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“Okay,” she says, giving me a small smile.
I can’t stand here any longer without these two women thinking I’m a creeper. So, I turn and walk to the bar, replaying every second of the brief interaction in my head. I give their order to the bartender before walking over to join Luke at the other end of the bar. He greets me with a smile and hands me a beer.
“I thought you had the night off?” he asks.
I shrug. “Can’t slack when you’re the owner.”
Luke just shakes his head. “You can’t work 24/7.”
I laugh before taking a sip of my beer. “You’re one to talk,” I say. “The blueprint for workaholic.”
He smiles ruefully. “I’m getting better these days.”
I’ve got to admit, he’s right. Since he found out he has a half-sister, Luke has made a point to take more time off from his dad’s company. My brother Linc and I were shocked when he took an unplanned two-week trip to North Carolina last month when his sister gave birth to his niece. It’s the most time he’s taken off from work since he was still in college. Knowing what I know about Luke’s dad, I’m sure he’s paying for it now.
My eyes stray over to the women in the booth. A server is delivering their drinks and I watch as they smile their thanks.
“Where’s Linc?” Luke asks, pulling my gaze back to him.
“Oh, he should be here any minute,” I say. “He had to wait for the sitter.”
“I’m glad he gave in and decided to come out tonight,” he says.
“Me too. He works too damned much too.”
My gaze drifts back to the booth where I see the two women have been joined by a third woman. This time, it’s someone I know. Harlow St. James. She went to high school with me and Linc. She moved back to town a few years ago and opened a beauty shop on Main Street.
“Who’s the girl?” Luke’s voice pulls my attention away from the table of women and I turn to face my best friend, a guilty flush creeping up my cheeks.
“Huh? Who?”
Luke laughs, but I’m saved from having to answer by the arrival of my brother.
“What did I miss?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say at the same time Luke says, “Your brother has a crush.”
“Fuck off,” I say with a laugh.
Luke nods in the direction of the booth and Linc turns to follow his gaze. When I see the slight stiffening of my brother’s shoulders, I turn to look at the women too. That’s when I remember that Harlow and my brother were in the same graduating class. And that he had a massive crush on her back then. I almost tease him about it before I remember two things. The first is that he’d made me swear to never tell a soul about his crush on Harlow. I might have been 15 when I made that promise, but I’ve kept my word this long. I won’t reveal his secret now. The second thing I realize is that if I were to tease him about Harlow, he’d immediately tease me about my newfound infatuation with Harlow’s friend.
“Interesting,” Luke mutters beside me. “Let’s go say hi.”
“Why?” Linc asks, turning back to Luke.
He just grins. “Because that’s my new girlfriend.”
A pit opens in my stomach when I realize what he just said. Luke is my best friend. After Linc, that is. Ever since my brother brought his college roommate home for Thanksgiving during their freshman year, the three of us have been inseparable. And now I’ve been daydreaming about what it would be like to kiss Luke’s new girlfriend. That’s an epic violation of the guy code. I tamp down the surge of irrational jealousy I feel at the idea of Luke and her together. It’s ridiculous. I don’t even know her name. I don’t have any right to feel jealous.
“Wait,” Linc says, holding up a hand. “I thought you didn’t have a girlfriend. Isn’t that your biggest problem right now?”
Luke’s smile grows wider. “That was before Piper agreed to be my fake girlfriend. Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
Piper. Is that her name? I think back to the conversation with Luke the other night and how he’d originally stood this woman up for a date after they’d met on a dating app. Which means they’d liked one another enough to schedule a date, even if the date hadn’t actually happened. Which means there might be something there that I can’t interfere with, no matter how attractive I find her.
I follow Luke and my brother over to the table of women, a mix of dread and excitement coursing through me. Excitement, because I want to talk to this gorgeous woman again. And dread because I don’t want to find out she’s got a thing for Luke. All this runs through my head as we walk, and I don’t even notice we’re already standing next to the table. And we’ve been standing there for long enough that Luke is already introducing me and Linc to the table of women. I smile when he points to me. It’s not until one of the women introduces herself as Piper that I realize I was wrong.
“And this is my sister Layna,” she says, gesturing to the woman I can’t seem to stop staring at. “She’s in town visiting me for the weekend.”
