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If only there weren’t something…something…in his gaze that set off a herd of butterflies in my stomach so strong that I can barely eat a thing. Most of my dinner is pushed around my plate, untouched except for the gentle prodding of my fork, and I don’t bother with the pudding.
I won’t eat it.
Aaron asks for the bill, and Dayton squeezes my hand under the table. “I forgot to ask you earlier. Can you come to the cake tasting with me tomorrow? Someone double-booked himself.” Dayton’s eyes slide to Aaron.
“I didn’t double-book anything, sweetheart. I thought the tasting was at one o’clock, not four thirty.”
She makes a disapproving sound. Do I want to go to a cake tasting? No.
“Liv?”
“Can’t Tyler go?” I grind his name out.
“Photoshoot,” he replies with a twist of his lips.
“My shift starts at five thirty tomorrow,” I protest. “I can’t be late.”
“You won’t be. I promise.” She reassures me. “You’ll be back to White Stag in plenty of time.”
“White Stag?” Tyler interrupts. “You work behind a bar?”
I cut my eyes to him. “Yes. Believe it or not, sometimes taking your clothes off isn’t a great way to earn a living.”
“Word,” Dayton mutters.
Tyler blinks at me. “You don’t seem like a bar kind of girl.”
“And you don’t seem like an expensive-restaurant kind of guy, but you’re sitting in one.” I pull out my purse to pay my share of the bill, but Tyler beats me to it. “What are you doing?”
“I’m buying your dinner. What do you think I’m doing?”
I count out a few of his bills from the small dish and put them in front of him. “That would imply that this is a date.”
His lips tug up on one side. “It can be.”
“No, it can’t be.” I put my own money down. “Because no guy spends that much on dinner for a woman unless he’s expecting to get laid after, and I already made my position on that very, very clear.”
He raises his eyebrows and leans back in his chair. “So buy yourself dinner. That doesn’t mean there’s no chance of you getting laid tonight.”
I zip my purse up calmly and stand, pulling it over my shoulder. “Some women can take care of themselves. That’s why some clever bastard invented the vibrator.”
Dayton muffles her laugh with her hand, and I look at her, keeping a straight face.
“Thanks for the invitation to join you for dinner, but I have to get back. Angus will be going crazy.” I kiss her cheek. “Call me with the damn cake details, okay?”
“Of course. Thanks for accepting my dinner invitation.” She winks, and my lips twitch.
Sometimes, it’s hard to remember we’re not still in high school. That’s the great thing about a lifelong friendship – you never have to grow up around one another.
I say goodbye to Aaron, ignore Tyler, and make my way through the restaurant. I dig into my purse for my keys, berating myself for pointlessly zipping it up. Idiot. The host bids me goodbye, and I step onto the sidewalk, turning for the direction of the parking lot. Still digging for my keys. Fuck me, I need to buy a smaller purse.
I find my car in the parking lot and head toward it. My fingers brush the cold metal as I reach my car, but I’m grabbed and turned before I can get a grip on them.
“What the fuck!” I shriek, finding myself pinned against my car by another pair of hips and two strong hands.
“Shush,” Tyler whispers. “You’ll wake the dead.”
I glare at him. “There are no graveyards near here. And what part of ‘don’t touch me’ are you failing to understand?”
