“They’re not wolves."
No, they’re not. But tonight, I feel like one.
"Tris said you’re in a bad mood.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I check her out again. “I want to talk about this dress.”
With her hair razored to a sharp edge, shorter at the back than the front and in a straight curtain, her lips painted red to match, and wicked heels, she’s a goddess. A beautiful creature designed to steal a man’s soul, to reduce him to ash with a look.
“Thank you. My boyfriend bought it for me.”
Her voice is laced with irony, but I don’t even care. I grin. “Damn straight.”
“It was gratuitous. And unnecessary.” She sighs, running her hands down the fabric. “And I kind of love it.”
Satisfaction swells in my chest, like an animal stretching. “That makes two of us.”
“You look nice too.”
“I changed after work.”
“For me?” Her eyes widen in pleased surprise.
"Yes." I order a G&T from the bartender, then raise my glass and toast her.
She takes a long drink of hers. “Tris said you got him something special for his birthday but wouldn’t say what.”
I shift. Daisy’s the only person in the world—other than my brother—who gets what we went through as kids, because I’ve always been straight with her about it. Some people figure if you have money, you have everything, but it’s not like that at all. “It was a watch of our dad's. He left it to me before he went. I never told anyone. But Tris used to look at it, back when our dad was still around.”
Her fingers thread through mine and she squeezes my hand. “That’s sweet of you. What’s going on with you and Tris lately?”
I shake my head, wishing I could use our point of connection to draw her closer. “He’s had a bigger chip on his shoulder since Mom checked herself into rehab. He accused me of being the good son. He’s too young to remember how things were. With her, I can be patient, but by the time I’m done dealing with her, I don’t have it in me to deal with him.”
Daisy cocks her head, eyeing me over her drink. “You can love your family. Doesn’t mean you have to like them.”
I can’t do anything but stare at her, because right when I’m feeling off without knowing why, there she is, fucking getting me.
“Ben and Daisy! We need to grill you.” Kendall and Rena appear, and they drag us back to the booth with the guys.
This is the moment we’ve been preparing for.
I hold Daisy’s hand as we head back to the booth, aware every step of the feel of her fingers through mine.
“So,” Hunter says, “how’d you start dating? Because you’ve known each other a long damn time to make the change now.”
We exchange a look.
Stick close to the truth. “I needed D to help me with a problem with my…” I trail off. Maybe it's the long week that has my brain stuttering to come up with a lie.
Her eyes widen on mine, and she’s on the same wavelength. “Bomb."
“Bomb?” I mouth, and she shakes her head.
“Yes,” she goes on slowly. “Ben got one of those bath bombs as part of a corporate gift. You know, the kind you drop under the water? And he didn’t know how to use it.”
Dear God.
My best friend is either a worse liar than I thought or a sadist, because the guys are dying of laughter and the women are keeling over on their high heels.
“So you explained it to him?” Rena drawls.
Fuck me and my engineering degree.
Daisy tries to pull her hand away and I tighten my grip. Hell no. I didn’t need to wear a Boss suit and drag my ass to a club to have a woman to cut my balls off in front of our friends.
“I knew how to use it. But I invited her over to demonstrate in person. Turned out she’d been wanting to get me naked for a long time.” I rub my thumb against her palm and she squirms.
“He did,” she answers levelly. “See, Ben’s had this mole on his back he wouldn’t let anyone check, including his doctor, so…”
Tris is wiping his damp eyes, and that’s fucking it. I'm taking his birthday gift back, because he's getting more than his money's worth laughing at me, courtesy of my fake girl and—after tonight—ex-best friend.
I drag her closer, bend my lips to her ear. “You’re going down for this.”
“Sounds epic,” Hunter says when they stop laughing long enough to respond. “So why did it take you guys so long to get together?”
This time, we’re both caught in the headlights.
It’s a legit question. I let her answer, because I’m honestly curious what she’ll say.
“When you get comfortable with someone who accepts you as you are,” she says, her hand tightening in mine, “it’s hard to change the scope of a relationship. It's a risk. You put your heart on the line, everything you've built, everything you said you wanted just by asking.”
I turn that over. She’s not wrong. As usual, she sees beneath the surface way too damn easily.
Daisy leaves to use the bathroom. After another round of drinks at the booth, I excuse myself to track her down. I find her in a corner, frowning at her phone. I know without asking she's working.
“I had a dinner tonight about Aiden Vane," I say.
She straightens. “Really? Did you learn something?”
I nod. “He was implicated in an antitrust issue on behalf of his dad’s company.”
“Huh. Do you think he did it?”
“I don’t know. But I sent you what I have.”
"Thank you. You're a lifesaver."
"I am." I pocket her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Rescuing my girlfriend. Even though she’s been very bad and doesn’t deserve it.”
I pull her toward the dance floor, where some of our friends are already dancing. The music is upbeat and not what I’d choose, but I don’t care.
"If I was trying to impress you,” she starts, “I'd stay far away from a dance floor. A podium? That I can rock."
My mouth twitches. “You'd seduce me with public speaking?"
“My oration skills are second to none."
“Fuck, that’s hot. I’m a sucker for a beautiful woman monologuing.”
Daisy settles into a spot in front of me, the laughter fading from her eyes. “So what Rena said yesterday, about the way I look at you… it's bullshit."
"That's disappointing. It would be nice to know you rub one out to me once in a while.”
Her eyes widen. “Seriously, Ben?”
I grin.
“Wait. Do you jerk off to me?” The way she sucks in a breath has my abs tightening.
Call me an asshole, but I want her to wonder. I want it to keep her up at night.
When I decided Daisy would be the ideal fake girlfriend, it seemed natural, but in this club, the possibility of running our venture firm feels far away, and the stakes of our friendship are real and important and everywhere.
My hands tighten and I pull her close on instinct.
“Are they watching?” she asks, thinking that’s why I grabbed her.