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My lips twist to the side to smother the smirk I feel. “Why don't you tell me how you really feel?”
She huffs out an exhale and sends me a pointed look. “Whatever. My point stands. You're wife material, babe, and they're whatever is less casual than casual.”
“I thought you wanted super casual with that guy.” I press my tongue along the back of my teeth for a second and tease her with a single arched brow. “In fact, I seem to recall you were the one who pushed for casual because you had a thing for his brother too.”
She tips her chin up, narrowing her gaze as she looks down her proud nose at me. “First of all, it was barely his friend. More like an acquaintance. And secondly, just because I wanted tobeshared didn't mean that I wantedtoshare. And lastly, I now remember how easily it is for you to call me on my shit. So that's going to take some getting used to.”
“Babe,” I deadpan.
“Yeah, yeah. I know it's a ridiculous double standard, but that's how I feel,” she says, lifting her shoulders.
I tilt my head to the side, feeling my brows crowd my eyes. “Feel? As in present tense?”
Cora rears back like I flicked her in the nose. “What? No. No, absolutely not. I meant felt.Felt.Past tense. Not current anything.” She's practically tripping over her words.
I nod slowly a few times. “Okay.”
“Ugh. We're not talking about me and my momentary lapse in judgment. We're talking about you not staring at thosemenwith moon eyes.”
I slip my fingers into the front pocket of my jean shorts and rock back on my heels. Amusement flutters over my skin like a fine mist. “I don't know, Cora, you kind of roped me in with that whole big-dicked comment.”
The apples of her cheeks turn pink for a second as she does her best fish out of water impression, her mouth opening and closing a couple of times.
I laugh at her expression and let her off the hook. “I'm just kidding.”
Kind of.
I mean, I was a little interested but I'm not about to tell her that. Not right now at least.
She snaps her mouth closed and stares at me for a beat. “You forget I've known you my whole life. Plus, you wear your emotions on your face, babe. I can see your interest written all over it.”
I roll my lips inward, tucking my amusement away. “I'm just . . . curious.”
“Mm-hmm.” Her gaze flutters across my face. “They'll eat you up and spit you back out, Eve. The Reapers don't play by the same rules as we do.”
I tilt my head to the side and sit down at the picnic table I snagged for us. “I thought you told me they're less Sons of Anarchy and more . . . I don't know. Whatever show is more wholesome but with hot guys who ride motorcycles.”
She arches a brow. “Hot guys?”
My cheeks get warm at her teasing. “You're the one who's been telling me about the infamous shirtless car wash.” I don't bring up the photos she used to send me back when she was hanging out with them.
Or the fact that I was one artfully executed pick-up line away from grabbing a drink with one of the hottest men I've ever laid eyes on.
Cora tucks into her ice cream and shakes her head. “Enough about them. Let's talk about you. Tell me who I need to hunt down for firing you.”
I let out a soft chuckle. “No finding necessary. I liked my job, but I didn't love it, ya know?”
Cora's lips press into a thin line, her eyes sparkling with fierce loyalty. “Ugh, they didn't deserve you or your talents, those unimaginative dicks.”
A surprising laugh slips past my lips. Warmth sinks into my limbs at her protectiveness. “It all turned out though, because now I can spend the summer here, in Rosewood.”
“Oh my god, yes!” she shouts, pumping her fist in the air once. “Just like when we were kids! We're going to have so much fun. Wait until I tell everyone. Abby comes home a couple times a month, and Beau and Graham's place is nearby too. Not that we'll spend much time there because—ugh.” She does a full-body shudder, and I laugh again.
Sometimes I envy the relationship Cora has with her brothers and sister. When I spent my summers here as a kid, I used to pretend that they were my brothers and sisters too.
Sure, they still get into it with one another well into adulthood, but at the end of every day, they still have one another's back.
Unequivocally.
