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gotta get on home. It was nice meeting you, Marisa. Alex … I’ll see you Friday night.”
    I couldn’t help myself; I had to throw that last dig out just to see if she’d catch it. By the look of irritation on her face, I’d say she did and is currently trying to figure out why the hell he’s going to be seeing me on Friday night.
    As I walk around the hood of my car, I can tell she’s whispering something to him, but when he answers her back, I can hear it clear as a bell. “I’ll tell you later, Marisa.”
    Throwing my jumbo purse haphazardly onto the passenger seat before slamming the door, I shoot one last glance over at Alex, who is trying to steer Marisa toward the party. He runs his hand through his dirty blond hair and then looks over his shoulder in my direction while sporting a devilish grin.
    Such a flirty bastard. Ugh … and I’m a total sucker for it every single time.
    Not more than five minutes into my drive home, my cell phone dings, alerting me of a text. While stopped at a red light, I fish it out of my purse and unlock the screen to see a new text from Alex.
    Payback’s a bitch, you know?
    I quickly shoot off a text back, playing it off like I’m clueless. I love this little cat-and-mouse game with him. It’s entirely too much fun. Not to mention that it takes my mind off of Aiden.
    Payback for what?
    Just as the light turns green, my phone beeps again with another text from him.
    You’ve been a bad girl, and I’m going to have to teach you a lesson.
    When I reach the next red light, I grab the phone and stare at the screen in a daze because that right there might have crossed into the point of no return. You don’t see me complaining, but I’m kind of surprised and not exactly sure how I should answer him. What the fuck does he mean, “teach me a lesson”? Is he going to put me across his knee and slap my ass with a ruler? Is it wrong that the thought of that has me so turned on right now that I want to turn my car around and climb his body like Mount Everest?
    My phone beeps again while in my hands with another text from Alex.
    Cat got your tongue?
    With my heart racing and my stomach doing a somersault, I type out an answer. Two can play this game.
    No, I’m just looking forward to it …
    My high is short-lived when he responds so quickly this time, it’s scary.
    I know you are ;)
    Well played, Mr. Holt, well played. For the first time in God knows how long, I’m left speechless. Now I’m just wondering what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.

CHAPTER FOUR
    S tanding before my full-length mirror, I take one last look at myself before heading to the Art Gallery. It’s taken me almost a whole hour just to decide on this dress. It’s a halter, fifties-pinup-style dress in a deep red, very reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe’s famous white subway dress. So the front dips down a little to show off some of the goods. My hair, which has taken me the better part of the afternoon to finish, is in waves and pinned to one side so that most of my bare back is exposed. I don’t even want to delve into why I’m all of a sudden so worried about how I look tonight. Okay, maybe I do. I’ll give you one guess. His name starts with the letter A .
    No, not him . I don’t even want to discuss or think too much about him … Aiden. Because as much as I hate to admit it, the guy has been in the back of my mind since I saw him a couple of nights ago, buzzing around like an annoying fly. And what gets me even more irritated is that the more I think about Aiden, the more I come up with better things I should have said to him when I had the chance the other night. Don’t you hate that? The best one-liners always come to you after you actually need them.
    Anyway, enough about Aiden since the other guy whose name starts with the letter A is the reason why it’s taken me this long to get ready.
    Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m so busted. I must be crazy, because first of all, there’s still that whole mess Alex