with Bridget at the party is fun. If not a little bit torturous.
I’m not usually the kind of guy to want to go all caveman and throw a woman over my shoulder (unless it’s in the bedroom), but every time I introduce her to one of my teammates and their eyes linger a little too long, I’m ready to hightail it out of here with her in tow.
I keep reminding myself that this is our first date. It’s funny, I sent her all those questions because I wanted her to feel like we knew each other better, not because I thought we needed to know each other better. I thought I knew plenty about her before, but it solidified my feelings in a way I didn’t realize was missing.
I like her. I like the way she thinks and texts and talks and makes me feel when she smiles at me, like she’s doing right now. We didn’t make it all the way through the list of questions since she came back early, so we’re doing that now.
Who is your celebrity crush? Me—Florence Pugh. Bridget—some young prick I’d never heard of but now hate.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere? Me—the lake house. Bridget—undecided because she hasn’t been to enough places to choose.
“What’s your house like?” she asks, angling her body to face me. That long, blonde hair hangs over one shoulder and her eyes lock on me instead of roaming around to take in all the people here. Jack has a lot of friends. Hockey players, baseball players, a couple of actors, lots of models. People fly in for his New Year’s Eve party every year. The man knows how to throw a party.
“Want to find out? I could show you easier than I could try to describe it.” I waggle my eyebrows playfully and tighten my grip around my beer bottle to keep from touching her. She agreed to come out tonight, but her body language is timid. I don’t want to scare her off.
She laughs, dimples flashing on either side of her beautiful smile, and then sidesteps the question by firing off more of her own. “Is it a one-story or two? What’s your favorite room? What’s the backyard like?”
“Two-story. The master is downstairs, which I really like. I hardly go upstairs at all, so I guess it’s kind of a waste, but when I’ve had roommates that’s been nice. I spend the most time in the living room. I guess that’s my favorite. The backyard has a pool, but honestly it doesn’t get used that much because I spend so much of the summer at the lake.”
She’s still staring at me, focused on each word. That guy that stars in Euphoria just walked by and she didn’t even give him a cursory glance.
“When we were texting over break, I kept trying to picture you sitting around at home doing normal things and couldn’t.”
“Well, I don’t do normal things. I do awesome things.”
She shakes her head at me.
“I’ll show you sometime. Give you a tour. Might even let you sit in my favorite spot in the living room.”
There is only one question left on the list. When I pulled the list from Google, there were only thirty-five, so I added one of my own. A question that I’d been avoiding asking but that has plagued me since we met. How did you meet your last boyfriend/girlfriend? I cleverly concealed it by not naming him, but I know he’s the last person she dated.
“All right. Final question. How’d you and Gabe meet?”
Her demeanor shifts instantly, and I really want to kick myself for bringing him up. I just need to know how a girl like Bridget could fall for that jerk. It doesn’t make any sense to me.
“At a bar.” She laughs. “Real original, right?”
“There are worse places.”
“Like prison?” Her eyes get a little twinkle back as she jokes.
“Exactly.”
She laughs again, then grows quiet.
“Sorry. If you don’t want to talk about him, we don’t have to.”
“I get it. How could I date someone that’s so awful?”
“Basically.”
“He wasn’t awful to me. Not at the beginning.”
My body tenses at the implication of those words. Not at the beginning means he was awful to her later. I knew that. Hell, I witnessed it. Still pisses me off.
“What about you? How’d you meet your last girlfriend?”
“At a party. One of Jack’s parties, actually.”
“How long were you together?”
“Eh…” I run a hand along my jaw. “It was kind of on and off.”
“You broke up and got back together a lot?”
“No.” Shit, I hadn’t really thought it through that I’d have to talk about my relationships too. Talia was beautiful and we had fun, but it only worked because we didn’t expect much from each other. We were together when she was in town, but otherwise, we were both free to do whatever we wanted. “We weren’t exclusive.”
“Oh.” The surprise on Bridget’s face makes me wince inwardly.
“We both traveled a lot.”
“You don’t have to explain,” Bridget says and shakes her head. “I get it. It makes a lot of sense. It must be hard to have relationships with your schedule.” She waves a hand. “Not to mention, you’re always surrounded by beautiful women. I think I saw that girl over there on the cover of a magazine last month.”
“With the right one, I don’t think it’d be that hard. Most of my buddies are settled down now and they make it work.”
She nods thoughtfully. “Do your friends know about me and Gabe?”
“Just that you dated and he’s a giant prick.”
She snorts a surprised laugh. “I worried a little about coming tonight. I don’t want to cause any problems for you.”
“You’re not. And no one here will run to him and say anything. I promise. They have my back and that means they have yours too.”
“That’s going to take some getting used to.”
“People having your back?”
She nods, then blushes like the admission makes her uncomfortable.
I hate that for her, but it makes me that much more determined to be someone she can count on.
A little before midnight, Bridget and I are sitting outside with some of the other couples. Shit, am I part of a couple? The thought has me grinning.
Scarlett, Jade, and Piper pulled Bridget into conversation with them and I’m pretending to care about the card game the guys and I are playing.
I’ve got one hand resting on Bridget’s thigh under the table and every few minutes she looks over at me and smiles.
Some of her earlier hesitation seems to be gone. Thank fuck.
And I’m feeling more at ease than I have in weeks. I played my ass off the past few games. The team is still struggling a little, but we’ve found ways to win.
“It’s almost time,” Scarlett says as Declan wins another hand of rummy.
Leo checks the time. “She’s right. Five minutes. We should head in.”
“Why are we heading in?” Bridget asks me as the others stand.
“Jack makes a big toast right before the new year. It’s a whole thing. The man loves being the center of attention.”
I get both Bridget and me a fresh drink and then find a wall to lean against as Jack takes his spot in the middle of the living room. Kennedy and Meredith are nearby. Somehow, we’ve managed not to bump into them all night. Maybe they just got here. I haven’t been looking anywhere but at the girl next to me.
“Hey, Ash.” Meredith waves and she and Kennedy come closer. “It’s good to see you.”
“You too.” I nod to Kennedy. “Hey. How’ve you been?”
“Pretty good.” She steps forward and hugs me. “I was hoping I’d run into you tonight.”
Bridget stiffens beside me and tries to take a step away. I take her hand as Kennedy pulls back.
“Have you met Bridget?” I ask her. “Bridget, this is Kennedy and Meredith.”
Kennedy’s gaze finally slides to the woman next to me and understanding dawns.
“Hi,” she and Meredith both say politely, then Kennedy glances at me with a somewhat disappointed smile.
“Hi.” Bridget’s smile is small as she replies. She looks like she might be thinking about running off.
“Good to see you both,” I say, pulling Bridget with me away from them.
I don’t stop until we’re out of earshot. Bridget turns to face me with an amused smirk. “She’s pretty.”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Yeah. I was too busy checking you out to notice.”
“Oh my god. That was bad even for you.”
“Even for me?”
“The things that come out of your mouth remind me of the boys in junior high.”
“Worked then and works now.”
“You wish.” She laughs again.
I tug her to me and drop my mouth over hers. It might not be midnight yet, but I’m too impatient to wait.
She giggles but melts into me, hooking her arms around my neck. When she pulls back, she glances around like she’s checking to see if anyone is watching us.
“Come on.” Holding her hand in mine, I weave to the back of the room where we’re less likely to be spotted.
“I want to thank everyone for coming tonight,” Jack says.
I wrap my arms around Bridget’s waist and pull her back against me as I listen to my buddy give his annual toast. He does what any good man and team captain would do—he lets the people in his life know he appreciates them, shares a few favorite memories from the last year, and fills us with hope for everything that’s coming in the next.
I move Bridget’s hair away from one side of her neck and drop my mouth to the soft skin. She shivers into me. I continue, grazing my lips from her shoulder to the sensitive column of her neck. My hands around her waist drop to the hem of her dress, teasing the skin.
Her breaths quicken and she turns to face me.
I slide my fingers through her hair and tug gently so her head tilts to the side and gives me better access. I place soft kisses on every inch, then bury my face into the crook of her neck and suck until she lets out a little whimper.
No one is paying any attention to us. Jack is a damn good speaker. Somehow the man always manages to time it just perfect so as soon as he finishes, we drink, and then the ten-second countdown begins.
And that’s my cue that it’s almost time. The people around us start chanting. Ten, nine, eight…
I stand tall and look down at Bridget. Her blue-green eyes are bright, cheeks flushed, and her chest rises and falls with her rapid breathing.
Have I had someone to kiss at every New Year’s Eve party? Yeah, probably. I don’t really remember. But I know that tonight, kissing Bridget is going to be a memory that lasts.
We’re locked in a stare-off until the clock strikes midnight, then slowly I cover her mouth with mine.
Her fingers grip the front of my sweater and I use an arm around her back to crush her against me as my tongue explores her mouth.
Someone bumps into me, forcing me to break the kiss.
I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to be anywhere else as long as it’s alone with Bridget.
“Come back to my house.”
“Now?”
I nod, heated gaze boring into her. “Yeah, now. Right fucking now. I can’t wait a second longer.”
Her cheeks flush pinker. “I should find Everly and tell her.”
“I’ll text her.”
Bridget wears a knowing smile.
“It could take a while to find her and those are minutes I don’t want to waste.” I pull her tighter against me so she can feel how hard I am. “She has a key and knows she can always crash at my place.”
“You want me to stay the night?”
I’m probably jumping about fifteen steps, but I’m finding it hard to slow down. “I’ve wanted that since the night we met. Is that something you want?”
She wets her lips. “Yes.”
