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“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it was right. The two of us together, it’s... so complicated. It always has been. Isn’t this kind of thing supposed to be easy?”
She let out a scoff and reached into the bowl of mixed nuts I’d poured for her when she declared she was starving and tossed a handful into her mouth. “Sorry, babe, but my knowledge on this kind of thing is really limited. The last thing I’d claim to be is an expert in the matters of the heart over here. I mean, I’m a grown ass woman and still can’t manage to keep my tongue from tangling up when the dude I’ve been crushing on walks into the room I’m in.”
My heart broke at the defeat on my best friend’s face as she slumped on her bar stool.
“Hey, knock that off.” I reached across the counter to take her hand in mine. “You’re amazing in every single way, and one day, that sexy sheriff is going to open his eyes and realize it. Mark my words.”
She grumbled under her breath something that sounded an awful lot likedoubt itbefore shoving another handful of nuts into her mouth.
“Stop it. It’s going to happen,” I assured her, mainly because I believed it down to my bones. It had to happen. Colbie was too good not to get what she’s always wanted. She was kindness personified, the very best person I knew, and I refused to believe for a single second a man as smart and loyal as Kincade Michaels wouldn’t see all the wonderful that was her and not want to make her his.
She waved me off. “This isn’t about me. We’re here to talk about you and the fact that you’re now banging one of America’s sexiest men alive.”
Heat creeped into my cheeks and the ache that had been centered between my thighs for the past forty-eight hours throbbed again. The marks he’d left on my body had been covered by concealer and other makeup, but at the reminder of the other night... I could practically feel them pulsing.
“Banged,” I stressed. “Past tense. As in, it’s never going to happen again. That’s the way it has to be.”
Colbie’s head canted to the side as her eyes narrowed, studying me closely, and as my best friend, more than likely seeing a hell of a lot more than I wished she could. “If that’s how you really feel, then why do you seem so sad about it?”
And there it was. Damn her for knowing me so well.
I grabbed a towel and began scrubbing at a perfectly clean bar top because I needed something to do with my hands and a reason to not meet her knowing gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not sad. I’m fine with it. It’s the smart thing to do. It was my decision.”
Her hand came down on mine to stop me. “Really? Then why are you scrubbing the varnish right off the bar?”
I let out a heavy sigh as my head dropped and my shoulders slumped. “Because I’m sad.”
“Oh, honey.” She flipped my hand over and laced her fingers through mine. “You know, there’s no rule saying the two of you have to be enemies forever. What if you both put down your swords?”
I let out a snort. “You make it sound so easy.”
She shrugged. “Well, I mean, it can be. If you like him, I say give it a shot.”
That sounded really nice in theory, but the past wasn’t so easy to let go. “I don’t know. What if the other shoe eventually drops?”
“It very well might. But what if it doesn’t?” She grabbed another handful of nuts and threw them into her mouth, mumbling around them as she said, “Just something to think about.”
And I was still thinking about it a few hours later, after the bar opened and Colbie headed to work. I was still thinking about it as I sat back in my office going through invoices, when one of my servers, Rachel, knocked on my door and peeked her head inside.
“Hey, Pres. I know you’re busy, but I think we may have a problem out here.”
I could hear them as I followed her down the hall, and as soon as we turned the corner into the main part of the bar, I spotted the table of young, college-aged guys who were causing the problem Rachel referenced.
“Shit,” I hissed, because I had a feeling I knew who these kids were. And I knew exactly who I should call to come over here and put them in their place.
Beau
A growl workedits way up my throat as my phone rang again. Despite the fact I never answered, my old man had gone from calling once every few days to damn near blowing up my phone today. The only thing I could figure was what limited patience hehad—and it wasincredibly limited—had worn the hell out, and he was done being ignored.
Too fucking bad for him that I was done letting him dictate my life.
But the constant buzzing of my phone today had finally pushed me over the edge. Snatching the thing up, I swiped at the screen without looking and brought it up to my ear.
I growled through the line. “You know, when someone doesn’t answer any of your dozens of calls, a person usually takes the goddamn hint and gives up.”
“Uh, Beau?”
My back shot straight hearing the voice carrying through the line that most definitely didn’t belong to Hank Wade. “Bubbles?”
