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.Jayce double-high-fived her over the bar and then she crawled up, laid back, and lifted her shirt.“I think someone needs to video document this,” Jayce said as he tucked the lime wedge into her mouth.Zoey whipped out her cell phone.Addy sucked in her belly.He made a show of deciding where to lick first and decided on her clavicle.He licked, salted, licked.She giggled and squirmed.Then he poured tequila in the hollow of her belly and sucked it out.Lastly, he sucked the lime wedge while she hung onto it with her teeth.She sat up and screamed victoriously.Jayce high-fived her again, and helped her down.“The winner of a kiss from Jayce,” Janice said, fifteen minutes later, “Marcy Keenan!”Jayce kissed Marcy, a nurse who’d graduated a few grades ahead of him.The last prize was a dirty dance with Jayce.By that time, he was in full, party-mode, and did some top-notch dirty dancing with a college girl who didn’t want to let him go when it was over.By the time he made it back to the bar, where Kellen had taken over temporarily, someone had put a pink, feather boa on him and some sparkly sunglasses.The whole situation had been funny at first, but that college girl was way too hot for Maya’s comfort.In fact, Maya sort of felt like punching her.It took her a while to recognize the feeling as jealousy.She was jealous over Jayce.That didn’t make any sense.Janice was mingling in the crowd.Maya wove her way to Janice’s side.“Can I have a moment?”“Sure,” Janice said, and led the way to the hallway where they could have a little bit of quiet.“Why’d you keep auctioning him off?” Maya asked without prelude.Janice shrugged.“Poor guy’s heartbroken.I wanted to give him some fun this evening.Did you see him with that boa? I got so many pictures, he’s just gonna die laughing when he sees them sober.”Janice was about a guileless as a person could get, but Maya still felt suspicious.“You know he likes me, right?” Maya asked.“I know he loves you.” The vapid, perky smile was gone from Janice’s lips, replaced by something wiser.“Did you do all that to make me jealous? To prove some point?”“Are you jealous?”“No!” Maya lied.“Of course not.I just know that that wasn’t the plan and if you were trying to help him make me jealous or something—”“Jayce doesn’t stoop that low, honey.He doesn’t have to.He can have any woman in this room, and maybe that was something you needed to learn tonight.”“So you did do this on purpose?”“I did it for him, like I said, because he needed a little fun.Honestly, Maya, I wasn’t thinking about you at all.” With that, Janice turned on her heel and rejoined the party, resuming her perky demeanor as though she hadn’t just put Maya in her place with a firm hand.Maya blew out a breath and returned to the bar.Close to midnight, Zoey came over.She’d been chatting with a couple of ladies she worked with.She sat next to Maya at the bar, not drunk at all.But then, Zoey didn’t usually drink past the buzzed stage.“Having fun?”Maya shoved her uncomfortable conversation with Janice to the back of her thoughts.“I love this,” she said.“I did this.I mean…well, Jayce and Janice did it, but it was my idea.”Jayce was at the other end of the bar flirting with some young women.Maya couldn’t take her eyes from him.He wasn’t drunk, but the little bit of liquor he’d had had definitely loosened him up.He looked both hilarious and sexy with the feathers and sparkles.“He seems to be having a good time,” Zoey said.Maya nodded, her head swimming with drink and Jayce.“Kellen says he doesn’t drink very often…not in public.”“Well, it’s no wonder.Look at him.He’d go home with anyone at this point.It’s probably not safe for him to drink.”“He’s like an ice berg.You see about ten percent of his charm, the rest stays hidden until he gets drunk.”“Did you see him this morning? Bringing Sophie chocolates?”“I saw.You’re smitten, aren’t you?”“Smitten? No way.Just impressed.”“It’s okay to love him, Maya.”Maya nearly sobered up, right then and there.She looked at her best friend and wondered how it was Zoey knew right where to go.“Do you really think so?” she asked.Zoey nodded and smiled.“You’re smart.You’ll be careful.But it’s okay to love him.”Maya chewed her bottom lip and let her eyes wander back to Jayce, who had Addy behind the bar with him, showing her how to mix a Long Island iced tea.“If I do decide to take him, I’m going to have to make sure he never drinks again.” His arms were around Addy, directing her hands.“Jayce!” Zoey shouted.“Hands off my best friend!”“You want some of this, Zoey, get that sweet ass back here.There’s enough of Jayce to go around.”“Oh, my God,” Maya moaned.Last call was at one-thirty.It took an hour for everyone to clear out, and in that time, Jayce danced with any woman who would have him.At the end, Maya found him collapsed in the corner of one of the sofas, his arms draped over the back, his legs splayed in front of him, with a blond on his lap sucking on his tongue.Maya hurried over.“All right, that’s enough.” She pulled the girl off of him.His eyes were closed behind the sunglasses, but his lips kept moving.The girl reached for him, but Maya turned her and pushed her toward the door where her group of friends was waiting for her.After they left, she turned around to find Addy collapsed on the couch next to Jayce, her head resting on his chest.Maya figured as long as they weren’t making out, it didn’t really matter.Janice, Maya, Zoey, Kellen, and the waitresses collapsed onto the sofas around the two drunks.“That was so much fun,” Janice said.“We have to do this again next year.”“You guys did a great job,” Kellen said.“I hate this shirt, but this was a fun night.”“How much do you think we raised?” one of the girls asked.“A lot,” Maya said.“I had to empty Jayce’s tip jar three times.”“Way to shake the old money-maker,” Janice shouted at Jayce.He was conscious enough to smile.After a few minutes of resting and basking in their success, Maya, Janice, Zoey, and Kellen went to work taking down decorations and cleaning up.The other girls went home.Jayce stumbled to the jukebox and played Brad Paisley’s We Danced, hugged the jukebox, and started crying.Maya stood back and watched.She turned to Kellen who shrugged sympathetically.“Finish up and I’ll get him upstairs,” Kellen said.Maya looked at Addy, sprawled out on the couch.“If you can help me get him upstairs, I’ll stay the night and take care of him.You guys can take Addy home [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]