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The pep talk was interrupted by a familiar staccato pounding on Luke’s front door.
“Yo!”Kyle called out. “You two better be decent in there.”
Luke had no time to process the implications of the warning before his friend was unlocking the door.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Andy swore, now practically hyperventilating at his side.
“Damn it, Bird. What happened to ‘I got this’?”
“Well, now I don’t!” She hopped up from the stool, panicked gaze darting about the room just as the door swung open. “Shit, shit, shit.Hi!”
Luke could only shake his head at Andy’s shrill squawk of a greeting as his friend strolled into the room.
Kyle, on the other hand, just tipped his chin before turning to rack the surfboards. Then — plucking a pair of wireless buds from his ears — he sauntered over to Andy and greeted her with a warm smile that said he didn’t give a shit she’d recently yacked all over his Tevas. “Feeling any better, sweetheart?”
Sweetheart?
It was a little fucking soon for that, wasn’t it?
Luke cocked his head at his boy.
Kyle didn’t seem to notice as he continued to stare into Andy’s big blues with concern. Which, of course, had the predictable effect of making them shift away.
Luke smirked. It seemed model-worthy good looks and a boatload of charm weren’t enough to hold this woman’s gun-shy gaze.
“Y-yeah,” Andy said, “I’m fine. I just needed some food.” She offered Kyle a smile — one of her tiny, flirty ones Luke had grown to like so much. “I promise to keep it to myself this time.”
Kyle chuckled.
Luke was torn between wanting to growl or give Andy a thumbs-up for making another funny.
“Hey, no worries,” Kyle told her, “we’ve all been there.” He nodded towards Luke. “This one tell you ’bout the time I got ripped and hosed down a sorority house?”
“He may have mentioned it.” A blush rose in Andy’s cheeks, and Luke had to wonder if she was thinking about preciselywherehe’d mentioned it. Or what had happened shortly thereafter with a bar of soap. Or all the dirty fun theycouldhave had with said soap—
“Ha!” Kyle crowed, snapping Luke from the lusty direction of his thoughts with a quick jab at his arm. “I’ll never live it down, huh?”
“Nope. That shit’s burned into the memory banks. I swore off pizza for months.”
Andy giggled.
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Well, whatIremember about that night was how my boy here confiscated my keys when I tried to drive home from that party all drunk and embarrassed. I swear, if it weren’t for Luke, I probably woulda wrapped my car around a tree.” Sobering, Kyle settled a palm on his shoulder. “This dude’s always watched out for me and D.”
Now Luke was the one turning red. Jesus, his friend had taken a hard left with the anecdotes.
“Trust me, he’s the best friend you’ll ever have,” Kyle said, wrapping up the gush-fest with a bright smile for Andy. Who was now watching Luke with a thoughtful expression.
That is until the moment was disrupted by a buzzing from her shorts. “Excuse me,” she said, slipping her phone from her pocket and glancing at an incoming text.
Whatever message she’d just received did not appear to be good considering the slight widening of her eyes.
“Everything okay?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah,” she responded with a tight-lipped smile. “It’s just my dad checking on me.” Her phone buzzed again. “Shit. I better go.” Striding over to the couch, she grabbed her backpack and strapped it on with jerky, agitated movements that didn’t sit well with Luke.
“Hey,” he said softly, “you good, Andy?”
“Fine,” she clipped, toeing her slides out from under his glass coffee table and stepping into them. Then — as though realizing she’d sounded brisk — she flashed him a polite smile. “Thanks for the lesson. I had a fun time today.” Glancing at Kyle’s feet, she grimaced. “Well, except for the obvious.”
