Page 55 of About That Rule

“Duh,” Samantha said. “Why else would it take us an hour to get dressed and meet at a bar literally five minutes from my house?”

This was reason enough to have Nate scrambling out of bed to get in the shower with her.

It turned out they were almost thirty minutes late. Nate blamed Samantha. She got ready in nothing but her underwear, and it proved to be problematic. One round led to another, and…well, now they were late.

They joined Becca at a table where she sat, playing on her phone.

“Sorry we’re late,” Samantha begun with an apology as she sat down. “I lost track of time getting ready, and with Nate’s jet lag, I let him sleep.”

Becca looked them both over with some serious doubt in her eyes. She brushed them off being late with a wave of her hand. “You’re lucky all these soccer studs are here or I would have been utterly bored. I got a pitcher of Black Hammer, is that okay?”

“I haven’t had that in years,” Nate told her, sitting in an empty chair. “They don’t sell it in New York.”

“Speaking of New York,” Becca said with a wide grin. “You’re taking my girl away too much. I need my wingman back.”

It surprised Nate to hear Sammy in a wingman capacity still, but he reminded himself how they weren’t telling people about being together. To give her credit, she was the best wingman, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about her residing back into that role. He glanced at her, but she was all eyes on the television, watching her brother play. For as long as he could remember, she’d been his biggest fan.

“I’m still trying to figure out why she’s been visiting so much. I mean, you’re a good time and all, but it’s been so frequent lately. What, do you have someone with a magic dick out there for her?”

Becca was always to the point, albeit a bit crude, but it was something he liked about her.

He grinned while taking a sip of his beer. “Magic dick, huh? That’s something you’d have to ask her about.”

“Score!” Samantha yelled, clapping like a maniac over Noah making a goal. She turned and smiled at him. “Did you see that kick?”

“I missed it but promise to watch it on replay.”

Their eyes navigated to the television to watch the playback of Noah scoring. The crowd in the bar continued to boisterously cheer.

After the noise died down, Samantha eyed him and Becca. “What were you two gabbing about?”

“It seems Becca misses you as her wingman,” Nate responded with an arched eyebrow. He wasn’t a fan of Becca’s commentary, regardless of how true it may have been. But that was all past tense. He was hanging on the edge of his seat right now, waiting for Samantha to reassure him she wasn’t going back to her old ways. He was so ready for her to deny her wingman status, he even left out telling her the funny comment about his magic dick.

Talk about a cliffhanger.

Becca nodded. “Yes, you’ve been acting different lately. Perhaps this is because of your many visits to New York. I need you back to flirt mode when we go out. When are you coming back to bar hop and break hearts with me?”

“You’re so dramatic! I promise to hang out soon. In two weeks, we’ll be back on the prowl,” Samantha said with a wink.

“Fuck yeah!” Becca clapped as they both went back to watching Noah’s game since halftime was over.

It was not missed on Nate how Samantha said she was going back to her old life. It left a sour taste in his mouth, and his stomach dropped. All along, he was the one who’d been living in some fantasy world while Samantha was ready to pick up right where she’d left off. She’d even put an accurate time stamp on it.

Two weeks wasn’t some arbitrary number.

It was right after their marriage would be annulled.