“Exactly,” Sutton says, and her sister lets out a loud laugh before shaking her head and turning to me, probably to continue this miserable conversation. I open my mouth to try and end it once and for all, but before I can, Claire speaks.
“Oh my god,” she whispers. I follow her gaze to the front door of the bar and see a familiar form filling the doorway, an apprehensive look on his face as he scans the room before him.
Graham.
Graham is here.
And for once, he’s not in completely formal work closed, instead swapping out his button-down and dress pants for a white tee and a pair of tan shorts.
He still looks out of place here, but also not, with his scruff and his hair a bit more mussed than normal, as if his hands have been going through it over and over. Somehow the tee makes his shoulders look even broader, and his shorts show off his thick calves, dusted with dark hair. I suddenly wish he were wearing the kind of slutty inseam shorts Miles favors, because even if I’ve told myself otherwise, I’ve been dying to see them again. The way his dress pants hug them is a complete and total tease.
And while I love forearm porn, I am a completewhorefor a man’s thigh.
“Oh mygod,”Lainey says, eyes wide.
“Please tell me that’s him,” Claire murmurs, and I lift my hand, smiling at him as he scans the room.
“Yes. Don’t be weird,” I say through my smile.
“Oh, June. You have to fuck him again,” Claire says, nearly whining. “That’s such a wasted opportunity.” I give her a hard glare, all joking melting off my face and replaced with panic as I point at her.
“Do not. None of that. He is my boss, and I know we like to be silly, but he is myboss. Do not make this weird, Claire,” I say through gritted teeth. Her eyes are wide, and Lainey bites her lip to fight back a laugh. “Promise me.”
“I promise,” she says, lifting her hands, lifting her hands in deference.
“You too,” I say, turning to Sutton. I don’t bother to ask Lainey, since I know she will behave. It’s the Donovan sisters I have to worry about.
“Okay, okay, I promise, I won’t make it weird.” Relief moves through me. “Tonight,” she adds.
Graham is almost to us, and I don’t have the energy or time to continue to argue with her, so I just roll my eyes and shrug before turning to Graham, excitement and irritation playing in my nerves as I slide off the stool.
“Graham! You’re here! I didn’t think you’d actually come.” I stand before him awkwardly, unsure of how to greet him. I’m a hugger, but I’m not sure if that’s appropriate, and honestly, I don’t know if more contact is the best idea.
“You told me to,” he says, looking around.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here.”
The guys are moving toward us, Grant and Decker probably recognizing him. Hopefully, that will make the girls behave a bit as well. “Let me introduce you to everyone!” I say, clapping as a new wave of excitement rolls through me. “Oh, this is so fun! My work friend is meeting my life friends!
“I think that is against every aspect of work-life balance,” Graham mutters.
“Work-life balance is only needed if you have both of them. You don’t have a life, so you don’t need the balance,” I say.
Sutton lets out a loud laugh, and for a moment, I panic that I may have gone too far, but then the edges of his lips tip up, telling me Iprobablywon’t be fired Monday. I decide to move along with introductions to be safe. “You know Grant and Decker, because they’ve been working around Daytrip.”
“Hey, man, sorry about the permitting drama. Glad to hear it got ironed out,” Grant says, shaking Graham’s hand, then pulling him in to pat his back. I have to bite back a laugh when I see how uncomfortable and unsure Graham is with the common greeting.
“You know Sutton, and this is her sister and one of my best friends, Claire,” I say, and Claire gives him a well-behaved little wave. “And this is my other best friend, Lainey. Her dad owns the bar.”
“How’s it going? What are you having?” Lainey asks. Graham looks uncomfortable.
“Oh, I don’t know if?—”
‘You have to have a drink, Graham,” Sutton says. “Or I’ll tell Rowan you have no life, and he’ll go all Annette on you, locking you out of the system on the weekends.” I look at them both with furrowed brows.
“Is that… is that a real threat?” I ask because Graham looks both deeply annoyed and a bit nervous. Sutton nods.
“Rowan is a workaholic. Or was, maybe? He met Josie—oh my god, June, you’d love her, she’s so cool and the biggest badass. She’s like, an undercover spy,” Sutton says.
