The Wanted Short Stories (11 page)

Three hours later, Ari and I were back at the hotel. We were changing clothes to meet Pete and his girlfriend for dinner. Ari walked out of the bathroom in a beautiful black cocktail dress that showed off her curves.

“You look stunning,” I said.

She smiled and did a little turnaround.

The moment I saw the back, my smile disappeared, and my mouth dropped open. “Oh, hell no. No. You have to wear something else.”

Her smile faded, and she put her hands on her hips. “After all these years, do you really think you can tell me what to wear, Jeff Johnson? I like this dress. It makes me feel sexy.”

“It damn near goes down to your ass crack.”

Ari rolled her eyes. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Yeah, it does. Did you bring another dress?”

She looked at me like I was stupid. “Of course I did. Do you really want me to change?”

“Please.”

She turned and stormed away before slamming the bathroom door. I let out a sigh and shook my head. The evening was not starting out how I’d wanted. I knew we were both tired from flying in early and then the afternoon at the horse farm. We just needed to make it through this evening with Pete. I had already gotten him to lower the price on My Fair Charmer. I just needed to work him down lower on Sweet Dancer.

I sat down and ran my hand through my hair. Something about Pete wasn’t sitting right with me. The way he’d kept looking at Ari was starting to piss me off. If it were just she and I going out to dinner, I wouldn’t have cared about the dress.

The bathroom door opened, and Ari came walking out. My mouth dropped open. She was wearing a black lace push-up bra with matching lace panties. She walked over to the dresser and pulled out tan sheer hose and a garter belt. She put on the garter belt, and then she placed her right foot on the end of the bed. She began slipping on the sheer hose. She moved them up her leg in a way that had my dick getting harder by the second. She clipped the garter to the hose and repeated the whole process with her left leg. I swallowed hard and licked my lips.

She turned and walked to the closet, opened it, and stood there. She reached in for another black dress and took it off the hanger. When she turned around, she glared at me as she began to put the dress on. It was another beautiful dress. It showed off her cleavage and had a slit that came up just a bit on the right side.

I stood up and said, “You look beautiful, Ari.”

She didn’t say a word as she walked over and slipped on her heels. She reached down, grabbed her clutch, and turned once more to look at her hair. She spun around and began toward the door. “We’re running behind now.”

She threw the door open and walked out of the room while I stood there, trying to get my dick to go back down. I shook my head to clear the image of me taking her in the elevator.

I made my way next to her in front of the elevator, and I looked down at her. “Ari, don’t be—”

The doors opened, and Pete and his girlfriend were standing inside the elevator. I took one look at the girl and how she was dressed, and I knew Ari was going to be pissed. The girl couldn’t have been older than twenty-one, twenty-two tops, and she was dressed in a red cocktail dress. It was so short that if she turned around, I was sure I would see her ass cheeks hanging out.

“Jeff, Ari, we were just coming up to get you. Are y’all ready to head to dinner?” Pete asked.

“Sorry. I had a problem with the dress I was wearing,” Ari said as she stepped into the elevator.

I watched as Pete looked Ari up and down. I balled my hands into fists when he let his eyes roam a little too long on her chest. The young girl walked up, held her hand out to Ari, and introduced herself as Candy. After one look at the girl’s back, I closed my eyes and shook my head before opening my eyes again.

Fuck me
.

Ari was going to be pissed at me. The girl’s dress exposed her bare back all the way down, except I could actually see the top of her ass crack. I quickly looked up, and Ari was shooting daggers at me.

Son of a bitch.

She’d just caught me checking out this girl, but I hadn’t really checked her out.

Did I? Shit. This is going to be a long night.

By the time we walked into the restaurant, the tension between Ari and me had grown more and more. Pete had picked some fancy French restaurant, and as soon as he’d found out that Ari spoke French, the two of them continued speaking in French.

After being led to our table, we took our seats. I was sitting across from Pete, Ari was to my left, and Candy was to my right. I wanted to roll my eyes every time Pete called her Candy Cane.

“My French isn’t as good as Ari’s, so maybe we could stick with English?” I said as I glared at Pete.

He started laughing.

It was the longest dinner of my life. Candy kept reaching over and touching my hand. I finally ended up keeping it on my leg. If she licked her lips one more time, I was going to offer her Chapstick. I glanced over to Ari. She was smiling at something Pete had said. When she turned to me, her smile faded as she glared at me.

“Jeff, show me what a real Texas cowboy feels like on the dance floor.”

I looked at Candy and then back at Ari, before turning back to Candy. “I’m not much into dancing. I’m sure Pete would love to dance with you though.”

Pete stood up, and to my surprise, he reached for Ari’s hand. “Nonsense. Ari, my dear, dance with me while your husband takes Candy for a spin on the dance floor.”

I was sure Ari would say no.

But then, she jumped up and said, “Sounds like a plan. You can tell me more about Sweet Dancer, and I’ll be able to see if you’re a sweet dancer as well.”

My mouth dropped open, and Pete started laughing. I watched them both walk out to the dance floor. He took her into his arms, and they began dancing. A few times, Ari threw her head back and laughed at something the dickhead had said to her.

I jumped when I felt Candy place her hand on my leg.

She began to move it up toward my dick. “Looks like they’re occupied. We could sneak off somewhere.”

I pushed her hand off of me. “No, thanks.”

When she placed her hand on my leg again, I stood up. I looked out and saw Ari’s body pressed up against Pete’s. She was just a little too close to him. I moved over and sat down in Ari’s seat to get away from Candy. I glanced over at Candy, and she pouted as I sat back. I let out a sigh and turned back to my wife as she danced in the arms of another man. When she glanced at me, she seemed surprised that I was sitting in her seat, and then she backed away a little from Pete.

Oh, did you realize how fucking close you were to him, Ari?

Pete said something to Ari that caused her to look back at him, and she laughed again. I stood up and pushed my chair back. I reached for my wallet, grabbed a handful of money, and threw it on the table.

“Tell Ari I took a taxi back to the hotel. All of a sudden, I feel sick to my stomach.” I turned and walked away before Candy could say anything.

The moment the cool night air hit my face, I felt like I could breathe again.

I can’t believe she would dance with a guy like that. Hell, I can’t believe she danced with him at all.

I hailed for a taxi, but it kept driving on. I stepped a little closer to the street and hailed another. When it pulled over, I opened the door and got in. I went to close the door, but someone jerked it back open. I looked out, and Ari was standing there.

“Where are you going?” she said as she panted for breath.

“He got ya so worked up that you can’t breathe?”

She looked at me funny and then gave me a dirty look. “No. When I saw you were gone, I walked back to the table, and Candy Cane said you left. I grabbed my clutch and ran out of the restaurant. Why in the hell would you leave me there?”

“Looked like you were having fun.” I turned and told the driver, “The Brown Hotel, please.”

Ari began getting into the taxi. I slid over and looked out the window. Neither one of us said a word to each other. The taxi driver tried to make small talk. Our answers were one-worded replies until he finally gave up.

He pulled up to the front of the hotel, and I handed him some money.

“Keep the change. Thank you, and have a great evening.”

“Thank you, sir. You do the same.”

Ari was out of the taxi and almost through the entrance doors of the hotel by the time I stepped out of the taxi. I smiled and nodded at the doorman as I walked through. I was suddenly overcome with exhaustion. I walked up and stood next to Ari.

“I get that you were pissed at me, Ari, but I don’t know why you would dance with him. Then, you let him hold you so close. I would never do something like that to you.”

She didn’t say a word. The elevator door opened, and we both stepped inside.

When the door shut, she turned and looked at me. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with her dress. Why is that, Jeff? You were staring pretty hard.”

I knew it.
“Jesus, Ari. She walked right the fuck in front of me, and when I saw the back of it, I knew you were going to be pissed. I didn’t want you to wear that damn dress because Pete had been eye-fucking you all day. The last thing I wanted was for him to see you in such a sexy dress. I can’t even imagine if he had danced with you while you wore that dress and if he touched your bare skin…” I turned away from her because I was getting pissed as I thought about her being in his arms.

The elevator door opened, and I stormed out. I walked to our room, and turned to see Ari was slowly making her way behind me. I opened the door and held it for her.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she stepped in and stood there.

I moved around her, and began taking off my tie and then jacket. I didn’t even have the energy to take a shower. I stripped out of all my clothes and crawled into bed.

“Jeff, I didn’t—”

“I’m tired, Ari. I don’t feel like talking. I just want to go to sleep.”

I knew I was being a douche, but for some reason, I wanted her to know how much she’d hurt me by dancing with that fucker. Tomorrow, I would write him a check for full price on both horses and change out the plane tickets.

The only thing I wanted right now was to be home.

I lay in bed and listened to Jeff’s breathing. He had fallen asleep within minutes of lying down. I closed my eyes and cursed myself for dancing with that dickhead. I knew he had been eyeing me all day, and when Candy had asked Jeff to dance, he would turn her down.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I thought back to when I had seen Jeff sitting in my seat. Candy must have come on to him, and that was why he’d moved. That was when I’d realized how close I was to Pete, and I’d backed away. Jeff had looked at me, and I could see the hurt all over his face. Pete had made a joke, and I’d looked back at him and laughed. I had asked one question about Sweet Dreamer before turning to see that Jeff had left. I had immediately walked off the dance floor and asked Candy where Jeff went. I had never run so fast in my life while wearing heels, but I’d had to get to him before he left. I hadn’t even said good-bye to Pete or Candy.

I needed to do something to make up for what I had done to Jeff. I decided I would think of something in the morning, and I drifted off to sleep.