“Good to see all of you,” Zane said, doing everything possible to avoid eye contact with me. “See ya later.”
“Bye,” I spouted, grinning from ear to ear as the word slipped out.
I knew Maggie would be waiting for a debrief, but my body’s automatic response was to turn around and hug Stetson.
“Thank you,” I whispered, my lips light as a feather on his ear.
He whispered back, “Don’t. I would do anything to show you your worth.”
The butterflies were amped, rattling against my rib cage.
“Bathroom. Now,” Maggie demanded as she pulled my arm in her direction.
“We’ll be back,” I shouted while I was being dragged away.
“Girlfriend?” She shut the bathroom door behind us and crossed her arms. “I’m confused. How did we get from your earlier spiral to now?”
“It’s a long story, but basically, he’s just pretending. We’re pretending for the night. He’s doing me a favor because of Zane,” I reassured her.
Her eyebrow perked up. “Nothing that man is doing could be defined as pretending. You know that, right?”
“It absolutely could be,” I said, pulling out my lip-gloss. “He’s just putting on a show,” I argued, but I wasn’t so sure anymore.
I dabbed at the corner of my mouth, running my finger along the outline of my lips.
“You keep tellin’ yourself that, but me and everyone else in the bar, including your ex-fiancé, would beg to differ.”
“Whatever it is, it was worth it to see the look on Zane’s face.”
“That we can absolutely agree on,” she said. “He sucks.”
We broke into a fit of giggles, the laughter filling the space in the tiny bathroom and echoing around us.
“Let’s go, I’m sure we’re holding up the line,” I said.
She glanced in my direction. “You sure the line is what you’re worried about? Or is it that you just can’t wait to get back to your”—she threw up air quotes—“pretend boyfriend?”
My hand flew to her arm, playfully smacking the back of it.
“Come on,” I demanded, yanking her back out into the bar.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“What are we thinking?” I asked.
“I’m thinkin’ I haven’t gotten to dance with you yet…” Stetson’s low grumble rumbled through me. “And I’m pretty sure you still owe me one from Booker’s party.”
“Sounds like you two need to hit the dance floor,” Booker chimed in, and looked around at the bar that was beginning to empty out. “I think Maggie and I are probably gonna call it a night and head back to my place. You two are more than welcome to join, but I don’t know how late we plan on stayin’ up.”
I peered at Maggie and saw a permanent smile tattooed on her face. I knew that look, and I wouldn’t dare interfere with it.
“No, you guys go ahead,” I said. “Stetson, can you give me a ride home?”
“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t?” he asked.
“All right, you two go get that dance in. We’ll close out the tab and see you later,” Maggie said, pulling me into a hug.
“I already covered the tab. It’s the least I can do after one hell of a night,” Stetson butted in.
