“Then you and Rory worked things out. Good.” He waited for Pierre to serve him a glass as well before continuing. “I had a feeling you’d help him set the
record straight.”
“I didn’t have to help him. He did it all on his own.” She gazed at Christian and said, “As much as I agonized over what had happened in his apartment, I think he agonized even more.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. He tends to keep things bottled up. Probably why he’s so explosive in the kitchen.”
“Because he can control that environment a bit more than his emotions?”
“That’s an intelligent conjecture.”
“Hmm.” She sipped again. Then asked, “And what about you? Do you always just say what’s on your mind?”
“Pretty much.” He grinned devilishly.
“Well, that creates a very enticing dynamic between the two of you.”
“A little contrast to keep us from being too boring.”
“Oh, come on now. Neither of you could ever be boring.” She placed her hand on his thigh. “And you both know it.”
His voice dropped again as he asked, “Are you flirting with me, Miss Styles?”
“Oh, hell, yes,” she said on a lusty breath.
Christian chuckled. A deep, rumbling sound that echoed through her body and made all her erogenous zones pulse erratically. She loved how she responded to something as simple as his laugh as much as she reacted to something as evocative as the way his ice-blue irises seemed to melt when he looked at her and how his fingertips sweeping over her skin made her tingle all over.
Bayli realized it was a damn good thing she was becoming accustomed to these two men separately, because as a whole … Holy cow. She already knew she was in for sensory overload.
The thought had her squirming in her seat. Christian eyed her curiously.
She crossed her legs and pressed her thighs together. “Just a few fireworks down there.”
“That’s hot, sweetheart.” His warm breath tickled the shell of her ear, not helping her to get a grip on the riotous sensations one little bit.
“Behave.”
“You started it. Flirting with me and wearing that sexy dress.”
“I borrowed it from a friend.”
“Who can’t possibly look as fine in it as you do.”
“She does, actually. But she’s already spoken for, so don’t get any ideas.”
He laughed low and sensuously again. “Think I have my hands full with you. Luckily, I have help.”
Damn all those pinpricks targeting her pussy. “Ironically enough, her Boyfriend Number One-A has help from her Boyfriend Number One-B.” She gave him a pointed look.
“Aha.” Christian gave a slow nod. “Gotcha.”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I had some questions. And since Jewel is the only woman on the planet I know who is even more fortunate than me … I sort of picked her brain.”
Christian let out a low groan.
Bayli shifted in her seat again as the zings ensued. “That is one of the sexiest sounds you make,” she told him. “It causes everything to go haywire inside me.”
His fingers curled around her biceps as he tucked her tighter under his arm and murmured, “This is a conversation I’d prefer to have in private. While you’re naked.”