“He’s right, Audrey’s legs are very glittery and eye-catching,” Vaughn agreed, but Tate gave him a dirty look.

“Don’t look at my woman.”

Holding up his hand, he grinned. “Promise. I don’t do married ladies.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Shea laughed and everyone nodded, holding up their beers. “So who’s going to King’s baby shower?”

Vaughn made a face while everyone grimly agreed, except for him. He hadn’t been invited.

Thank God.

“Heard there will be a keg and muddin’ out in the back field for while the ladies do baby shit,” Erik said, and Vaughn’s ears perked up. “So thank God for that.”

“Whoa, I want to go.” Suddenly this sounded like an event Vaughn would enjoy.

“You’re invited. The whole team is. Just bring a gift.”

“Oh. Okay, I’m down. I’ll even bring Jenny. He’ll hate it.”

Everyone laughed right as Jensen came up to the group. Making a face as though he had just eaten a sour candy, he asked, “What? What did he say?”

That just made everyone else laugh harder. Poor Jenny, always the butt of jokes. “We’re going to King’s baby shower.”

Jensen just blinked. “I’m a man.”

“I understand that, but we’re all going.”

“But we’re men.”

Shea nodded. “It will be horrible, nothing but pink and blue shit because they aren’t finding out what it is. And songs. I think they sing.”

“And talk about having babies.”

“And periods.”

“And sex with us,” Tate added.

Jensen’s eyes got bigger with every comment. “I need another shot.”

When he walked away, they all laughed from their guts, leaning into each other. As Shea’s laughter subsided, he asked, “How long until you tell him the truth?”

“I’m not!” Vaughn chuckled, and everyone continued to laugh some more. This was his favorite part of the party, just hanging with his buds. Add in the pretty ladies, most of whom he wouldn’t touch, and he was a happy camper. But he was really waiting to see Brie. He wasn’t sure where she was, but he hadn’t caught sight of her yet.

He hadn’t realized how much fun she was until it was just them and they weren’t clawing each other’s eyes out. She was funny, witty, and smart. While he knew she was overprotective of Rodney, he now understood why. Her life wasn’t easy by far, and he sort of felt bad for assuming so. He thought she was just a bitch because she could be. The thing was, she wasn’t even a bitch; she just wore a shell.

He knew all about wearing a shell.

His was thick as all get-out.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t wait to see her. He found himself looking around for her every few seconds. When he looked up and saw Elli coming toward him, he put a grin on his face as she came up beside him, placing her hand on his bicep. “You missed media.”

“On purpose,” he said, flashing her his winning grin. “I hate it.”

“I know, but everyone loves you.”

He nodded. “But I hate it.”

“You’re going to give me a headache.”

“No, that’s the alcohol,” he said with a wink, and she just shot him a deadpan look.

“You’re doing media on Monday.”

He groaned. “Do I have to?”

“Yes.”

“Ugh, okay, boss lady.”

“Also, I’m having a lunch for Brie in the next week or so. Her brother had to have surgery, and I want to feed her. You know how I am.” He crossed his arms, unsure if he should say that he knew about the surgery or not. If he did, Elli would want to know how. Since no one could know about NateWay, he kept his mouth shut as she went on. “So I want you to come. Maybe we can bury the hatchet between you two.”

He made a face. Should he play like he still hated Brie and get the free meal, or tell the truth? “I guess I’ll go if you’ll feed me.”

Hey, he loved food.

She lit up. “Thank you. It will be great, I swear.”

“Hey.”

Pausing, Elli turned to Shea. “What?”

“You look superhot.”

A smile curved her lips as she held his gaze. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Wanna go to the bathroom? I can so do you in the bathroom right now.”

She hooted with laughter, along with everyone else. “Okay, come on.”

As she walked away, everyone looked to Shea, stunned. He nodded. “That’s how it’s done, boys.”

He followed after his wife, and they watched. Then they all fell over laughing when, instead of going toward the bathroom, she took Shea to the stage to make the announcements for the night. As Vaughn stood there, listening to his boss and her husband explain how thankful they were for them, he felt a smile sitting on his lips. These people were his family, and he couldn’t be happier.

That was until, out of the corner of his eye, he saw, a very, very racy lady in gold.

He actually did a double take because he didn’t recognize her. She walked on extremely high black heels, and her legs were bare and shiny. But he didn’t stare at them for long before his eyes reached the spot on her upper thigh where the bottom of her gleaming gold dress rested. It fit her like a glove, tight in all the right places, long-sleeved, but hanging a bit off the shoulders. Her hair was down, bone straight, while her makeup was dramatic, dark and glittery, with her lips a deep red color that made her skin look like cream.

Cream he wanted to lick more than he wanted anything else in his whole entire life.

He felt himself growing in his pants, but thankfully, it wasn’t embarrassing yet. That was, until she turned, hugging one of the wives, and he saw that the dress was completely backless, all the way down to the top of her ass. It was easy to say he prayed that no one could see the stiffy he had going on through his gold suit. “Holy. Fuck.”

“What?”

Looking over, he found his buddy and made a face. “Do you see Brie?”

“Where? Whoa, she looks good.”

“Good? Fucking hot, dude.”

Jensen nodded. “To each their own. I’m more digging her.” He then pointed across the rink to where Wren was standing by herself, looking like she hated life. In a long-sleeved gold sweater with black sequined shorts and black tights, their best friend’s sister looked like a disco-bound Snow White. Her dark black hair was in curls along her shoulders, and she sported bright red lips. But more than that, she looked two seconds from blowing the party up.