It only cares about sheathing myself in one of her body’s tight, velvety crevices and emptying itself inside her.

She’s a siren calling me to crash on the curves of her shores.

“Hey, Ross? Earth to Ross!”

I blink and look over at Abi, who’s giving me a strange look. “What?”

“You drunk already?” Abi asks, grinning. “That’s new for you.”

“Probably that pizza hasn’t digested enough yet,” Kaede says with a chuckle. “You know, low blood sugar and all. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast.” He’s good at covering for me, but I can see the questions in his eyes.

What the fuck, man? You okay?

Kaede reaches his hand across the table toward Violet. “Kaede Warren. Good to see you again. It’s been a while.”

Violet shakes his hand with a firm grip, no wimpy kiss-it greeting from her, and I have to fight the urge to growl at my best friend for touching her. “Violet Russo. I remember you from school, and I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Kaede offers a flirty smile. “I’ve heard a lot about you too, though it seems not the important things.” His eyes drop down, licking over Vi’s body, and I cough to cover the kick I throw his way under the table. Luckily, I hit my target and not Arch.

Kaede’s eyes snap to mine, humor dancing in their dark depths. The bastard’s fucking with me.

Next to me, I can feel Violet fidget, a sort of nervous energy almost vibrating off her body. “So, Abi, what—”

Suddenly, the music changes, and Archie jumps up, grinning like a fool. “Bitches!”

I blink, stunned. “Huh?”

“This is my jam!” Archie says, grabbing Abi by the hand. “Come on, Abs. You too, K-dawg. Abigail’s gonna need a dance partner while I find one of my own! Unless you’re volunteering to be the meat in the sandwich tonight?” He laughs, not remotely serious, but he is pulling Abigail and Kaede out of the booth.

Kaede gives me a raised eyebrow, but I give him a slight tilt of my chin. He’s a good guy, and I know he’ll be polite enough with my sister that I can trust him. Besides, while he’s out on the dance floor, he’ll probably be scanning the crowd looking for potential candidates for me.

Knowing him, he’ll probably come back upstairs with at least two or three.

The three of them head downstairs, Archie using an intimidating glare and his long arms to make room on the dance floor before breaking out moves that just might put Simone Biles to shame.

“Look at him go.”

The quiet words, barely audible over the music, pull my attention back to the person next to me, and I turn to look Violet in the face. I can’t decipher her expression . . . shy? Nervous? Pissed? Maybe all of the above at the same time, for some reason?

“He’s . . . flexible,” I admit. Violet’s eyes narrow some, and she looks angrier for some reason. “What’s up?”

“Why are you here?” she suddenly asks, and it feels like she’s changing the subject. “Did Abi tell you?”

I find myself off-kilter almost instantly. She’s the only one who’s ever been able to set me off with so few words.

And tonight, firstly, I don’t know what Violet’s talking about.

Secondly, though . . . she’s hot when she’s angry.

I never noticed that before. Hot like fire might shoot from her eyes at any moment and burn me up, her frenetic energy surrounding us in a bubble of her making.

“Tell me what?” I ask, sipping my drink to try and regain my composure. I’m starting to wonder if Abi is up to something. But what?

“Don’t play stupid,” Violet hisses. “She told you, didn’t she?”

“I have no idea,” I answer honestly. “As in no idea what the hell you’re talking about.” I can’t help the smirk that crosses my face at seeing Violet so worked up. I really don’t know what’s got her riled up, but I like it. I always do.

But she misreads my smile, thinking I have some insight to whatever she’s upset about. “Yeah, she did,” Violet says, her fists clenching in her lap. “Goddammit, I’m gonna kick her perky little ass!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I reply, holding up a hand. “First, I don’t want to know anyone’s opinion of my sister’s ass. Second, I swear to you, I really don’t know what’s going on. Look, here’s what Abi sent me.”

I reach into my coat pocket and pull out my phone, showing her the text from Abi. “As you can see, I didn’t have time after that to hear anything. So, what’s going on?”

“You swear?” Violet asks, her lips trembling, and there’s a glitter of tears in her eyes. Jesus, she’s really shaken up. What’s happened to spin her from mad to sad in a blink? “She didn’t say anything at her boutique?”

“I don’t know anything,” I swear. “Vi, I came into the shop to sign the card for my parents’ anniversary flowers and told Abi about the old man being an ass lately and making some demands of me that I don’t like. That’s it. She barely got a word in edgewise about anything else.”

“So, you’ve got problems?” Violet asks, a bit bitchy. “I’m surprised Mr. Perfect does anything but shit gold nuggets.”