"I...um...I..." Sara couldn't get her mouth to work properly. She was so stunned. But she wasn't really embarrassed. Though she felt like she should be.

Sara shook her head to clear it. But that only made her eyes spin more.

Ella poked Sara in the side.

Sara let out a shrill shriek of laughter.

Ella clapped her hands beside Sara, laughing out loud. "Oh myyyyy gawwwd, Sara. You're amaaaaazing!" Ella appeared to be on the verge of passing out. She took the bottle from Trish and dumped the last of the liquid down her throat. She let the empty bottle drop down into the sand.

"So, Saaaaaara. I have a stoooooory to tell you." Ella hiccupped. "Trish and I found the coooolest hair salon at the new mall on Orchard Street. Have you been? The greeeeeeeatest everrrr!" Her words began to slur.

"The oooooowner, Doug or something, said he is taking on neeeeew clients. First time color highlights are half off! Only four hundred bucks. You shoooooould totally cooooome with uuuuuus."

Then Ella closed her eyes and her chin fell onto her chest.

"EL-LA! ELLLL-LAAAA!" Sara called. She made a half-hearted attempt to kick Ella. But the girl was out cold.

Trish was now having a very drunk conversation with someone on her cellphone. Her tiny, pointed face was all pinched and angry. It sounded like she was arguing about a tape dispenser. But clearly that wasn't it. Sara's mind seemed to have everything confused.

Now bored, she rolled her head sideways to look up at Bentley.

His buttery brown eyes stared fixedly at her.

"Helloooo thurrrrr. I almost sort of, kind of, forgot about youuuuuu." She twisted around on his lap so that her face was closer to his. Not that she did that intentionally. She would never! "I can see the fire reflected in your glassy chocolate eyeballs," Sara told him. She snorted, and covered her nose and mouth with her hands.

Bentley's tight expression relaxed into a lazy, sexy grin. He glanced at Ella, sound asleep, before his eyes rested back on Sara's face. "You're plastered," he said.

Her body tensed as she felt his hands slide slowly under her. One of his fingers began to stroke the bare skin of her back. His other hand pulled up the strap of her silk top.

"You're a lightweight. You should monitor how much you drink. And keep your clothes on." His lips barely brushed the tip of her ear. He kept his voice whisper quiet.

She shivered on his lap. When she let her head drop back to gaze up at him, she immediately sucked in her breath.

Desire burned in his eyes.

"You like me," she blurted. "I can see it in your big, fat face."

His expression darkened. "You don't know anything," he muttered, looking away.