Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
“Some warning, huh?”
I ran my fingertips over my lips. “Warning. Like alarm bells, sirens, maybe some time to make sure I smell good.”
Finally I’d found a way back to my usual humor with him.
I knew it was never going to happen again, and so it was easy to joke about it. Really, I knew I should just think of it like any other little playful thing Sawyer had done to me over the years.
It didn’t have to be a big deal.
“You always smell good,” Sawyer said, waving a hand through the air. He caught my eyes. “And you tasted like lemonade.”
“Harlan!” Chase called out from behind us, and I turned to see him poking his blue-streaked head out from one of the patio doors. “You coming?”
I cleared my throat. “Be right in.”
Sawyer was doing that thing with his eyebrows again as Chase went back inside. “Look at him, already asking him if you’re gonna come.”
I shook my head at him. “You are impossible.”
“And you love it.”
What the hell was I going to do with him?
As we walked in, my mind was still stuck on the fact that Sawyer’s lips had been on mine. There was no shot I was going to be able to care about someone new flirting with me when Sawyer had just done that. He was the person I cared about most on any day to begin with, but now that I had the image of kissing him burned into my mind and on my lips, I was done for.
And I could already see how beloved Sawyer was going to be on the Fixer Brothers TV show. Even now, walking into the brewery, he turned heads. He always had. When someone looked like an underwear model and also happened to be the nicest person in any room he was in, he was going to be beloved.
I knew what I should do.
I should suck it up and flirt with the nice, friendly cameraman with the blue streak in his hair. Sawyer was probably right that Chase was interested in me. I might have been a big burly oaf, but it was pretty clear that Chase wouldn’t mind getting to know me better.
Maybe that’s exactly what I would do. Try to flirt with someone I actually had a chance with, so I could push the innocent kiss out of my mind before it became a fantasy. It was what Sawyer would want for me anyway—to flirt, find someone, and be happy. Not harbor a pointless crush on him.
Even if I could still feel the memory of his lips on mine.
4
SAWYER
I bit the inside of my cheek, watching as the pretty boy with the blue streak in his hair bought yet another shot for Harlan.
I shifted on the barstool, nodding at Jax, who was also on bartending duty tonight. Jax was Charlie’s boyfriend, so I was sure I’d be seeing him more often now that I was working for the Fixer Brothers. I liked Jax. He was a young bartender, probably not a day older than 22, and he was a frat boy through and through. Today he was wearing a jersey emblazoned with his fraternity Greek letters.
“What more can I get ya?” Jax asked, giving me a polite smile.
“Just another seltzer with lime,” I said. I glanced over toward Harlan as he took a shot of liquor with Chase.
“No drinking for you tonight?”
I shook my head. “Harlan is tossing back shots over there like water. I think I should stay sober. Help him get home.”
Jax cut his eyes over toward Harlan, smirking. “Looks like he might be going home with somebody else tonight, if you catch my drift.”
I clenched my jaw, grabbing my cold glass of seltzer. “I hope not.”
Jax cocked his head to one side. “Why not? I thought you were teasing Harlan earlier, telling him to go home with that guy.”
I sucked in a breath, rubbing my fingertips over my forehead. “I know. I was. Because I’m an idiot.”
Charlie came over beside me and leaned over the bar to kiss Jax. “What are you goons talking about?”
“Sawyer doesn’t think Harlan should go home with Chase,” Jax explained, “even though he’s the one who got the two of them flirting in the first place, from what I saw.”
“Hush,” I said. “Harlan can do whatever he wants. Of course.”
Charlie gave me a searching look. “You’d just rather Harlan does whatever he wants with you, huh?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“It’s not?” Charlie said, still messing with me.
“Listen,” I said. “I’ve known Harlan for so long, and I know he doesn’t take shots when he’s flirting. Ever. He’s even told me that he prefers staying well in control of himself if he’s ever thinking of hooking up with someone.”
“So you think he might not actually want to go home with Chase,” Charlie said.