Even now, watching as they crossed the bar, his gaze settled on her.
Not Lark.
Her.
She couldn’t help but wonder what that could mean.
“Here comes trouble,” Grayson teased. “Both the McCoy twins in the same place at the same time.”
Everett chuckled. “You two look sober.”
“We just got here,” Lark exclaimed, taking the seat between Everett and Remi, leaving her the one next to Grayson.
She loved her sister. She truly did.
But sometimes…she wanted to murder her.
Grayson raised his hand, calling the waitress over. “Two more glasses and another pitcher.” He looked at Wren. “Unless you’d prefer something different? They stock Lightning in a Bottle wine here as well as the Rain or Shine IPA.”
“Beer is fine,” Wren said, fully aware she wasn’t going to take more than a few sips of anything. She would need to keep her wits about her because—given the way Lark had already snatched Remi’s glass, stealing a long drink—she’d need them.
“Thought you were going to Kasi’s,” Lark said to Remi, which was why her sister had dragged her out. She’d claimed now that she was single again, she needed a wingman. Wren wasn’t sure what the hell Lark thought she could do that would help her meet a new guy, but her sister hadn’t been entertaining any refusals.
“I was,” Remi said, “but her dad took a tumble this afternoon.”
“Oh no,” Lark exclaimed. “Is he okay?”
Remi nodded. “Yep. Needed a few stitches in his forehead. But you know Kasi. She’s a mother hen when it comes to her dad and brother, so her plan for tonight is to sit with him and make sure he’s okay. So, I convinced this motley crew to come out with me,” she said, gesturing to her relatives.
Wren stared at Remi as she spoke, working hard to keep her gaze away from Grayson. Not that he was returning the favor. Even through her peripheral vision, she could feel his eyes lingering on her face. Or maybe she was just imagining that.
Honestly, she couldn’t trust her judgment where Grayson was concerned. For one thing, her experience with relationships was basically nil. She didn’t consider her two failed attempts anywhere close to real relationships. For another, her wishful thinking had taken flight with this guy, so far up into the stratosphere, she was practically an astronaut.
“What brings you out tonight?” Grayson asked quietly, as Remi and Lark entertained Nora and Everett with some nightmare story about the disgusting state one of the cabin rentals after a wild bachelor party this past weekend.
“Lark twisted my arm. I’ve never been to Whiskey Abbey,” she replied.
Grayson’s brows rose in surprise. “Seriously?”
Wren lifted one shoulder. “I turned twenty-one while at college, so I did the requisite drunken celebration in Radford.” Not in a bar but in her equally shy girlfriend’s apartment. The two of them had split two bottles of wine with her other roommate, while watching Magic Mike.
“Yeah, but haven’t you been home for over a year now?” he asked.
She was sorry to have started this conversation. She wasn’t going to come out of it looking great. She took the term homebody to new extremes.
“I’m not much for the bar scene,” she said, trying to brush it off as no big deal, despite her burning cheeks.
Grayson mercifully nodded, as if he understood. “Neither am I. Prefer quiet nights at home to this meat market.”
“Me too.”
“And yet we both let our families drag us out on a damn Wednesday night.”
She laughed. “You could have said no.”
“So could you,” he retorted.
Wren gave him an “are you serious” look. “Have you met my sister? I dare you to say no to her.”
