Ryan Hunter

realized Cloey was with them and Liza apparently had some trouble sitting upright. I had sent her off with Sprite. How the hell did she end up drunk?
    Cloey pulled on Mitchell’s arm, but he didn’t seem to be ready to go. “Anthony, you promised to dance with me,” she nagged him.
    And then, in spite of my rage about Tony standing so close to Liza, I had to suppress a chuckle when Liza iterated with the voice of a preschooler, “ Anthony, you promised to dance with me .”
    That sure pissed Cloey off . “What’s wrong with her ?”
    “She just had a little too much of the wine coole r,” said Tony. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”
    I was about to tell him he should go with her now and let me handle Liza. In her condition it wasn’t a good idea to let her deal with Cloey and the crap she didn’t know about them yet.
    But at the same moment, Liza’s head dipped to his shoulder. “I’m so tired. Can we go home?” she whined.
    Cloey took a step back and folded her arms over her chest, which threatened to jump out of her plastered-on black dress. “Aw, come on, Anthony. You’re not going to leave already. It’s only eleven. Take her upstairs to one of Hunter’s guest rooms. She can sleep there.”
    Oh no.
    “And not bother you any longer?” a moan came from Liza who looked like she was already falling asleep on Tony’s shoulder.
    Not up to getting involved in the drama of the night, I walked up beside Mitchell and said, “You don’t want to do that. In her state, she’s not safe in any of the guest rooms. You know how the parties go on the later it gets.” So what option did we have left? “Take her to my room.”
    “ What ?” Liza and Tony shouted, Liza suddenly sitting straight with her eyes wide open. So much for getting her in my bed before the week was over.
    “Don’t be ridiculous, guys.” I rolled my eyes as if the thought of doing anything with Liza was totally absurd. If they knew the truth, Tony wouldn’t trust me one bit. “She’ll be awake and gone before I even get upstairs.” Unfortunately, that was the truth.
    Since Liza was as drunk as a rum truffle, it was up to Mitchell to decide for her. He was, after all, her best friend and therefore responsible…somehow. But he was reluctant.
    “Hell, do it already, Anthony, and come back fast,” Cloey demanded.
    When Tony pressed his lips into a straight line, I thought he would never agree. But then he said, “Come on, Liz,” and pulled her off the counter. With his arm around her waist, he steadied her and walked her to the door.
    After only three steps, she slipped away from him and knocked against the fridge, bounced back, and stumbled. “Pardon me,” she said as if the fridge had just grown a soul.
    She was going to run into the counter next, so I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her tight against me. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from the strawberries?” I growled into her ear, immediately getting high on her beautiful scent.
    “Strawberries? There was one in my last soda.” The silly girl grinned like a loon. “It was yummy.”
    “Yummy, all right. ” I chuckled. Then I scooped her up. Lord, had I known that this was Heaven, I’d have tried to be a nicer guy in the past. Her body was light and soft, and her warmth seeped through my shirt, causing my skin to prickle with a certain need to feel her rubbing against me. My hands lay on places that I wouldn’t have dared to dream of touching her just a couple of days ago.
    “I’ll carry her to my room, Mitchell. You can grab her when you go. Or come back for her in the morning.” Or…don’t come back at all and just leave her with me.
    “You sure?” Yep, he didn’t trust me at all.
    “Yes. Go dance with Cloey or she’ll pester me next.”
    He looked at Summers, and she flashed a radiant smile at him. All right! The battle was won. Mitchell handed Liza into my care. If she’d been my best friend, I wouldn’t have done that.
    Savoring every second of cuddling Liza to my chest, I carried her upstairs. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and suddenly her head rested on my shoulder. I briefly closed my eyes and my jaw tightened as I struggled to stay cool.
    “You d on’t like dancing with Cloey?” she murmured.
    I touched my cheek to her brow. “Would you?”
    “I don’t like her, period.”
    That was obvious. “And I know exactly why that is.”
    “Really?”
    I just wanted to tell her that everybody knew how she was in love with my