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“It was nothing.” Lie of the century. I dropped my hand, filing the information on Shawn away in my brain. Especially where he worked. I happened to know the owner of the company. He was not only a patron of the club, but also handled investments for both Shane and me. “If it wouldn’t hurt my sister’s feelings, I’d tell you to hop in my SUV right now, and we’d be out of here.”
She bestowed a smile on me, making my chest tight. “You’d drive me straight to the Philly cheesesteak street vendor and truly become my all-time favorite hero.”
“There’s also a chicken shawarma stand which is my Friday night stop.” Crap, I hadn’t meant it as an invitation. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to think of it as such.
Her phone vibrated in her purse, causing her to check it. “Cocktails downstairs in thirty minutes.”
“Will you be okay dealing with Shawn this entire weekend?”
She sighed. “Yeah, I’ll ignore him, and it’ll be fine. This is Kate’s weekend. and I won’t spoil anything by making it about me.”
Something for me to remember too. If Oakley could put on a brave face for this weekend and deal with Shawn, then I could do the same and deal with seeing my parents.
A half hour later, she left for the cocktail hour downstairs. Although I was also invited, I was in no hurry to join. The less time I spent with my family, the more likelihood there’d be no drama.
But I’d also needed a minute to myself after seeing Oakley changed into skinny jeans and a black top. The new outfit accented all of her incredible curves. Long legs, an incredible ass, and breasts which practically begged for my mouth on them.
I blew out a breath. Damn. Being attracted to a woman was nothing new. Not acting on the attraction, however, definitely was.
Sending a quick text to Shane to see how things were going at the club brought a predictable response. He responded with an all is good and to enjoy the weekend. Dammit. I could use a club emergency about now. When another text came in, I expected it to be Shane again, but instead it was my sister, Kate.
“Get your butt down here and hug the bride-to-be.”
Oh, boy. How did one ignore a text like that? You didn’t. Time to suck it up. I showered quickly, and after changing into dark jeans and a forest-green button-down, I traded my Nikes for leather dress shoes. I might not be much on fashion, but as a club owner who was often visible, either behind the bar or on the floor, I knew how to dress well.
Once I stepped off the elevator onto the lobby floor, I took a deep breath to fight my nerves. How ironic to feel more anxious about seeing my family than about performing sexual acts naked in front of strangers.
All trepidation was replaced with genuine joy, however, when Kate spotted me across the bar and came running up to tackle hug me. For a small girl, she had enough power to nearly knock me over.
“Jesus, have you been prepping for your wedding or the strong man competition?”
She grinned. With her sleek brown hair cut in a bob and her big, blue eyes, she looked so much like our mom. “Ha. I’m so glad you’re here, Max.”
I smiled. “Me too, kiddo.” My eyes left hers to survey the people in the bar.
“Don’t worry. Mom and Dad aren’t coming tonight. Just the bridal party and a few other friends. Come on.”
She took my hand and dragged me over to the bar where I shook her fiancé’s hand. “Nice to see you again, Tim.” I’d met him when they’d dated as teenagers, and again in New York City a couple years ago when they’d been visiting, so it had been a while.
“You too.” He looked adoringly at my sister.
Tim seemed like a decent guy with the exception of his choice of friends, if Shawn the asshole was any indication. He and my sister had been dating since high school, and although I couldn’t understand marrying the first person you’d ever been with, it seemed to work for them. I was sure in a couple years’ time I’d be an uncle.
A pang suddenly hit me over never being a part of Christmas. Although I’d never wanted children of my own, I would have enjoyed being the doting uncle who came home for holidays and spoiled them.
“Oh, and you remember Oakley? My best friend in the whole entire world, joined at the hip all through middle and high school.”
My lips twitched at the sight of her. Her hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail practically begging for me to wrap it around my fist. If she had any idea of the things I’d love to do to her, I was sure she’d run far, far away.
We hadn’t discussed how to play this in front of my sister or what to tell people—especially given Shawn could’ve already told everyone about our elevator kiss. I decided to take my cue from her.
“Nice to see you again, Max.”
“Nice to see you again too.”
Her eyes twinkled. “How was the drive in?”
Damn, I could detect the smell of her lavender shampoo even from two feet away. “Unexpectedly good. Yours?”
