For fuck’s sake, even the happy-go-lucky bartender is trying to wingman me. I’m not helpless. Just rusty.
With a chin nod, I turn away from him and walk a few feet from the bar with Chloe. I raise the glass toward the woman who’s making me forget how stressed I am about the endless list of things I need to get done.Tomorrow.I’ll think about them tomorrow.
“To absolutely ridiculous parties,” I say, holding her gaze.
She clinks her glass to mine. “It’s notthatridiculous.”
“It’s pretty ridiculous, Chloe,” I say, gesturing to the band that’s now playing “Hound Dog.” “The playlist alone is.”
She motions me closer. “I have to tell you something.”
Since she’s beckoning me, I’m betting I’ll like what she has to say. Just an educated guess. “What is it?” I ask as I inch nearer to her.
She cups her handthisclose to my ear, and holy fuck—a shiver runs down my spine. When was the last time I felt a hot shiver? Can’t recall, but it knocks a few brain cells loose as soft tendrils of her hair swish across my shoulder, and she whispers, “The party’s not for the dog.”
I feign shock. “It’s not? Tell me then. Tell me who it’s for.”
She pulls back, rolling her eyes. “It’s for people who want to be ridiculous. And maybe ridiculous isn’t a bad thing,” she says as she lifts the glass to her lips.
“Maybe,” I say, but I’m not sold. Silly isn’t good in my line of work. Serious is. Determined is even better. I knock back some of the drink and… “Holy shit. That’s sweet,” I say, wincing at the explosion of syrupy liquor.
“Maybe that’s not a bad thing either. Maybe you needed a sweet drink today.”
I’m sensing a theme with her. “You’re really a glass-half-full person, aren’t you?”
“I’m guessing you’re not? I noticed your scowl from a mile away.”
“You noticed me?” I say with a quirk in my lips. Flirting is like riding a bike, it seems, since I’m getting my groove back real fast.
“Hard not to. You’ve got that whole brooding-guy-at-the-bar energy. Like, you’re so over everything. Made me want to prove you’re not.”
“And how’s it going? Your proof?”
With a pleased look, she lifts the glass before she whispers over the rim, “Ask me later,” then takes another sip.
“I will,” I say as I let my gaze travel down her frame, then return to those captivating eyes. Hazel. Pretty sure they’re hazel, with flecks of green. “Later definitely sounds good.”
Her smile fades and for a quiet moment the air crackles between us, like we’re both thinking oflater. The only question is how we’ll get there.
She nods to the small lake, where a black Lab is splashing into the water, in hot pursuit of a Frisbee. With a glint in her eyes, she says, “Want to do something really ridiculous?”
Like take you to my room and do bad things to you?“Depends on whether that means we’re about to make our great escape or not.”
“Sawyer,” she says admonishingly. “Not until we play a partygame.” She tips her chin toward the water. “Let’s go throw tennis balls to the dogs.”
This was definitely not what I’d expected tonight, but when in Rome. I double back to the bar, set down my empty glass, then reach for hers. Our fingers brush as I take it, and a spark the likes of which I haven’t felt in ages ignites in my chest.
After I put down her glass on the bar too, we head to the lake as a guy with a camera calls out, “Hey! Group photo by the treat table in five!” but I barely hear him—my attention is on Chloe.
When we reach the small dock, Chloe sets down her pink purse thingy on the railing as a boisterous Border Collie charges past me, parks his furry butt on the edge of the dock, then thumps his tail. The blue-eyed, black-and-white dog stares intensely at me as someone else barks loudly behind us. Several someones, to be precise, but that’s been the background noise all night long.
“All right, buddy. Let’s see what you can do,” I say to the pooch.
I grab a tennis ball, cock my arm, and chuck the ball into the lake. The Border Collie flies off the dock with a loud splash, and Chloe laughs.
Her amusement is muffled seconds later by a loud bark that grows deafening as a lumbering smoke-gray Mastiff barrels down the short dock, chasing the tennis ball too. He smashes into Chloe’s legs as he hurls himself into the water.
Knocking Chloe in right after him.
