Play With Me (4 page)

But then his
dark eyes looked up…and remained fixed on me. His body froze, only his chest
moved with each breath. Heads turned in my direction. My heart drummed a little
faster, and with all the attention, my cheeks warmed uncomfortably.

I grimaced. “Is
something wrong?”

Ryan didn’t
answer, but Justin victory-punched the air as he rushed to my side. He laid his
arm around my shoulders, grinning like a loon. “You just saved my life,
poppet.”

“Ah…
yes
.”
With a grimace, my gazed switched back to Hunter. “And how so?”

He started
grinning, too, but didn’t seem as happy as the guy next to me. More like, he
knew crap was about to fall.

“He can’t play
when someone is watching him,” Justin almost sang into my ear. “Totally screws
up then.”

“But you
all
are watching him,” I pointed out.

At the back of
the room, someone laughed. “Yeah, but we’re not girls.”

Chuckling,
Hunter straightened and chalked the tip of his cue, lips tight, eyes set on me.
Although my being there obviously amused him, I didn’t want to trouble him,
especially where money had a hand in the pie.

“Sorry,” I
croaked. “I’ll leave you guys alone then.”

“Uh-uh, no way,
poppet!” Justin’s arm remained firm around my shoulders. “You’re my insurance
to get that comic book. You stay.”

His antics made
me laugh, even though I felt like a traitor.

Ryan, who hadn’t
said one word in all that time, slid his tongue over his bottom lip, then the
left corner of his mouth tilted up. He took a deep breath and leaned over the
table once more. Everyone kept silent. Justin crossed his fingers next to my
face, no doubt praying for Hunter’s miss.

I never thought
a single shot could get an entire room this tense. Including me. Ryan cleared
his throat, his gaze moving back and forth between me and the white ball.
Suddenly he dropped his forehead to the edge of the table and laughed. “Take
your money, Just. I give up.”

The room cheered
as though the unthinkable just happened. Justin pressed a kiss to my cheek and
hurried to grab the bills. I stood rooted to the spot, staring at Ryan, who now
braced his palms on the pool table and hung his head. But when he looked up,
there was this flash of amusement in his eyes again.

“I’m so sorry,”
I mouthed, not even trying to raise my voice over the other guys’ celebration.

“
You
are
banned from this room,” he mouthed back, a smirk on his lips. Then he walked
around the table, slowly, measuring me with each step he took. I pressed a
little harder against the wall, welcoming the coolness seeping through my top.

He stopped right
in front of me, the cue in one hand, the other placed against the wall next to
my head. “You just cost me fifty bucks,” he drawled with a smile.

“Yeah, I know.”
I put on a poor puppy look. “But he
really, really needs
this comic
book.”

That made him
laugh. “Siding with the enemy. I should have known.” With his hand on my back,
he ushered me through the arch in the wall, back into the main hall. “For
tonight, this room is off limits for you.”

“Oh why?”
Playfully pouting, I glance up at his roguish eyes. “It’s so much fun to watch
you…screw up.”

He wouldn’t let his
smile slip as he leaned in a little closer. “Off you go.”

CHAPTER

4

I WIGGLED MY
fingers at Hunter and left the guys to their game. It was time to look for Tony,
anyway. But finding him in a place brimming with two hundred people was
impossible. On the plus side, I ran into a few more friends, and Susan
introduced me to her older brother and a few of his companions. One offered to
get me another drink. When he suggested Corona, I told him I didn’t drink
alcohol.

“Fruit juice
then?”

“Sounds good.”

He got me berry
soda in a glass and popped in a straw. Wearing a hat, he looked a little like
Bruno Mars. He made an interesting conversation partner over the next hour in
which he refilled my soda three times. In the end, I saw his lips moving but
didn’t really get what he said. I also felt the need to frown a lot and lean
against the wall for support in the suddenly swaying room.

“You okay, hun?”
the guy asked.

The guy with the
hat. Did he tell me his name? And when did his twin brother come in? The boy melted
into him, then appeared again. Something was very off here. I rubbed my brow.
“Not so sure,” I said, having trouble to get the words out. I also spoke extra
slow in case he had the same trouble like me and wouldn’t understand a thing.

The world tipped,
and suddenly I was in his arms.

“Whoa, girl, you
meant it when you said you didn’t drink, huh?”

I smiled at his
face so close to mine. Sure I meant it. What did he think? That I was a liar? I
picked up his hat and planted it on my head. “My turn to be Bruno for a while.”

“Hey, what’s
going on here?”

“Tony?” I
cheered, trying to locate where his voice came from. And then he was right
behind me, pulling me away from Mr. Mars without his hat. I turned in Tony’s
arms and beamed at his oh so worried face. “Where have you been all night. I
tried so hard to find you.”

“Where did you
look? At the bottom of the wine cooler?”

I decided I didn’t
have to understand that and let him pull me to the rear, into the kitchen.
“Whoop,” I slurred with a loopy smile as he grabbed my waist and lifted me onto
the counter. He usually stood half a head taller than me, but sitting here, we
were on eyelevel, which I really liked. He had such pretty blue eyes.

His hands
planted firmly besides my hips, he stood in between my dangling legs. This
awkward pose made my brains go wishy-washy and majorly turned me on. I dipped
forward and touched my forehead to his, grinning as I stared into those sapphire
gems.

Tony laughed,
but it sounded nothing like his normal, easy laugh. He straightened me on the
counter. “How many drinks did you have?”

“Hey, why so
worried?”

“How
many
,
Liza?”

Not liking his
commanding tone, I sighed heavily, puffing my bangs out of my view. “There was
this half bottle of beer, and then some Sprite. The soda. One—or four—glasses…I
think.”

“Soda?”

“Berry soda.”

“Shit.” He
laughed again. It sounded nervous. “Your mom’s going to strangle me if I take
you home drunk like this.”

“I’m not drunk,”
I protested. “You know I don’t drink alco-
whole
.”

When a certain
bimbo bounced into the kitchen like a doe in a marigold meadow, I thought I was
going to puke. She totally ignored me and flashed Tony with a flirtatious smile
that set my stomach on nausea. “Anthony, you promised to dance with me.”

“Anthony, you
promised to dance with me,”
I iterated like a three
year old.

That drew her
attention to me. “What’s wrong with
her?”

“She just had a
little too much of the wine cooler. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

He was going to
dance with Cloey?
No!
I wanted to tell him he couldn’t, but a sudden lethargy
settled over me and made me dip my head to his shoulder. “I’m so tired. Can we
go home?”

“Aw, come on,
Anthony. You’re not going to leave already. It’s only eleven.”

Jeez, how I
hated Barbie’s voice.

“Take her
upstairs to one of Hunter’s guest rooms. She can sleep there.”

“And not bother
you any longer?” I managed to moan, tilting my head in her direction, but
unable to open my eyes. Her annoyed snort didn’t bother me.

“You don’t want
to do that.” Another person seemed to have joined our conversation. Hunter. But
what was he talking about?

“In her state,
she’s not safe in any of the guest rooms. You know how the parties go on the
later it gets. Take her to my room.”

“What?” Tony and
I shouted simultaneously. I was sitting straight with my eyes wide open. The thought
of sleeping in Ryan Hunter’s room shocked me something awful. But why Tony was
agitated I didn’t figure out.

Ryan rolled his
eyes. Mmm, sexy. He could do that quite well.

“Don’t be
ridiculous, guys. She’ll be awake and gone before I even get upstairs.”

There was a
tense pause.

“Hell, do it
already, Anthony, and come back fast.”
Barbie
.

Tony pressed his
lips together.

What was he
supposed to do again? The thought escaped me.

“Come on, Liz.”
He pulled me off the counter and walked me to the door. But a sudden lack of
control over my feet made me stumble sideways, knocking into something cold and
shiny.

“Pardon me,” I
said to the fridge.

Ryan caught me
before I knocked into more kitchen furniture. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away
from the strawberries?” he growled into my ear.

“Strawberries?
There was one in my last soda.” I grinned. “It was yummy.”

“Yummy, all
right.” He chuckled as he swept me up in his arms. “I’ll carry her to my room,
Mitchell. You can grab her when you go. Or come back for her in the morning.”

“You sure?”
There it was again, Tony’s worried voice.

“Yes. Go dance
with Cloey or she’ll pester me next.”

The music grew
fainter as Ryan climbed the stairs with me. I flung my arms around his neck and
leaned my head on his shoulder. “You don’t like dancing with Cloey?” I murmured.

He chuckled.
“Would you?”

“I don’t like
her, period.”

“And I know
exactly why that is.”

“Really?” I
breathed deep, inhaling his aftershave mingling with the scent of his heated
skin. “You smell good.”

For some reason,
that made him laugh. “Time to go to bed, Matthews.”

He shoved open
the door and carried me backwards over the threshold. Next I was placed on a
soft mattress. The pillow bore the same musky scent that clung to Ryan. I drew
in a long breath.

He slipped off
my shoes and pulled a blanket over my bare legs. “You comfortable?”

“I’m not sure. But
can you check if my head sprouted rotor blades?”

With my eyes
closed, I felt his hand raking through my hair. “That will go away when you
sleep. If you need anything, the light switch is right in front of your nose and
the bathroom is next door on the left.” He paused. “Did you hear me?”

“Light, nose.
Toilet, left. Gotcha.” I gave him a thumbs-up, feeling sleep tugging at me.
“Hunter?”

“Hm?”

“Sorry about the
pool game.”

He chuckled.
“Sleep tight, princess.”

Something
brushed over my cheek. Very gently. Fingers? I couldn’t tell as I drifted off
to careening dreams.

*

A door banged
shut. Jolting upright, I found myself in the center of a bed in a moonlit room
I didn’t recognize. The figure standing in front of me seemed slightly familiar,
though.

“Hunter?”

“You’re still
here?” Ryan moaned. My presence didn’t stop him from unbuttoning his shirt and tossing
it in a corner of the room along with his sneakers.

My brain roared
like mad. I rubbed my brow. “Where is
here
exactly? And why are you
undressing?”

The moonlight
cast a silvery look to his features as he studied me. “This is my room. And that
thing you’re lying on is my bed. Since I don’t usually sleep in clothes, I
figured I’d just take them off.” He spoke slowly and in a slightly slurred way.
I rubbed my temples, having trouble following this conversation.

The blurry events
of the previous evening crept up in my memory. “Is the party over?”

“Someone puked
on the floor. Yeah. Party’s over.” His deep breath was audible in the silent
room. “I swear, next time Claudia brings her strawberry soda, I’m going to
debut-ish
kick a girl’s butt. Harmless, my ass.”

I glanced at my
wrist watch. The clock face should be glowing in the dark, but as soon as I
tried to focus, dizziness made me groan. “What time is it?”

“Three.”

“A.M.?” I cried.

“It’s dark
outside. Of course it’s A.M.”

Slamming back
the covers, I jumped out of bed. But gravity was a bitch, and I stumbled to the
floor. I patted around for my shoes. I should have been home hours ago. My mom
was going to kill me.

I tried to stand
again. “Where are my shoes?”

“What are you
doing?”

Panicking!
Because I felt trapped in a strange house. “Going home!”