Above and Beyond (Twist of Fate 4)

“It’s the shots. The shots need to work off,” I corrected. “My tongue doesn’t feel right. What was that stuff called? What’s in an Easy A?” After hearing myself ask the stupid question, I snort-giggled myself. “Determination and hard work, probably. But I mean the shot. The shot called an Easy A. What’s in that? It made my tongue feel weird.”

Rudy reached over and patted my hand. “Sweet summer child.”

I tilted my head at him. “Is that a kind of liquor? I’ve heard of sweet tea vodka, but I’ve never had sweet… sweet summer…” A cute guy caught my eye on the dance floor. He’d been in my physics class the year before, and I remembered him flirting with me. Well, I hadn’t realized it at the time, but later Min had pointed out the guy had been trying to get my attention all semester. Unfortunately, by the time I’d figured it out, the holiday break had arrived and I’d never run into him again. But there he was.

“There he is,” I told everyone. “The physics guy. Remember him, Min? The guy from physics class? He’s dancing. Right there.” I tried pointing but Min grabbed my arm and pushed it back down.

“No pointing. Trust me on this.”

“Maybe I should dance with him,” I suggested. “Maybe his name is Rick, but I can’t remember. Do you remember, Min? His name? Is it Rick?”

Rudy squinted across at the man. “Oh. Yeah. Been there, done that. His name is Rafe. Super pretty dick. Go for it.”

I turned and stared at my friend. “You’ve… you’ve seen his dick? How? When?”

My friends all exchanged looks across the table before Rudy patted my hand again. “Minna has given you the birds and bees talk, yes? When a baby gay bird meets a well-hung bee from the college football team, the stinger swells until—”

“Stop,” Leah said with a laugh. “I thought we agreed not to talk about dicks tonight.”

“He’s not a dick,” I said indignantly, wondering why she’d brought up the subject of Zach. “He’s just grumpy. I told you, he’s a Ranger. I think that’s just how they are sometimes.”

Everyone stared at me. “Why does he keep talking about Rangers?” Rudy asked Min out of the corner of his mouth.

I leaned forward to explain. “Because I want to make love to the Rangers.” I thought about how that sounded. Slutty. “Not all of them though,” I clarified. “Just the one. And not anymore. I don’t care about the Rangers anymore. Like, at all. I care about anyone else in here more than that. Anyone.”

Min shot Leah a look and leaned in to speak over the music at me. “Go. Dance. Now.”

As I scrambled up from my chair, I heard Leah say something about someone having it bad and Min responded with something about calling in the Rangers. I turned back to Rudy. “See? I’m not the only one who’s talking about the Rangers. Everyone’s talking about it. They’re Army Rangers. Duh.”

And with that, I sauntered off, secure in the knowledge I’d gotten the last word in that conversation. When I bumped into a firm body, I realized my horny radar had led me straight to Pretty Dick Rafe. His face lit up when he recognized me, and he immediately reached for me.

“I didn’t call you Pretty Dick Rafe out loud, did I?” I asked over the pounding music. It was good to be sure. I wouldn’t have wanted to offend him.

He threw his head back with a laugh. “How much have you had to drink, cutie pie?”

“No, it was the Easy A. I’ve never had a cutie pie. Is it good? Does it taste like pie? The Easy A tastes like…” I thought about it for a minute. “Hard work and determination.”

Rafe leaned in and spoke against my ear. “And Jägermeister, am I right?”

Oh, hell. No wonder my tongue didn’t work right. “Shoulda stuck with the pie.”

His hands slid down to cup my ass and I sucked in a breath. Even though this was what I wanted, it didn’t feel right.

Suck it up. Get over it. Zach is never going to see you as more than a child.

I ran my hands over Rick’s chest, noticing the bumps over his pecs and abs that were most likely from his football workouts. Nice enough.

I considered giving him some kind of message that I was interested in more than a dance.

“Come here often?” I asked. As soon as the words replayed in my mind, I winced. No one had ever called me smooth.

His hands squeezed my ass and pulled me tighter against him where I felt the long rod of his erection against my hip. Seemed he did come here often.

I snorted at my own joke.

Rick leaned in to sniff my neck. “I’ll come here more often now that I know you’re here,” he murmured into my Adam’s apple. “You smell fucking fantastic. What are you wearing?”