Page 36 of I Choose You

Nope. She’d been tipsy and silly. Flirty, too, but I wasn’t confused and thinking she was leading me on.

Now if she was apologizing because she assumed I’d wanted more than just a dinner and she’d gotten too drunk to see that through, that was on her imagination, not mine.

Kaden: You’re ok.

She replied with a phew GIF.

Brooke: I’m heading to a concert at a local bar tonight. My friend is playing. Would you like to join me?

“What the hell are you doing?” Kody asked.

His question jarred me, and I realized too late that I’d been smiling the whole time.

“Who is she?”

I shook my head. Mentioning Brooke to Kody was something I wasn’t sure how to handle yet. I wouldn’t hide it. I didn’t care if he knew I’d gone to dinner with her. He was already aware we were speaking for that deal with Halden Inc. But considering a reply for Kody put me on the spot.

We’d had dinner. We were working together. But her inviting me to a concert didn’t fall in the category of a shared meal or a contract meeting.

What do you want, Brooke?

I wanted to find out.

Kaden: Sure, that’d be fun.

She was quick to fire back a reply.

Brooke: Trust me, I won’t have any cocktails this time.

Kaden: No worries, you’re a cute drunk.

I deleted it.

Kaden: Send me the details and I’ll see you there.

“You’re not going to say anything?” Kody pressed.

I set my phone down, feeling it buzz with what I assumed was Brooke’s reply. I’d look later when my twin wouldn’t give me shit about smiling so much.

“Nope.” I grinned wide, enjoying a chance to annoy him.

Some things would never change.

A few hours later, I entered the bar Brooke had given me directions to. I’d never been here before, and the exterior didn’t suggest that it was a bar. Fleetingly, I worried if she’d played a trick on me, suggesting we meet up then ghosting me again. I had no grounds to stress about it. She’d shown up last night. And she was here, too.

“Is this seat taken?” I asked as I approached her at the bar.

By concert, she meant a pair of girls eking out a decent blues cover. And by local bar, she’d meant a hole-in-the-wall. Neither detail mattered. All I cared about was that she was here.

“That’s your pickup line?” She turned to arch one brow at me.

“Wasn’t sure I had to use one.” Being confused didn’t suit me, but wording it like that seemed like too much of a question. Like I expected her to label what we were doing here. When she didn’t immediately answer, furrowing her brow, I smiled.

“I had fun last night.”

She groaned, lowering her head to lightly hit her forehead on the bar top.

I chuckled. “Really. I mean it.”