She giggled. While she wasn’t paying attention, I glanced at her again out of the corner of my eye. She was petite like Tess, with honey blonde hair like Savannah, and green eyes like Claire. Pretty like my sisters, too, in a light pink sundress.
“They’re justsoloud,” she continued. “Like screaming banshees.”
I huffed a laugh. “Why do you think I’m over here hiding?”
Her gaze flicked over me, smirking. “You’ve got that whole mysterious bad boy vibe, so hiding tracks.”
I chuckled once. Apparently, all it took was some tattoos and keeping my mouth shut, and I suddenly had a label.
“Definitely don’t look like a dad, though,” she added with a flirty glint in her eyes. Her smile shifted from playful to suggestive. It was a nice smile. Beautiful, even. Yet it did nothing for me. But I wasn’t about to be rude and tell her to leave.
“I’m not.” I pointed to Luke. “I’m Luke’s uncle.”
She gasped, her hand landing on my arm. “So you’re Emmett! Tess told me all about you.”
I peered down at where her hand was still on my arm. “How do you know Tess?” Her touch was flat. Foreign. The opposite of Delilah’s, which always lit me up like a live wire. I backed away, searching for her. She was at the face-painting station, brush frozen on a girl’s cheek, her focus on me. On this woman flirting with me. I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking; her face was vacant of emotion.
“…support group in Copper Creek,” the woman beside me finished.
“Uh-huh.” I had no clue what she said, still focused on Delilah. She’d never looked at me with nothing in her eyes before. It confused me. Actually, pretty sure I hated it.
This woman kept talking, but I didn’t catch a word. I didn’t want to be beside her. I wanted to be next to the woman I was having no-strings sex with. And as confusing as that thought was, one thing was clear to me: I wasn’t interested in Tess’s friend.
I blinked quickly, looking down at her. “Look…” God, I had no clue what her name was.
“Callie.”
“Callie. I’m not sure what Tess told you about me, but I don’t date.” Her smile wilted a little. “I’m flattered, but I don’t want you thinking I’m available when I’m not.”
“No, I totally get it. I appreciate your honesty. That’s rare in guys these days.”
“Emmett!” Colt called from across the yard, and thank fucking God for it because I didn’t know how to wrap up this painful conversation.
“Duty calls.” I gestured to my friends. “Nice meeting you, Callie.”
She nodded with a tight smile. “Yeah, you too.”
I fled to Colt, who was with Beau, Levi, and a few other guys I didn’t know by the grill. “You couldn’t have done that like five minutes ago?”
He laughed, brown eyes sparkling with mischief. “Didn’t look like you needed saving to me.”
“You just might be the only single guy I know who gets pissy when he gets hit on,” Beau added, smirking into his beer.
“You know I don’t date.” They all knew it by now. But wasn’t that the whole point of sleeping with Delilah? So that I could? Could do anything with a woman without freaking out?
So why didn’t I want to? Callie was attractive and seemed nice. Before, that’s all it took. But now, I just kept thinking about the look on Delilah’s face when she saw us together. It fucked with my head, and not in a way I was used to. I wanted to go ask her what she was thinking.
“Yeah, well, maybe you should start,” Colt countered.
“Think all your brain cells got lost in that mustache,” I grumbled.
Beau and Levi snickered. Colt rolled his eyes. “Whatever, dickhead, you know I’m right.”
I didn’t respond, looking at Delilah, who’d gone back to face painting and making everyone around her fall in love.
We stood around the grill, making agonizing small talk, because that’s apparently what guys did at these kinds of parties. I was getting ready to leave when Calvin, a dad of one of Luke’s friends who happened to work with Colt, said, “Who isthat?”
I knew before I even looked in the direction he was pointing at that I’d find Delilah. She was in the bouncy house, jumping with Luke on her hip. Her laughter was loud. Her smile radiant. Her hair jostled around as she jumped, the sun making it look like it was glowing. Or maybe that was just her.
