“Thank you for coming. It means everything to me,” Jamie said, beaming.
“Well, Sammi threatened to take a switch to my ass.” Cory laughed.
Priyanka narrowed her big, amber eyes and smiled. “That’s because you deserve it.”
“Yeah, but Ilikeit when you do it,” Cory countered, quickly pecking Priyanka’s sculpted cheek.
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” she said through an infectious giggle.
Jamie squeezed Priyanka’s shoulder and playfully swatted Cory on the head. He tickled Mia’s belly. She gurgled gleefully, outstretching her teeny arms so Jamie could scoop her up.
The three friends caught up on Jamie’s album, upcoming tour, and the incoming freshman sure to be the next great University of Tennessee quarterback. Eventually, Cory and Priyanka said their good-byes, taking Mia inside the air-conditioned main house.
Thankfully, Jamie still hadn’t seen Kendall, who he needed like a bad case of jock itch. If it happened, he’d deal with that too. For now, he was alone.
There was no sign of Brinton. He shouldn’t have been worried, but he was eager to see her. Hopefully, she’d let him run his hands through her braids again later, which, good Lord, made him hotter than tailgate asphalt.
Jamie smiled at the thought and pulled out his phone to text her when she appeared on the path leading to the shoreside bar as Kacey Musgraves’s “High Horse” blared.
She practically glowed in her orange mini-dress. The ruffled hem barely skimmed the top of those lush thighs he loved so much. She had piled her braids in a high bun, and her dark sunglasses made her look quietly commanding. Sexy and mysterious. Brinton trotted toward Sammi, who squeezed her then got her acquainted with a boisterous group at the bar.
Today was definitely looking up.
“We need drinks,”Sammi screeched, hooking one arm around Brinton’s waist and raising the other to the sky. “Let’s tie one on.”
Brinton recognized Sammi’s date, Man-Bun from the Skylight, who nodded and smiled before leaning across the bar to order. She’d been at this party for two minutes and already knew it would be miles apart from the cookout on her first night. That was decidedly Jamie Crawford Sr.’s crowd.
This party, however, was Jamie Jr. to a T. String bikini–clad girls balanced on the sturdy shoulders of men ripped from an Abercrombie & Fitch ad. There was an impeccable yet unexpected soundtrack of hip-hop and contemporary country music. The vibe encapsulated Iris’s young eliteletting their hair down, free from the watchful eyes of their conservative elders.
A few moments later, Man-Bun, whom Brinton later learned to call Rhett, returned with three icy mason jars of what looked like lemonade.
Brinton took a whiff. The telltale bite of whiskey, lemon, ginger, and honey was a suplex to her senses.
“It’s called a Tennessee Beesting.” Sammi beamed. “Something Jamie requested. Kinda cute, huh?”
It was really fucking cute. Another secret they got to share.
Brinton clinked glasses with her new friends. They tipped their jars back, then hooted together as the saccharine burn singed their throats.
Sammi flipped her chestnut mane over her shoulder and hugged Brinton again. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too. I’m trying to take some repeated advice to live a little. And I really like Iris.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Sammi demurely rested a hand on Rhett’s bulging bicep. “Honey, would you mind fixin’ me a slider?”
“Sure, baby,” he said, moon-eyed as he softly kissed her cheek. “How about you, Brinton?”
She shook her head. Sammi waited until Rhett was out of earshot. Her effervescent smile slipped into a saucy smirk. “So listen, you and me. We’re friends, right?”
“Yeah, absolutely.”
“Then we need to get serious. What the hell is going on between you and Jamie?”
Suddenly, Brinton’s throat felt entombed in dust. She took an avoidant gulp from her glass. Of course she was thrilled to bask in the newness of her relationship with Jamie, but what made it so good was that it wastheirs. For now, at least. And she wanted to keep it that way.
Sammi wasn’t buying it and narrowed her feline green eyes. “Mmm-hmm, that’s what I thought,” she said, hands perched on her hips.
Brinton cut her eyes back to the lake, where a petite blonde had lost her round of chicken-fight, landing with a resounding splash. She wished they could trade places right about now.
