“Are they being mean to you?”Aiden asks, glaring at Tara, who drops her hands immediately.
“No, not at all.”I force a laugh, which only makes them look guilty as hell.
“Only to stop her from crying,” Tara says.
“I was going to hug her,” Em interjects.“But Tara said I was going to make her cry more.”
“That’s true, it would have made me cry more.”I have to look around Aiden’s broad chest to meet her gaze.“I needed the name-calling and shoulder-shaking.”I glance back up at him.
Damn, he’s huge.
I swallow hard, my throat dry because now I’m thinking about my cat’s advice.
Live and learn and get laid.
Truly, two thoughts I never imagined would cross my mind, especially not back-to-back.
“Come on, food will make you feel better.”His brawny arm drapes across my shoulders and he tucks me into his body as he pulls me back to the table.
He smells yummy, and I attempt to take a discreet sniff.I have zero clue what it is he smells like, but it’s manly and cologne-y and vaguely reminds me of a lumberjack.
Then I make the mistake of looking back over my shoulder, at where Em is giving me two thumbs up.
Tara’s busy miming a blow job.
I whip back around and ignore the burn of embarrassment and amusement creeping up my neck.
“Food will probably help,” I agree, my voice faint.“So this is your place, huh?”
“Yeah, what do you think?”His expression turns serious and he looks around the bustling brewery like he’s seeing it for the first time.“It’s nothing fancy, you know, there’s always something we want to change, or do?—”
“I think it’s incredible,” I tell him honestly.“It’s a weeknight, and this place is packed.Plus, the bathroom was very clean.I know how seriously we both take that.”
That earns me a bark of loud laughter and he grins down at me, his eyes twinkling with humor.
It warms my chest, and my heart does a funny little flip.
A chair scrapes across the floor as he pulls it out for me and I sit down gingerly, hanging my now nearly empty purse on the back of it.Prudence immediately hops up into my lap, her whiskers twitching as she peers over the table.
“Cheese,” she says.
Who am I to deny the cat cheese?
I add a sampling of cheese to a plate as fast as I can, hoping no one says anything about the fact I have a cat in the bar.
Brewery.
Restaurant.
“Did you… bring your cat with you?”Aiden asks, mouth curving up into a smile.
“She wouldn’t stay home,” I say, scrunching up my nose.
“I’m not sure the health department would approve of that.I’m Jack, by the way, since Aiden is too rude to introduce me, and this is Ward.”
“We can call her an ah, emotional support cat.”Surely Prudence would help me magic up some paperwork to support that falsehood.“She’s hypoallergenic.Special breed.”I grimace, knowing damn well she’s not hypoallergenic.
“Is that right?”Aiden glances down at Prudence in my lap, scooching slightly closer to the table...and to me.“I could have sworn you found her yesterday.”
