Juicy Rebound (IceCats 1)

I’m three glasses in when we’re finally done meeting everyone. I have a great buzz going on as I lean into the railing beside Chandler. “This is nice.”

“It is,” he answers, taking a long pull of his beer. “I’m glad you’re having a good time. I was nervous.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I thought you’d be weirded out that I talk about you.”

I shrug as I bite into my lip. “I’m not. I mean, I talk about you.”

“To who?”

“Shelli,” I answer with a bold tip of my chin. He laughs in response, and I sort of feel bad. “I’m not hiding you. I really don’t talk to anyone.”

“I know,” he says, his eyes lively. “I’m not upset.”

“Okay.” I take a sip of my wine and watch as the party goes on around us. People are laughing, dancing, and making out. “This reminds me of the college parties we’d go to.”

Chandler nods as he looks around. “Yeah, I guess so.” He glances back to me. “Though, back then, you called me Moon.”

I laugh softly. “I was a different girl then.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah,” I laugh, shaking my head. “I was carefree, having a great time. I was frisky and didn’t hide what I wanted.”

His lips quirk at the side of his mouth. “You were a bit wild.”

“Right? Man, I wanted to sleep with you so bad. Still do—”

He holds up his hand. “Wait, what?”

“What?”

“Can we go back to what you just said? The whole ‘still do’ part?”

I give him a dry look. “Focus.”

“Oh, I’m focused,” he says, turning his body toward mine. “And there is no way we can move past the part where you just said you still do.”

I feel my face burning, and I can’t believe I said that. Now I have to distract him with something else. “We can and we will ’cause I gotta tell you this—”

He doesn’t seem convinced. “You can try to change the subject and act like you didn’t say that all day, Justice, but you did. I heard it.”

I glare. “Can I talk?”

“Please.”

The smug look on his face drives me wild, but I won’t let it sidetrack me. I’m supposed to be distracting him from my impulsive choice of words. “You remember that party at the Bullies house, the night Sofia and Ryan hooked up for the first time?”

“Yup.”

I give him an incredulous look. “For real? You do?”

He nods. “You wore a skintight red dress that showed your whole back and these insanely high heels. Your hair was straight and down over your shoulders. You were stunning, and I remember wondering how I could get you to be mine.”

I’m breathless. “Stop.”

He shrugs. “What?”

“How do you remember that?”

His eyes are soft as they burn into mine. “It’s hard to forget the one who got away.”

Oh, my dear heart, we’re in so much trouble.

I swallow hard as I look away, my face burning while my heart pounds in my chest. “Okay, thank you for dropping that bomb on me.”

“No problem. Continue, please.”

I don’t even remember what I was talking about… Oh! “So, we’re making out, right?”

He nods. “Yup. Remember, keep everything G-rated. Cup really hurts my dick.”

I snort and, of course, look down at his loincloth. When he chuckles, I roll my eyes. “Anyway… We got interrupted, remember?”

“Yeah, someone was drunk or something.”

“Exactly, but I told Sofia we slept together.”

He arches his brows and purses his lips. “Well, since I’m not dead, I doubt she told Ryan.”

“She didn’t.”

“Why’d you tell her that?”

I shrug, not sure. “I was jealous of her. She was gorgeous and talented. I knew the only leg up I had on her was that I was experienced and she wasn’t. She didn’t get to have a life like I did. She was in the gym twenty-four seven. I liked that, in one thing, I was more experienced than her. Pathetic, I know.”

He laughs wryly. “A bit.”

I lean into him, chuckling softly. “More mistakes by a stupid kid.”

“Ah,” he says, shrugging. “Or, I think, subconsciously, you really wanted to sleep with me.”

I glance up at him. “You’re probably not wrong.”

As he waggles his brows at me with this sly grin on his face, laughter overcomes us both. I don’t know how he does it, but he keeps me laughing all the time. His laughs are rough as he shakes his head, but his eyes stay on me. As our amusement subsides, I take a sip of my wine while he takes a long pull of his beer. I feel like the air around us has changed. It’s thicker, and I’m unsure if it’s different because of what I said or what I’m feeling. Or both.

I haven’t wanted a man in a long time, but I want Chandler Moon.

“So, you want to sleep with me, huh?”

I sputter with laughter as I shake my head. “Still thinking about it? That was so ten minutes ago.”