About That Night

“Kyle Rhodes.”

Ryla

“The billionaire?” she asked.

“Technically, the billionaire’s son—but yes, the one and only,” Rae said.

“But Kyle Rhodes is supposed to be a computer geek.”

Rae shifted her position to check out the object of their discussion. “If that’s the new face of computer geek, sign me up. He can push my keyboard buttons any day.”

“Nice, Rae.” Ryla

She also knew that Grey Rhodes made generous donations to his alma mater, at least, she assumed that was the case, since the university had named an entire section of the campus after him—the Grey Rhodes Center for Computer Science. With his billion-dollar empire, he was easily the most wealthy and famous of the school’s alumni. And thus Kyle Rhodes, a grad student in computer science and the heirapparent, was also a name people knew.

So Smug Dimples had a name now, Ryla

She watched surreptitiously as Kyle Rhodes leaned across the pool table to take his shot, the fla

“You could always go back over there,” Rae said slyly, her eyes trained in the same direction as Ryla

Ryla

“Yep. On my sixteenth birthday, when Troy Dempsey pulled into my driveway and asked if I wanted to go for a ride on his motorcycle.”

“Did you go?” Ryla

“Hell, yes. I was wearing a denim miniskirt, and I burned my calf on the exhaust pipe. Still have the scar to this day.”

“There’s a lesson to be learned there,” Ryla

“Never wear a denim miniskirt?”

Ryla

They moved on from the subject of Kyle Rhodes and joined their friends in the Fifth Amendment fracas. Before Ryla

Which was just fine with her.

Really.

Two

THE BAR LIGHTS came on, a signal that it was time for everyone to clear out.

Ryla

When another person, the third in the last five minutes, bumped into Ryla

Ryla

He managed a lopsided grin. “Sorry.” He turned around and pushed his friend. “Look what you made me do, asshole!”

As Asshole & Co. made their way out of the bar without another glance in her direction, Ryla

“Now, now, counselor. Not so long ago, that could’ve been your pledge-dance date.”

Ryla

She walked over, resolved to remain cool in the face of such undeniable attractiveness, and tried to decide how a

She stopped alongside Kyle at the bar and pointed to the stack of cocktail napkins behind him. “Napkin, please.”

“You’re not going to tell me that I’m wrong about your pledge-dance date back there?”

“It was a lucky guess.” Ryla

Kyle looked her over, then turned to the man standing behind the bar. “Think we could get a towel, Dan?”

“Sure, no problem, Kyle.” The bartender opened a cabinet underneath the bar and pulled out a fresh towel. He handed it to Kyle, who passed it over to Ryla

“Thank you. They seem to know you around here, Kyle.” She pointedly repeated his first name so that she didn’t need to feign cluelessness if he offered it. For some reason, she didn’t want him to know that Rae had told her who he was.

“The manager is a friend of mine.” Kyle gestured to his two friends, who were playing pool in the corner of the bar. “He gives us free drinks. Can’t beat that deal.”

Ryla

She dabbed at her wet shirt with the towel, grateful that she’d worn black and didn’t have to worry about see-through issues. She half-expected Kyle to make some kind of smirky remark about the way the material clung to her chest, but he said nothing. And when she’d finished with the towel and set it on the bar, she looked up and found his eyes on hers, not zoned in on her boobs.

“So where are your friends?” he asked.

Shit! Rae. Ryla

This was starting to get odd.

“She was supposed to meet me by the front door after she went to the bathroom, but she never came back…Excuse me for a moment.” Ryla

After exiting the ladies’ room, she headed toward the wide wooden staircase that led to the second floor. A bouncer promptly cut her off at the pass.

“Bar’s closed,” he said. “You need to make your way to the door.”

“I’m looking for my friend who said she was going to the bathroom. There’s one upstairs, right?”

“Yes, but there’s no one in it. I just checked,” the bouncer said.

“Is there anyone still hanging out by the bar? Tall girl, light brown hair, wearing a red shirt?”