He towers above everyone around him. His thick dark hair is messed to perfection, and those black jeans hug his perfect ass. Broad shoulders, perfect posture, and a jawline that could cut glass. His skin is olive and tanned.

My eyes roam up and down his body as I drink him in.

I’ve never known anyone like him before: so attractive yet, like a mysterious quicksand, so unknown. It’s the weirdest thing. I know him, but I also know that I haven’t even scratched the surface of his personality.

He has this depth to him that I can’t explain, an underlying darkness from within.

I’m not sure what it is or where it comes from or if it even truly exists. I mean, it could be a figment of my imagination. Just because he hasn’t met the right woman doesn’t mean he’s necessarily damaged.

“Hey,” a voice says from beside me, interrupting my spying.

“Blake.” I smile as he kisses my cheek. “Hi.”

Blake looks like he just stepped off a GQ magazine shoot: tall, with sandy hair and shoulders for miles. How are these men all friends?

“This is Sienna and Mikayla.” He introduces me to two beautiful women who are standing beside him. One has long blonde hair and is wearing a strapless tight black dress. She’s absolutely beautiful. The other one has long dark hair and is voluptuous and curvy. She looks like she walked straight out of Pornhub. Fuck . . . so hot that I almost want to do her.

“Hi.” They each shake my hand with a smile.

“Hi,” I squeak.

Did he bring these girls with him, or did they just run into each other? I need all the intel for Chloe.

A familiar voice sounds. “Hello, Juliet.” I glance over to see Antony.

“Hi.”

He smiles and stands his ground. Antony is shyer than the other boys. Dark hair and handsome European features, and he has the most beautiful smile.

“This is Rena.” He introduces me to a beautiful girl with dark curly hair.

“Hello.” I smile.

“Hi.”

“Do you want a drink?” he asks her as he puts his hand on her behind.

Okay, they are definitely together.

She says something to him that I can’t hear, and then he kisses her quickly before heading to the bar. I watch him disappear to the bar. Henley catches sight of him and laughs as he says something.

“This place is pumping,” Mason says from beside me.

Ugh . . . please, go away. I really don’t have the mental energy to play along tonight. “It is.” I smile. I glance over to see Blake kiss the blonde girl while he’s holding the brunette’s hand; he then turns and kisses her.

What the fuck?

They share him.

Oh hell, now I’ve seen it all.

Blake heads to the bar, too, and I watch him chat with Henley and Antony. He says something, and they all burst out laughing. What the fuck are they talking about?

How great it is to have a menu selection of combination vagina?

Ugh, seeing Blake with those two girls boils my blood.

Fucking men are all dickheads.

“We should totally dance.” Mason smiles sexily.

“Or not,” I reply as I take out my phone. I have to call Chloe. “I’ve got to take this.” I hold my finger up to Mason as I walk toward the doors to find a quieter place to talk.

“Hi,” Chloe answers happily.

“Oh my fucking god,” I whisper in a rush. “Blake Grayson is here with two women.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was kissing one while holding the other one’s hand, and then he started kissing her too.”

“What the fuck? He’s a gangbanger?”

“Looks like it.”

“What’s happening?” I hear someone say in the background of Chloe’s phone.

“Blake is tag teaming two women tonight, and I officially hate all men.”

“Who’s that?” I ask.

“I’m with Rebecca. We are in the drive-through at McDonald’s.”

“Where’s John?”

“One guess,” Chloe mutters dryly. “Working late.”

“I’m so off him.” I roll my eyes. All men are legitimate assholes this weekend. “Henley is being a dick, too, and Mason keeps trying to talk to me because he thinks we are on a date. This is one big fucking disaster.”

“What’s Taryn doing?”

“Looking fucking hot,” I snap.

“Taryn’s looking hot,” Chloe tells Rebecca.

“Of course she is,” Rebecca replies.

“Ugh, I have to go.”

“Are you sure Blake is with the both of them? Maybe one is just his girlfriend’s friend or something.”

I glance back over to the group to see Blake hand the blonde the drink with a kiss and then hand the brunette her drink with a kiss too. While he’s kissing the brunette, his hand slides up the blonde’s leg and beneath her short dress as she sits on the stool.

“Nope, he’s fucking them both for certain.” I puff air into my cheeks. “And they are so hot. What are they thinking? Un-fucking-believable.”

“Ugh . . . damn it,” Chloe snaps. “I hate that he has enough cock for two women.”

I roll my eyes.

“Call me back. I need updates.”

“Okay.” I hang up and go to the bathroom and try to calm myself down, and then I make my way back over to the group. Without making eye contact, Henley passes me a drink and goes back straight to talking to Antony. “Thanks.” I fake a smile to the back of his head.

Dickhead.

Damn it, Blake Grayson and his bimbo harem have rattled me. I’m suddenly feeling very naive and inexperienced. I thought he was a nice, respectable, kind doctor. Apparently not.

He’s a porn star with a double-shot cock.

Stop it.

Just because this night is different does not mean there are problems with Henley and me.

We are fine.

He’s different, an annoying little voice from my unconscious whispers.

He is different today. I can’t deny it, but . . . ugh, perhaps it’s just because things are going so great between us. Try not to overthink this.

His words from earlier come back to haunt me. Am I acting weird, or are you acting clingy?

Maybe I am being super clingy. I do feel very unhinged today, and I am hormonal.

It’s fine. Everything is fine.

Blake can fuck whoever he wants, and if they want to share his dirty dick, more fool them.

I can’t let it get to me.

Over the next hour I stand back as a spectator and let the night run its course.

Henley is being his swoony playful self to everyone but me. In fact, he hasn’t even looked my way.

I’m not imagining it. Something is going on.

The music is pumping loud now. You can hardly hear over it. “Dance with me,” Mason says as he puts his arm around me. I edge out of his grip.

“I’m not in the mood tonight,” I call. I’m not even lying. I am so not in the mood to dance. In fact, I think I’m going to go home. Being alone in my bed is much better than being alone here.

Mason looks over to Henley. “She won’t dance with me.”

“Dance with him, Taryn,” Henley calls over the loud music.

Taryn, who is well on her way to Drunkville, holds her hands up in the air and sashays. “Let’s go, baby.”

I sip my drink and look out over the dance floor.

“You should go and dance with him,” Henley says as he comes to stand beside me.

“I don’t want to dance with him, Henley,” I mutter into my drink. “You know this.”

“Why not?”

I frown over at him. “I think you know why.”

“Because of our arrangement?”

I sip my drink.

“I’ve been thinking about that.”

My skin bristles.