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“We didn’t order these,” I told her with a frown.
“That’s why I mentioned the admirer.” She nodded her head toward where Oliver and Stone sat with a pitcher of beer between them. “From Oliver. He says—and I’m just quotin’ him here, mind you—this ought to loosen you up a bit.”
“Thank you, Tonya.” Oliver thought he was so funny and so clever, and he was. But so was I. “I have an order to send back,” I told her with a wide, devious grin.
Two could play this game.Oliver“What were you thinking, man?” Stone sat beside me, shaking his head with an amused smile on his face.
I sat in a spot that gave me a perfect view of Eva Vargas and her beautiful, sexy scowl. It was the only thing I was thinking about, as I stared at her. She was angry as hell, even angrier than I had imagined she would be, and still, I wasn’t sorry about any of it. The woman was absolute gold when she was all riled up the way she was. I couldn’t help but smile.
“I wasn’t, honestly. But I didn’t think she’d get quite so hysterical about it.” It was another vote against having a relationship. Women were unpredictable, prone to screaming or crying over every little thing. Who needed that kind of drama in their already uncomplicated lives?
Stone’s brown eyes went as wide as saucers. “Hysterical? You called her entire industry a sham and then you accused her company, by name, of fraud. Did you think she would send you a cookie basket minus the cyanide?” He shook his head, genuinely shocked. “That’s cold, man. Even for you.”
I blinked, surprised by his words and the effect they had on me. “Even for me?” I had my flaws, but I didn’t go out of my way to cause anyone harm. At least, I didn’t think so.
“Sure.” He nodded and leaned back in his seat, gaze drifting over to Sophie every once in a while. Not so that it was noticeable, but if you knew to look for it, you could spot the looks every time. “You do all kinds of things to get a rise out of Eva. We used to think it was because you liked her, in the third-grade kind of way. I mean, she’s gorgeous and curvy, and driven as hell. Of course you like her. But what you did today, well, that makes things pretty damn clear. For everyone.”
Clear? “Well, none of this is clear to me.”
Stone laughed and nodded to the table Eva occupied with her posse of four. “Guys kept their distance because they thought you were… staking your claim. Since that podcast makes it clear you aren’t, it’s open season.”
Open season. On Eva. I looked up and, sure enough, she was flirting with Billy the firefighter. “I thought she came from a cop family. Isn’t her cousin a deputy over in Tulip?”
Stone quirked a brow. “How would I know?”
Good point. I shrugged. “I thought everyone knew, especially you since Sophie’s family basically owns that town.”
He shrugged. “She’s not close with her family, except her cousin Preston. He’s normal, apparently.”
“Can people that rich actually be normal?” I’d yet to meet anyone with even a little bit of money who wasn’t weird as hell.
“Sophie’s normal.”
“Mostly. Turning your back on that kind of money isn’t exactly normal.”
Stone shrugged again. “She’s normal to me.”
“Normal isn’t the word you’re looking for,” I mumbled under my breath and turned another glance toward Eva, now surrounded by about half a dozen firefighters.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” I said just as Tonya made her way over with a tray neither of us had ordered. “We didn’t order anything.”
“Of course you didn’t, silly. These are from Eva. Sex on the Beach,” she said in her thick Texas drawl. “Overrated, messy, over too soon, and you need a lot of booze just to make it to the end. Much like a night with you, she said.” After delivering Eva’s message, Tonya flashed a cutesy smile and walked away, swinging her hips to let me know there were no hard feelings.
Stone laughed his fool head off. “Damn, she is such a firecracker.”
“Sounds like you’re the one who likes her.”
“Of course I like Eva. What’s not to like?”
Exactly. “Then why aren’t you over there?”
Stone stared at me. “Because I know that you’re just an idiot, and when you come to your senses, I won’t be the guy who stole your girl.” To prove his point, Stone took one of the shots and turned toward the table where the women sat, raising the glass in the air. “Cheers, ladies!”
“Cheers!” They all shouted back in unison, a smile for Stone and a glare for me. Even from Tara.
“Damn, she’s really mad,” Stone said when he caught sight of the hate-filled scowl Eva sent my way.
