“Eli.”
He stood next to his fiancée, a tall platinum blonde in a skimpy bikini. With abs like hers, her number one hobby was obviously Cross Fit.
She’d thought seeing Eli again would be weird, but he didn’t look the least bit awkward. In fact, he looked smug. As if purposefully parading his new woman in front of Penny, reminding her how she was lacking.
“You still look adorable as ever,” Eli said. “I hear you’re running the BBQ now.”
“That’s right,” she said tightly.
Lily looked between her and Eli. Penny just put on her best smile. She wasn’t the same woman he’d dumped. She was stronger, more confident.
“Maybe we should stop in sometime,” he said, squeezing platinum’s side. “Cindy here’s a vegetarian though. May be difficult to find something for her.”
Heat engulfed Penny. And not the good kind. The kind that made her want to run and hide. All she could think about was how small she felt. How Eli was loving this, and Penny was letting this happen. There was no graceful way out.
“You should call for a reservation first,” Sebastian said, walking up behind her, cupping her waist, and pulling her into his side. His voice was full of pride and made her tingle. “The BBQ fills up pretty quick.”
She looked up at Sebastian with a questioning expression. He just smiled down at her, then returned his attention to Eli.
“Really?” Eli said. “It never got that crowded in the past.”
“Well, that was the past. Penny has a way of—” Bass looked at her and briefly ran his hand from the small of her back to her ass and back up “—making things hot and addicting.”
That made Eli pause, and Lily looked like she was barely stifling a smile. Then platinum actually checked out Sebastian, and that was Penny’s final straw.
“Well, I can’t say it was good running in to you,” she said. “But have a nice day.”
She turned away from him, and Bass was right there giving her the support she needed.
Eli mumbled something, grabbed Platinum, and walked off. Maybe Penny was finally turning into the woman she always wanted to be. And looking up at the handsome man that came to her rescue but let her fight for her own victory, she couldn’t help but smile.
…
Jesus, Penny was gorgeous. Especially when she looked up at him with that smile. It actually made his chest hurt.
He’d seen Eli approach her. The asshole had actually gone out of his way to make his presence known. But she had stood tall.
“That was sweet, Bass,” Lily said.
He frowned. “What was?”
“You know, pretending to be with Penny to piss Eli off. I almost believed it for a second.”
He cleared his throat, reminding himself that they weren’t alone.
Keep it casual.
While the rest of their friends were several yards away, tied up in conversations with other people, Bass was drawn to Penny.
“I’d be the lucky one to have such a lady on my arm.” He looked at Penny. Her long hair pulled up, the Kansas sun dancing off her skin. That black bikini top and cut off shorts had his imagination going, but he kept it under control. Lily was standing right there. And besides, he couldn’t walk around with a damn hard-on all day.
The woman drives me crazy…
“Well, I’m glad you made it,” Lily said, then looked over by the lake. “Ah, crap.”
Bass caught sight of what she was looking at: Alex, trying to perfect his cannon ball.
“I’ll be back,” she said and took off in Alex’s direction.