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“Hi, honey.” Viv swipes her eyes. “Nothing we can talk about. Girls’ night is sacred.” She purses her lips for a kiss he doesn’t hesitate giving her.
“Hi, honey,” Cris echoes to Nate. “No kiss for me?”
“You think I won’t?” He pulls Cris to her feet and places a quick kiss on her cheek. “You can’t drive yourself home if you’ve drunk yourself into a laughing stupor.”
“We switched to water a long time ago.” She shoves him, but he doesn’t budge an inch. “Besides, I’m not sleeping without Benji. I can’t stand to be away from him now that we live together.”
I pretend to gag. She gives me an evil eye that is unintentionally adorable.
“Bye, lovelies!” She waves to the girls. “Lis, text me.”
“I will,” Calista promises.
When Cris reaches me, she springs to her toes. I offer my cheek, expecting a kiss, but instead, she yanks my earlobe and whispers, “Do not lose this one, Archer. I like her.”
“Okay, okay, ow!” I rub my ear, and the petite blonde spears me with a hot glare. Hopefully my agreement won’t hold up in court. I was being tortured, technically.
After Cris leaves, Talia eyes me curiously. I help her off the floor, and she stands to her full height, chin up. I deliver the kiss she’s wondering if I’ll give her despite our very attentive company. I can’t think of anything except how badly I want her in my bed, in my life, in my world.
Damn Nate.Blaming him feels better than blaming myself.
Talia’s eyes twinkle, her smile soft. “Hiya, Kingpin.”
“Hey, Wildflower.” I wrap my hand around her neck and tangle my fingers into her fantastically silky hair.
“Seriously not fair. No one is kissing me hello. Why don’t you have a fourth brother?” Calista aims the question at Nate.
He shrugs. “Three Owens are enough Owens.”
“Sometimes too many,” Viv adds.
“Well, if we decided anything tonight, it’s that we need men for one thing and one thing only.” This ushers in another round of laughter. My brother and I both shake our heads.
“Assuming that one thing is a ride home,” I tell Talia and her sister.
“We could have called Lyft for that,” she says pragmatically, once again an arm’s length away. I’d be a certified moron to admit what I’m feeling to her. She’d cut me off at the knees and wear my shoes around her neck like a prize.
“But we’ll take you up on it, since you’re here and all.” Calista hugs Vivian goodbye. Talia does the same, thanking her for the fun evening. Viv stands to see us out, but as the ladies walk outside to the car, she stops me at the threshold.
I groan. “Don’t tell me you have advice for me too.”
“She’s great. Incredible. And Calista, oh my God. She rocks. And she’s a good cook. She brought over a whole pan of marshmallow and fudge brownies that are to die for.”
“She made fish out of tofu,” I tell her. “I’m sort of angry about how good it tasted. It doesn’t seem right.”
Vivian laughs and then leans on the doorway while Nate, whistling, prepares himself a drink at the bar cart in the living room. “Talia has her reasons for being gun-shy. Don’t go off half-cocked before you find out what those reasons are. Some women need more space than others.”
“If memory serves, you needed a couple of states’ worth of space.”
“Very funny.” She gives me a bland blink.
“Viv, nightcap?” Nate calls out.
“Sure thing, babe,” she calls back. Then to me, “Be patient.”
“Patient’s my middle name,” I tell her, not bothering to ask her to decipher the coded message. In the car, I turn over the engine. Talia and Lis chat on the way home about everything and nothing. Two peas of the same pea pod.
At the townhouse, I open the car doors for them. We all walk to the building, only at the alcove, I turn for my townhouse, and Lis and Talia turn for theirs.
