Twisted. (Book Nine)

Thirteen: Seduction And Secrets.

Spencer stood at the back of the Kahns' smorgasbord line, eyeing the food spread. Some of this crap looked like cat vomit. And who in their right mind drank soured milk?

Two hands grabbed her shoulders. "Surprise," Zach Pennythistle said, waving an uncorked amber-colored bottle in her face. Inside was a greenish liquid that smelled like nail polish remover.

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "What is that?"

"Traditional Finnish schnapps." He poured a few slugs into two foam cups from the stack on the table. "I snuck it from the bar cart when no one was looking."

"Bad boy!" Spencer shook her finger at him. "Are you always so deviant?"

"It's why I'm the black sheep of my family," Zach teased, lowering his dark eyes at her, which made Spencer's insides whirl.

She was thrilled Zach had accepted the invitation to the smorgasbord party tonight. Ever since the dinner at The Goshen Inn on Sunday, she couldn't stop thinking of their fun, flirty banter. Even after they'd day down at the table with the rest of the family, they'd continued to shoot one another feisty looks and secret smiles.

They drifted through the living room and set up camp on the Kahns' stairs. The party was getting raucous, with a bunch of Rosewood Day kids Irish-jigging to the polka music in the Kahns' enormous living room and some of the adults already slurring their words. "I usually don't peg Harvard boys as the black sheep of their families," Spencer said to Zach, picking up their previous conversation.

Zach sat back, frowning. "Where'd you hear I was going to Harvard?"

Spencer blinked. "Your dad said so at dinner. Before I found you at the bar."

"Of course he did." Zach took a long drink of his schnapps. "To tell you the truth, I'm not entirely sure Harvard and I are a match made in heaven. I have my eye on either Berkeley or Columbia. Not that he knows that, of course."

Spencer raised her glass. "Well, here's to getting what you want."

Zach smiled. "I always get what I want," he said meaningfully, which sent more tingles up her spine. Something was going to happen between them tonight. Spencer could just feel it.

"Is that booze?" cried an outraged voice. Zach's sister, Amelia, emerged from around the corner with a plate full of food.

Spencer sighed and shut her eyes. Her mother had been thrilled that she'd invited Zach to the smorgasbord—it would be a good way for the two of them to get to know each other, she said. "In fact, why doesn't Amelia join you, too?" she'd chirped a millisecond later. Before Spencer could protest, Mrs. Hastings was on the phone with Nicholas, extending the invitation to Zach's pinched-faced sister.

Did Amelia even want to be here? A hideous scowl had settled over her features as soon as she'd stepped through the Kahns' door. When Mrs. Kahn put on a traditional Finnish folk dance song, Amelia had actually winced and covered her ears.

"Want some?" Zach pushed his cup toward Amelia. "It tastes like peppermint patties, your favorite!"

Amelia moved away, making a face. "No thanks." Her idea of party wear was a striped Brooks Brothers button-down tucked very tightly into a denim pencil skirt that fell to her knees. She looked exactly like Mrs. Ulster, Spencer's substitute Calc II teacher.

Amelia leaned against the banister and glowered at the Rosewood residents. "So are these people your friends?" She said friends like she might have said bedbug-infested mattresses.

Spencer surveyed the crowd. Most of the Rosewood Day senior class had been invited, as well as a smattering of the Kahns' society friends. "Well, they all go to my school."