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My chest floods with warmth and I grin down at her. Even on a Thursday night with no notice, she manages to outshine every other woman in this bar. She’s in a loose green sweater, her blond hair pulled back in a low ponytail, mid-sized silver hoops hanging from her ears.
Those earrings always throw me. I once heard her joking with Caro and Aly about them when both she and Aly had walked out of their rooms wearing hoop earrings.
“The bigger the hoop, the bigger the ho,” Caro had said.
Aly’s earrings were small and nearly cupped her earlobe. But Faye’s, while not massive, were large enough to spark laughter. She’d shrugged and my mind went straight to the gutter.
Even now, as she leans into me in the bar, playing pretend to save me from the redhead with the weird fingernails, I reach for her earrings and give a playful tug. Her cheeks flush a pretty pink.
“Hey yourself,” I say, coiling my arm around the curve of her waist and pulling her against me.
“Uh, we were in the middle of something,” the redhead says, looking somehow both annoyed and entitled.
I tuck a stray bit of hair behind Faye’s ear and lean in, kissing the tip of her nose. Her cheeks flush even brighter. I know it annoys her when I prolong this farce, but it’s so damn fun to make her squirm.
“We got a table,” Faye says, loud enough for the girl to hear, but only looking at me. “Unless you want to hang here?”
I shift on my stool and pull her between my legs, resting my hands on the small of her back. My hands fit perfectly there, and she presses her soft hands against my chest.
“I’m pretty happy here,” I say, running my fingers in little circles against her back.
“Um, weren’t you going to buy me a drink?” the redhead says, still not getting the hint. Faye and I both look at her.
“Did you buy her a drink, baby?” Faye asks, looking concerned. “She looks… thirsty.”
I bury my face into her neck to hide my laughter, and I feel her tense. I stroke my hand up her back as I inhale her honeysuckle and vanilla scent.
Fuck, she smells good.
And just like that, I need to get my shit together. She’s close enough that my dick could make this whole subterfuge awkward. Think of un-sexy things… Elmer’s Glue. Cottage cheese. Pasha’s lucky mouthguard.
The girl is practically growling. I lean in and press a kiss to Faye’s cheek, just in front of her ear. She tenses and I know I’m flirting with that boundary she set when we first met. It’s a fun line to toe, but I’d never cross it. She wants to be friends, we’ll be friends. It’s better than nothing. And to be clear, I’ve been a great friend to her. Sure, I jerk off to the thought of her more than afriendprobably should. But how could I not?
“Zeke?” Faye says, her voice softer.
I realize Brandi-with-an-I has left, and I’m still holding myfriendlike I’m going to take her into the back alley and fuck her bare.
Shit. Why do I think these thoughts? I let her go and try not to be too obvious as I adjust my jeans.
She leans over the bar and orders two double IPAs. God, this girl.
“You’re welcome,” she croons as she slides over a stool and sits next to me.
We both lean onto the bar as the bartender delivers our beers and we tap glasses before drinking the hoppy ale. I don’t drink during the season, but it’s clear she needs a friend, and if that’s all she’ll let me be, then I’ll nurse a beer and friend the fuck out of her.
“Talk,” I say.
She groans into her beer and shrugs.
“Same shit, different day,” she says, repeating what she told me earlier.
“Tell me about the shit.”
She takes another long pull on her drink. I catch the bartender’s attention and ask for an order ofqueso fundidoand some water while she fortifies herself.
“So, you weren’t into Red over there?”
“Don’t try to change the subject,” I say, squeezing her knee. “Talk.”
