There was always a chance that’s how it would go with Ava later. Wasn’t bridesmaid/groomsman sex a thing? Maybe after the wedding, she’d invite him into one of these cottages he guessed went for a
t least a grand a night, and he could pound her sweet body out of his system.
—:—
Ava looked in the mirror for what felt like the thousandth time and touched up her lipstick. She felt more nervous than the bride looked.
Quinn and Mercer, the groom, were one of those couples who everyone knew were meant to be. Ava had known it from the first time she’d introduced him to her and the rest of their group of friends.
There was absolutely no question, even then, that Mercer loved her. You could see it all over his face, in the way he touched Quinn and smiled at her. Admittedly, Ava had been jealous at the time, particularly since, not long before, she’d found out her first love was getting married.
She and Dash had been broken up for over two years, but at the time, Ava would’ve much rather been the one to announce she was marrying first.
She shook herself and rolled her shoulders. Dashiell Finnegan was one person she should not be thinking about today. Not only had she discovered he was a scumbag criminal, the last time she’d seen him, he’d threatened her within an inch of her life if she told anyone what she’d discovered.
Within a few days, he’d been arrested after the authorities received an anonymous tip. Ava didn’t doubt for a minute that he believed she was the one who’d called it in. She wasn’t, but she had been contacted by the prosecution, whom she’d told what she knew. Unfortunately, that meant she was going to have to testify if his case went to trial.
That wasn’t what was worrying her now, though.
“Are you okay?” Aine asked.
“Me? I’m fine. Why?”
When Aine smiled and rolled her eyes, Ava took her arm and pulled her away from the others.
“Do I seem nervous?” she asked.
“Probably not to anyone else.”
Aine was the only one who knew the extent of the crush Ava had on Tabon Sharp.
Describing who he was to anyone outside of their group was way too complicated. When they’d first met him, he had been introduced as Quinn’s boss at the non-profit she’d interned for the previous summer.
Later, they found out that wasn’t the case at all. It turned out that, unbeknownst to Quinn, Tabon was her temporary bodyguard and was filling in for Mercer, who had secretly been her “protector” for years.
When Aine first told her all of this, Ava’s first reaction had been that it was a joke.
“Sounds like the plot of a romance novel. Although, I have to admit I’m not surprised he wasn’t her boss. I thought he seemed too young to be,” she’d said when her twin convinced her she wasn’t kidding.
“Here’s the other thing,” Aine had said. “He and Mercer own a private security firm, called K19 something-or-other, with a couple of other guys. And, get this, I guess no one calls him Tabon; his ‘code name’ is Razor.”
As if the man hadn’t been hot enough before. His nickname, or whatever it was, elevated him to rock-star status in her fantasies.
The first time they met, she and her four best friends were staying at Penelope’s dad’s place, on Fire Island, and had just come off the beach to get a drink at one of the local bars. Quinn recognized him first and went to say hello. When she rejoined them, Ava made a beeline in the direction of the man who had to have been the hottest looking guy on the island that weekend.
The board shorts he wore were red, almost the same color as her bikini, and his plain white v-neck shirt looked like it might be a size too small. Through the thin cotton fabric, she could see the hard outline of his rock-solid chest in detail, and the tribal tattoo that started on his left pec and continued down his chiseled arm, almost to his elbow.
He smirked when her eyes finally met his, and he offered to buy her a drink. “I like what I see too,” he said while looking her up and down like she’d done to him.
When his gaze lingered on her bikini top, Ava had felt her nipples harden as her body instinctively leaned into him. When he looked up and smiled, Ava thought she’d melt into his arms.
His dark brown eyes, almost black like his spiky hair, danced in amusement and crinkled at the corners when he smiled broadly.
If he’d snapped his fingers then, Ava would’ve done anything he commanded her to. He exuded a deep, underlying power that made a lot more sense when she found out he owned a security company than it did when she’d thought he was the chief operating officer of a Manhattan-based non-profit that worked to preserve historic buildings.
“Stop thinking about him,” Aine whispered. “Your cheeks are flushed and, um…you might want to wear these.” Her twin handed her a set of nipple covers.
“I already am,” Ava whispered back.