Pushing Her Limits (Masters of Adrenaline 3)

“Oh.” She looked back at her date, who was on his phone and completely ignoring her. Boyfriend? If so, he was an ass. “I’m here as my friend Joel’s plus one. I had to work so I just got here a few minutes ago.”

He thought of telling her that she’d missed the doves shitting on the gift table, but wasn’t sure she’d find it as funny as he had.

Instead, he introduced her to Geir, Loke, and Rune, who joked around with her. Their Scandinavian accents were apparently sexy to most women. Did Mila find them attractive? Atlas watched her, wondering why he was feeling so awkward, and tried not to imagine tying her to his bed.

In the middle of the conversation, Luke came out to drag him back into the venue.

Atlas smiled and talked to Addison’s relatives, gave his cousin Macy a hard time, threw ice down the back of Luke’s shirt, and danced with Addison and Ophelia. The beer kept coming, and he did his best not to watch as Mila danced with her date, and hung out with the guys from Fitte. They were all looking at her with interest, and it was pissing him off, even though he had no claim on her. Hell, they’d never exchanged more than a few pleasant words. He wished he was glib and smooth like Fox and Luke, but he’d never been good at making small talk unless it was about computers.

Besides, he needed to stay away from her. The guys from Fitte didn’t have his kind of life. They were law-abiding business owners as far as he knew, so they were free to seduce her if they wanted to.

More beer happened.

He and Luke had fun teasing Fox and Addison, pulling them to a quiet corner to explain the birds and the bees to them so they wouldn’t be confused on their wedding night. They gave them a set of instructional porn DVDs and some new leather bondage cuffs, which Fox had smacked them for and had to sneak out to the car.

Still chuckling, he made his way down a side corridor, trying to overcome the urge to go looking for Mila, even just to check her out from afar. Then, there she was, alone, cell phone in hand, scrolling through some social app.

Fuck, he was drunk.

Going the other way would have been the best idea, but the girl was just too irresistible.

“Hi.”

She glanced up from her phone. “Oh, hi.”

“Hiding?” He wanted to trail a finger over the smoothness of her bare shoulder, but managed to keep his hands to himself. Idiot. She hadn’t even flirted with him, but he wanted her. Maybe knowing he couldn’t have her was part of the problem.

She half shrugged. “I was kind of looking for you.” Her hand came up and she covered her mouth and her eyes went wide. Even from this distance she smelled like wine.

“You need more computer advice?” he asked hopefully. If he could steer things back to business, maybe he could avoid thinking about the way her soft lips would feel under his own.

“No.” She laughed. “Those guys you introduced me to are flirting with me, and I think I’d better not make decisions like that tonight.”

Swallowing the surge of envy was difficult, but she’d be better off with them anyway. “Yeah, sometimes they like to share, so you might want to talk about your limits before you agree to go anywhere. They’re good guys, though, so you’re safe with them.”

“Share?” she asked. “Oh god.” Her big brown eyes were wide with consternation. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Hey, some girls would consider that a selling feature.”

She gestured dismissively. “I like crazy shit just as much as the next girl, but there are lines I won’t cross. Don’t believe everything you see in my browser history.”

He’d spent the last two days trying to convince himself not to look in her browser history, but now he knew exactly what he’d be doing when he got home.

“Oh?” he said. “None of those things in your browser history are interesting to you?” Bluffing, but maybe she’d fall for it.

“Some of them, maybe, but I haven’t met anyone who can give me what I want.” Her voice had gone husky and her eyes were sexy and half-lidded.

Damn, Atlas. No touching.

He ignored his better judgment and propped a hand on the wall beside her head, leaning closer. Static electricity seemed to hang in the air between them, and the hair on his arms rose. She gazed up at him, her expression full of sexual challenge.

“I’m sure any or all of the guys I introduced you to would be happy to oblige,” he murmured. “They’re all experienced. I’m sure they’d give you a good time.”

“Thanks,” she said, not moving. “I’ll just go back out there and pick one, I guess.”

He nodded, their faces now so close that he could feel her breath tickle his face. “You do that.”

“I just might.”