Tell Me You Crave Me (Search and Seduce 3)

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sp; Easton.

This was his doing. He must have snuck back in to “help.” And as she looked at all the completed cupcakes, she smiled.

Easton Ambrose cared.

Chapter Six

“You look like a pile of ass,” Dex said as East walked through the door of the S and R office.

“How are you still dating Michelle with compliments like those?” East shot back. Yesterday had been a hell of a day. It had started with him attempting to help Natalie, which led to him helping himself to her delectable body, and ended in the best blow job of his life. And then he’d been dismissed by said baker. But he’d gone back, like the glutton for punishment he was, to frost her cupcakes for her.

Because he’d gone to help, damn it. And if it made her life easier, then he’d follow through at least once.

“First of all, Michelle is my fiancée. I’m not dating her,” Dex said. “And second, Michelle never looks like a pile of ass. You’re…” His buddy looked him over. “You just look like you haven’t slept.”

Honestly, he hadn’t much. And it had little to do with the fact that he’d spent a couple hours cursing himself and trying to frost mini cakes the way Natalie would, hoping to hell he was doing an okay job and wondering if she’d hand his ass to him at some point for fucking up.

Because ironically, he really didn’t want to fuck up. Not the cupcakes. Not the way he’d been fucking up lately in a lot of other ways.

At this point, though, sleep was a luxury because every damn time he tried, he saw Natalie’s face and felt her mouth and Jesus…it was a nightmare.

That woman really was a pain in his ass. And he just kept getting in deeper with his lie to his friend. Which was why he’d shifted his goal of staying away from Natalie to staying away from Matt. Maybe if he didn’t have to look him in the eye to lie about sleeping with his sister it’d make it easier. Sure, it didn’t make him less of a prick. But easier. Maybe.

So why did he still feel like…what had Dex just said? A pile of ass?

“You excited for tomorrow? I hear the party is going to be awesome,” Dex said.

Ah yes, the joint bachelor-bachelorette party. Something East hadn’t really helped with at all since it had been taken out of his hands. And apparently Dex had drunk the Kool-Aid, too, about it being “awesome.”

Whatever. Matt could have the party Bridget wanted. At this point, the only part that bummed out East was the fact that he couldn’t seem to get away from either St. Clair sibling. And tomorrow at the party? Avoiding either one of them would be plain impossible.

“So you like this idea of it being joint, too, huh?” East asked Dex. He set his bag down and took a seat behind his desk. Normally, they were both in the field, but things had been slow lately, since it was turning into fall. Which was nice that people weren’t going missing, but it made for some slow days at the office.

“Yeah, I’m really excited about it. Now I get to bring Michelle, and she’s wearing this sexy little dress that has no straps and—”

East held up his hand. “I do not need to know about dresses.” He still couldn’t figure out how his best friends were this smitten. Yeah, the women they were with were awesome, but how did that translate? Was East incapable of that level of monogamy and just didn’t get it? Maybe he never would.

“Jesus,” East muttered.

“What?” Dex said.

“I just think I’ll puke if one more of my friends talks about how this joint thing is a good idea.”

“You’re just pissed because you don’t have a bestie.”

“What the hell is a bestie?”

“You know, a best friend.”

“I have friends!” East said defensively. “My friends are you and Matt and—hell, even Gage was climbing the ladder.”

“No, man, this is on a different level. Being best friends with your partner in life.”

“I don’t get it. Don’t you wanna have guy time?” East asked.

“For what? To drink beer and bullshit and count the hours until I get to go home to my hot fiancée?”