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Emily takes another sip of her wine, downing the last bit in her glass before she leans a little closer, eyes glittering in the candlelight as her attention returns to me. “I don’t know how you do it, Rhett. I mean, look at you.” Her hand hovers near my forearm, like she’s one step away from touching it. Fuck, this bitch has balls, or she’s just really fucking stupid. “Must take a lot of work to keep up a body like that. What do you do to stay in shape?”
Cara’s thigh tenses beneath my palm, but she keeps her face smooth, sipping from her wine glass as though the comment doesn’t faze her. But I know better. I know every tick and every flicker in her pretty eyes.
My girl’s burning inside, and I can feel the heat radiating off her and fuck if it doesn’t make me want to sink myself balls deep inside her even more.
“Discipline,” I reply, my eyes flicking over to Cara. “You’d be surprised what you can achieve with the right motivation.”
Emily bites her lower lip, clearly trying to push her luck. “Maybe you could motivate me sometime? Show me how you keep it all...together.”
Cara stays quiet, but her pulse is racing, and her breath is just a touch too fast. I push my hand further up her thigh, teasingher, testing how far I can take this. She stiffens under my touch, but she doesn’t look at me. She doesn’t say a word, but her silence is loud and full of warning for anyone truly listening.
Emily giggles, clearly misreading the tension. “So, Cara, what’s your secret? How did you lock him down so quickly and keep him all to yourself? I mean, I can’t imagine there aren’t girls lined up for a guy like Rhett.”
Cara’s lips part, and for a second, I think she’s going to say something, let the words slip, but she just takes another long sip of her wine. The thought of anyone else near me and the idea of sharing me in any capacity is driving her mad, and it’s only getting worse every time this bitch opens her mouth.
“I’m just lucky, I guess,” she finally says, her voice steady, though there’s a dangerous edge to it. “Not every girl gets what they want.”
The jab is subtle, but I feel it, and it makes me grin.
There she is.
Emily blinks, not quite catching the shift, and leans back in her chair. “Well, good for you. I wish I had that kind of confidence.”
Oh, sweetheart, you don’t. Not even close.
Jason and Amaya are chatting away, oblivious to the tension between us, but I’m not. I’m hyper-aware of every flicker in Cara’s expression, every restrained breath she takes. She’s not going to snap, not here, not now, but she’s unraveling bit by bit, and I’m right there with her, pushing her further, watching her become something wild and untamed.
Watching her become what she was always meant to be.
My little nightmare.
Chapter Twenty-One
CARA
“She can’t drive home,” Amaya says, talking to everyone in the room.
They’re all about to leave. We had dinner, ate Rhett’s fucking delicious pie, and now it’s time to say goodbye. For who knows how long.
“And I’m pretty sure she’s close to puking, so I don’t want her in my car,” Jason adds, staring at Emily, who’s almost two bottles deep into the red wine.
She’s sitting on the couch, hiccupping as she looks around at us. “I’ll be fine, guys, really. I’ll just hang out here for a little bit, and then I’ll go home.”
A sudden sense of calm overcomes me, and I choose now to speak up. “She’ll be fine here. I’ll request a car for her once she sobers up a little.” Looking around, I find everyone staring at me, jaws slightly dropped. “It’ll be fine,” I reassure them with a smile.
“Are you sure?” Sloan asks as she digs her car keys out of her purse. “She’s being a little much with Rhett. Are you going to be able to handle that?”
“Emily isn’t anything I can’t handle,” I laugh, looking down at the sloppy drunk girl resting on my couch.
Rhett seems to pick up on my words, handing Emily a glass of water as he insists, “We’ll make sure she gets home safe.”
“Okay,” Sloan cringes. “I don’t think I’ll bring her next year.”
Emily can hear everything we’re saying, but she’s too intoxicated and lost in her own world to understand. I’ve never really liked her, and now I know why. She’s always stayed single because she’s not into single guys. She’s intotakenguys. She likes being a homewrecker.
Some girls are like that, though. Naturally hardwired to want what they’re not supposed to have. I can’t really blame her for wanting Rhett, I meanlookat him. He’s fucking perfect. But Icanremove the problem, preventing her from doing this to anyone else in the future. For all I know, a few years down the road a married man with three kids might catch her eye, and she’ll destroy everything they’ve ever known.
I can’t let her do that.
