Hunks Pulled Over (7 page)

****

Forty-five minutes later Nash waited in the booth with Brian until Chance was completely out of the building before he said anything to his buddy about their lie.

“Why didn’t you tell Chance we knew Emerald?”

“Did you see how he was acting?” Brian laughed. “I’ve never seen our cocky friend in such a tailspin before about a woman. Why should we give him any help with Emerald after the way he talked about our women? No, I think we should let it play out.”

Nash wasn’t so sure about this. Shauntie had told him about what occurred at the cottage between Brian, Sapphire and Emerald. He got a tiny feeling Brian still wasn’t the biggest fan of Emerald, but he would let it go for now.

“Alright, I won’t tell Chance that Emerald is friends with our girlfriends; however, I got the impression he thought he knew her from somewhere else.”

Brian nodded at him. “I got that feeling too, but it isn’t for us to worry about. Chance will be able to figure out things for himself.”

Nash wanted to continue the conversation, but he could tell from the closed off expression on Brian’s face that he was done talking about Chance. Yet, he knew one thing was for sure. Tomorrow night’s engagement party was going to be more interesting than anyone would be expecting especially for Chance and Emerald.

Chapter Nine

“I’m so glad that you could make it tonight. I would have hated if you cancelled at the last minute. You know how important this is for Shauntie.” Sapphire grabbed Emerald by the hand pulling her inside the house. “You look too hot. I love those shoes.”

Emerald looked down at her leopard print high heels and couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She’d bought them last week at a fifty percent off sale at the mall. “Thank you. I love them too. I thought they were the perfect fit for this little black dress,” she replied, running her hands down the fabric.

“They’re amazing,” Sapphire agreed. Turning around, she headed in the direction of the kitchen. “You better watch out because Shauntie might try to steal them from you. You know how much she loves leopard print. Let’s get something to drink.”

Walking behind Sapphire, she saw a few people she recognized from Shauntie’s office and even a few from Sapphire’s job. “Where’s Brian?” Emerald asked, looking around the party. She didn’t see him anywhere in sight. And she even noticed that Nash and Shauntie weren’t at the party yet. “Where are the guests of honor?”

Inside the kitchen, Sapphire picked up a glass of champagne and handed it to her. “Shauntie called and told me she and Nash are on their way. I think they got caught up at home, if you know what I mean.”

Emerald grinned. “I still can’t believe Shauntie agreed to this party,” she said, staring out into the crowd, listening to the music playing around them.

“She was totally against the idea until Nash talked her into it,” Sapphire admitted. “Now, my Brian is still at the office working on a website for a client. He should be here within the next twenty minutes. I’m so proud of him that he finally decided to start his own website business. I never thought he would be able to do it, but he did and I’m behind him.”

Taking a sip of the champagne, Emerald noticed how Sapphire’s entire face lit up when she talked about her boyfriend. She hated how she almost had a hand in ruining her friend’s happiness.

“Sapphire, I really want to apologize again for what happened at the cottage. I can see now how much you belong with Brian.”

Sapphire placed her hand on her arm. “I’ve forgiven you. It’s over for me. Brian and I are good. We’re in love and I couldn’t ask for more.”

“Has Brian forgiven me or does he still hate me for opening my mouth in the first place?” She already knew the answer, but she wondered if Sapphire would tell her the truth.

“Oh, let me deal with my boyfriend,” Sapphire said as she moved her hand off her arm and picked up a glass. “He’ll get over it. Sometimes, Brian has a habit of holding a grudge for too long.”

Brian still wasn’t a fan of hers. At least Sapphire hadn’t tried to lie to her and pretend he was fond of her.

“Don’t stand here all night staring into the crowd. I want you to mingle with the rest of the guests. Did you notice that there are a lot cute single guys here? Open up to someone. Remember you were the one who challenged us to find a sexy guy. Where is the outspoken Emerald who never let anyone stand in her way? Find her and bring her back. I’m going to leave you here because I need to check on a few things, but I warn you. If you don’t find someone to dance with, I’ll pick out the guy for you. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, I understand you,” Emerald answered.

“Good.”

Spinning away from her, Sapphire disappeared into the crowd leaving her alone to think. Her mother and Sapphire were right, she was tired of not being the way she used to be a few months ago. It was time for her to stop feeling bad for herself and get back out there.

At least, she could enjoy herself tonight without the possibility of running into Chance. He wouldn’t be anywhere near Sapphire’s house. Emerald took another sip of her champagne before placing it back on the table, and headed out to the dance floor to find a dance partner

****

Getting out of his car, Chance reached over into the passenger seat grabbing the present he brought for Nash and Shauntie. Despite Nash telling him not to buy a gift, he still felt like he should bring something because one of his buddies was getting married.

Tonight was his engagement party; Nash needed something to remember this night by. Besides, he wanted to do something to show Shauntie he wasn’t still the same asshole she first met at
Peppers.

Leaving his car parked in Sapphire’s driveway, Chance made his way towards her front door. He came here tonight to celebrate Nash’s engagement and work more on mending his friendship with Brian.

At least while he was here tonight, the celebration would help him get his mind off Emerald for a few hours until he figured out a way to get her to agree to go out on a date with him. As long he got to accomplish one thing with her, he would wait a little longer on the second thing on his list.

Chapter Ten

Walking through the crowd of people inside Sapphire’s house, Chance finally spotted Nash and Shauntie talking to Brian along with Sapphire on the other side of the room. He was a little apprehension about approaching the group since he hadn’t been around the two women since he insulted them.

He knew Nash probably hadn’t repeated a word of his stupidity, but he wasn’t so sure about Brian. His buddy promised to have an open and honest relationship with Sapphire after the incident at the cabin and the problems that came from it afterwards.

Well, he was about to find out in the next few second if Sapphire knew about what he had implied about her.

Chance stopped next to Nash. He smiled at Shauntie who was standing across from him. “Congratulations on your engagement to Nash,” he said, handing her the small box.

“Chance, it so good to see you,” Shauntie said, returning his smile. “You didn’t have to bring us a present.”

“Oh, I wanted to get you something,” he replied. “It’s not every day that one of my best friends gets married.”

“Well, thank you. I know we’ll both love it.”

“Yes, thanks Chance,” Nash told him, patting him on the back. “I didn’t think you had enough patience to go out shopping for a present.”

“Funny,” Chance said and then looked over at Sapphire who was staring at him. “Hello, Sapphire. This is really a nice party.”

Sapphire glanced at Brian and then back at him. “Thank you Chance. I only want the best for my friends.”

Chance instantly knew from Sapphire’s cool response that Brian had told her what he had said about her.

“Sapphire, I think I should—”

“If you want something to drink, I have a variety of things in the kitchen,” Sapphire informed him before walking away.

The tension in the air was so thick it could have choked any one of them. A frown was etched across Shauntie’s pretty forehead as she glanced at him. Chance knew from the confused look on her face that Shauntie didn’t know what was going on between them.

Chance thought now might be the perfect time he take Sapphire up on her offer and go to the kitchen for something to drink. He needed to distance himself for a few minutes because he didn’t want to spoil Nash’s engagement party.

“I think I’m going to get something to drink,” he said. “I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“Good idea,” Brian replied. “I’m going to check on Sapphire to make sure she’s okay.”

Turning way before the situation got any worst, Chance hurried across the room back towards the kitchen he noticed when he walked in.

Maybe coming to the party was more than a huge mistake of his part, but he wanted to keep his word to Nash. However, everyone seemed to be having an amazing time until he showed up and placed a black cloud over everything. Another reason he’d decided to come was a little selfishness on his part, because he hated the idea of being home alone while everyone was here having a good time.

 Going into the kitchen, Chance grabbed a beer out of the ice bucket on the side of the counter. Twisting off the lid, he tossed it in the trashcan at the side of the island. Resting his back against the marble island, Chance took a long, fulfilling sip of his beer as he tried to think of a way to apologize to Sapphire but nothing was coming to his mind.

Honestly, he didn’t want to be wasting his time thinking about a way to make Sapphire like him more. Especially since Emerald was the woman he couldn’t get out of his mind. Just the short few times he’d found ways to be in the same room as her she had captivated him making him want to spend even more time with her.

Emerald stirred up emotions in him and passions he wasn’t aware he’d ever had or could ever feel. He got pleasure from mixing things up with her. It was a fantastic release of energy for him, but not so much for Emerald. However, he got the slight indication she actually loved their little arguments as much as him.

Chance always welcomed the challenge of a good mystery. Until Emerald came along, he never realized how boring his old girlfriends were. Whatever Emerald was hiding from him was a lot more fascinating than anything all of his former female acquaintances had to offer him.

He considered himself a master of solving problems and the unknown; however, Emerald’s will wasn’t as easy to get past as he thought it would be.

Chance placed his drink next to him on the counter as he continued to stare out into the crowd. From his first meeting with Emerald, he had sized her up in mere seconds. She wasn’t fond of him, but for the life of him he wasn’t sure why she disliked him so much.

Usually when he walked into a room, every woman there stepped it up a notch to get his attention, but not one Ms. Emerald Stone. She almost looked for ways to push him away from her and it bothered him. His ego had taken a tiny hit when Emerald turned down his dinner invitation.

Most people who knew him thought of him as cocky and sometimes full of himself, but that was so far for the truth. Instead, he was usually concerned about keeping the friends he had acquired over the years.

Brian believed he knew everything about him, but he truly didn’t. He never had taken time to look beyond the image he presented to get to know the man he truly was.

Yet, Chance had to admit that he did have a hand at making some people think the worst of him and some of their opinions didn’t matter to him because they were never his friends in the first place. However, for some odd reason when he looked into Emerald’s beautiful light brown eyes he didn’t like what he saw reflected there.

God, why couldn’t he get his mind off her? She hadn’t been in his life a week, but she was constantly in his thoughts. He needed to find a way to get her out of it and now was as good a time as any.

Picking up his beer, Chance took another drink thinking maybe a dance with a good-looking woman here tonight would get Emerald out of his head at least for a few hours.

As Chance stared out onto the dance floor, something or namely someone, caught his undivided attention as he lowered the beer bottle away from his mouth.

No! It couldn’t be her.

She’d just been on his mind so much lately that he was seeing Emerald dancing with some other guy. There was no way in hell she knew Shauntie or Sapphire because Nash would have told him.

Chance pitched his half-full beer into the trashcan next to him. Walking out of the kitchen, he slowly made his way towards the dance floor not taking his eyes off how the little black dress molded Emerald’s body hinting to the perfect curves she had beneath the material.

He itched to run his hand up and down the curve of her hips. He couldn’t wait until he had her wrapped in his arms with her soft warm body pressed against him. He didn’t realize how close he had gotten to Emerald and her dance partner until he was standing only inches behind them on the make shift dance floor.

“Can I cut in?” he asked, tapping the guy on the shoulder. Chance hoped the guy didn’t give him any trouble because he was going to be dancing with Emerald in the next few minutes.

The man stopped and glanced back at him over his shoulder. Chance noticed how Emerald’s eyes grew wider when they landed on him. She was as stunned as he had been to see her. She looked like she was ready to give him a piece of her mind until her dance partner spoke up.

“No, I don’t mind at all. Emerald’s a great dancer,” the guy told him and then walked away leaving him standing there with a stunning but pissed off Emerald.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” Emerald asked, taking a step back from him. She would have bumped into the couple behind her if he hadn’t pulled her into his arms.

The feel of her body against his felt magnificent. She fit him perfectly almost like they had done this before with each other. Chance wasn’t about to let Emerald fight him over having this moment with her.