Briar's Champion (6 page)

“Let me treat you
.
”
The voice who owned the hand
produced
his own card
and
hand
ed
it directly to the bartender.

“I
—
we, can pay for our own
,
”
s
he stammered
.
She
waited for the deep lazy drawl
in his out-of-the-blue-offer
to
leave
his lips
and
caress her ears
again
, setting
off
a keg of powder to ignite within her
.

“It’s my pleasure to buy
four beautiful
ladies a drink
.
”
He held out his hand to her. “
By the way, my name is
Sloan
.
”

“Briar
.
”
She returned his greeting seconds later at his proddi
ng expression. The calloused groove
s
of his hand scraped her palm eliciting a silent groan of pleasure.
“Nice to meet you
.
”
S
he lifted her
gaze
level
with
his
losing herself
i
n
the darkest brown
orbs
she’d ever seen
—o
nes she
’d
drown in. Sloan belonged in a magazine. He did look a bit familiar but she couldn’t place his face. Possibly
she’d seen him in
a commercial or something.

“
Thank you.” She took in the slight curve to his nose
, suppressing
the urge to trail her finger over it. One would think
a
crooked nose would make him
less handsome, but the opposite gained her apt attention.

“Want to check my teeth?”
h
e joked
, his
accent
thick
.

“No
,
”
s
he
responded
, suddenly apprehensive
. “Thanks for the
margaritas
. Carissa, Darcy, and Suz
are
sure to be
thankful for the
nice words and free drink
.”
She stepped out of arms reach.

“How about you?”

“Yes,
I appreciate the gesture
.” She thanked
G
od for her mocha skin color or he’d see
a
definite blush tint
ing
her face. With her hand on the pitcher, she forced herself to move back to the table. Three sets of eyes
eagerly
waited for
her to dish
the digs.

“
So
?”
Carissa prodded.

“Dark brown
,
so dark they melt into black
.
H
is voice seduced me.
So
yes, t
hat’s one tall drink of sin right there.
”
She
dazed off remembering how his mouth moved as he spoke,
the cleft in his
chin, dimples
she
itched
to
stroke
.
“
He bought our pitcher and
when he
shook my hand
,
it felt like a caress more than a handshake.
”
Smiling, she continued her description
.
“
His name is Sloan.
He works hard at whatever he does
.
”
Realizing she was giving her friends more
encouragement
to set her up, s
he topped everyone’s drinks. “We should toast to him in thanks.”
She lifted
her glass
up
, turning
her body sideways. When she secured
his
attention,
Briar
kicked the others under the table to do the same. Hell
,
even his half nod
of acknowledgment
sent a jolt of lust down her spine.

“He is into you.” Suz
anne
tipped her drink into her mouth. “
The question remains
,
what
do
you plan on doing
to keep his interest
?”

“Nothing.” Bri
ar
tucked a strand of her ebony hair behind her ear
, sipped her drink and tried not to stalk the man with her traitorous
stare
.
The alcohol
finally
took hold,
work
ing
its
magic, soothing her nerves, giving aid in relaxing her.

“Bullshit. He
has the appearance of a sexual
god.
Notice his hair, his eyes, and I don’t need to remind you of his voice. We’re all melting over here, and he’s not even for one of us. Though,
I might attempt to woo him my way, but it
is apparent that
he only has eyes for you.
Imagine all the alcohol induced
fornication
you could embark on with him.
” Suz
anne
sighed.

“
Suz!
”
At the best of times, t
he words that came out of her mouth took the cake, this
one
no different painting a picture of naughty possibilities.

“
Don’t blame a girl for wondering. Now pay attention
.
H
e’s boring holes in the back of your head staring at you with his beer in hand. Why don’t you go over and make conversation with him?
You do remember how to flirt right?
”
Suz
anne
picked up her drink and took a long swig of the red icy mixture
before looking her dead in the eye
. “Girls
,
let
’
s leave Bri to herself
.
M
aybe if she doesn’t get the balls to go talk to him, he’ll take the hint and
come over and
talk to her.” Suz
anne
stood, so did Darcy and Carissa.

“Seriously?”
Bri
ar
replied with sarcasm
.
They were ding dong ditching her without the doorbell, leaving her to fend on her own. This wasn’t easing into the dating scene again.
It
was
throwing a girl in the deep end,
lett
ing
her sink or swim.

“Yeah Bri
,
you need to move on. God
,
how much
better
c
an
you get than
him
?” Carissa jerked a thumb at Sloan.

Bri watched her friends depart and sighed into her drink. She debated on going up to him.
What would
I
say?
I want
you
to take
me
home and fuck me?
No, she couldn’t
—wouldn’t—
do that. A quick turn o
f her head ensured he indeed showed every sign of being interested in her. Forgoing
her drink
, she
grasped
the
half empty pitcher
, tilted the edge to her lips and drank.
Not one sip spilled on her outfit.
Briar licked her lips
, deciding
to make
her
move.
Her
heart hammered
so
loud
in her ears
she look
ed
around to make sure others didn’t notice.
Her palms
dampened with e
ach step closer in his direction.
C
lasp
ing her palms
be
h
ind her back
and adding a smile to
her
face
,
she
continu
ed
on her one way destination.
S
he kept her gaze on him until she was close enough to touch him.

“Hello again
.
”
S
he lifted her hands to his chest
with brazen intent
,
giving
in
to the need to run them
along
his
upper body
. His
gaze
locked with hers and she thought she saw a glimmer of desire race through them.