Sully’s voice brought me back to the present. “Maggie says you had Ivy’s daughter with you all week.”
I bit back a grin. “What are you asking, man?” He was going to have to work a little harder if he wanted to gossip like school girls.
“Just saying two weeks ago I would have thought the sexual chemistry around you two could burn the place down around us if we weren’t careful. How’d you handle being in her presence every day for the past seven? Walk around with a fire extinguisher?”
“Fucking hilarious, man.”
“But not denying the chemistry, I see. Interesting.”
I shook my head at him, then took another drink before scanning the bar with more than a bit of excitement for the night ahead. I chose to ignore that I was looking for Ivy. Damn. Seemed like two girls had taken up residence in my brain and I was no longer in control. Ivy should be there anytime, but I knew Addie was hanging at home tonight with a babysitter. I’d miss her but understood this wouldn’t be an exciting gathering for a kid. Still wished she’d be there as well.
I’d picked up Addie from school yesterday with Drew. After finding Steph at the bookstore, we’d left Ivy to work as we went off to grab some lunch. Steph finally said she needed to get home, shower, and check in with Theo before dinner. Drew and I headed to grab Addie.
Damn, that girl. We waited for her on the playground at her school. When she’d come out in a line with her class, I heard her call to some of her friends, that her boys were there. Then she came flying across the playground toward us. She ran full tilt until she was a few feet from me, upon which she launched herself through the air and I grabbed her. My heart melted, knowing she felt secure enough that I’d never let her fall. Damn.
Clearing the emotion that was clogging up my throat, I tried to answer Sully. “Not sure what’s going on, man. And no fucking idea how to explain it.”
Sully nodded like he was considering my words carefully. “Well, at least you aren’t feeding me some line of bullshit like there’s nothing going on there.”
“You mean like you did before you knocked up Maggie?”
Sully looked at me, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
I snorted. “If you think that it wasn’t obvious you were gone for that girl far before you put any bun in her oven, you’re a blind man.”
Sully ran a hand over his face, chuckling. “Yeah, you could say that, I guess.”
“So what made you finally go for it?” I asked, thinking back over the journey he and Maggie had been on this year. When we began the brewery together, he treated her as a good friend, one he had years of history with. At some point during the past five years running this place with him, I’d noticed the looks he gave Maggie switched from a friendly glance to one of need. It was a trip to sit back and watch them do that dance.
Sully gave me a shrewd glance. “Just curious or doing some research for yourself?”
I didn’t even know what to say to that, so I took another sip of beer as I watched the first of our guests begin to arrive. Max Harp walked in with his fiancée and Sully’s sister, Emma. They paused at the counter, looking at some of the canned beers before Emma wrapped her arms around the giant that was Harp. He grabbed her chin and pressed a kiss on her that raised the temperature of this place significantly. I glanced at Sully and found him watching the same show.
“You’ve certainly evolved from this spring when a kiss between those two had you doing some deep breathing,” I noted. It had been a shit ton of fun, giving Sully grief about his younger sister and his best friend. He had been a bit grumpy about their relationship at the start, but that had been short-lived.
Sully shook his head. “Yeah, I had some growing up to do there, as many of you pointed out to me.” He took another drink before setting down his beer and standing up. “Max is great for Emma…”
I looked back to the door to see why he didn’t finish his thought and saw Maggie walk in. Sully watched her like she was the oasis and he’d been lost in the desert for days. Although, in his defense, she had a black long-sleeved fitted T-shirt dress on that hugged every one of her curves, including the giant basketball that was her very pregnant belly.
“I need to go see my wife,” he growled.
I began to laugh, wondering if he was just going to drag her to the nearest closet when I saw Ivy walk in behind Maggie. She was laughing at something Maggie said as she made it past the hostess stand, and her eyes swept the room until they locked on mine.
Damn.
I moved without a word, without even realizing I was doing so. My eyes scanned Ivy. I couldn’t look away. Typically she wore her flowy dresses and skirts that did nothing to show off her amazing body. Thus my love of her leggings at home. Tonight she was in a dress again, but this one had a deepVthat ended at her belt. Not long, the dress hit her midthigh. I groaned as I saw a flash of her legs and noted the knee-high leather boots she had on that laced up the back.
We continued to move toward each other until we were close enough to touch. Finally. I adjusted my pants in a way I hoped like hell was subtle. Ivy’s eyes crinkled as she grinned and raised her eyebrows at me, so I’m guessing she noticed.
“Hey, Jake,” she said as she leaned in and a kiss brushed my cheek. There was a smell that I associated with Ivy and couldn’t place. Lavender? Something floral? All I knew was that it meant she was near and didn’t help my pants situation one bit.
“Hi, babe,” I said, trying to get my bearings. Looking over her dress up close, I inched to run my fingers over some gold embroidery on the navy material. “Are these suns?”
“Addie thought so. She was a fan, so I went with it.”
I nodded absentmindedly. Addie loved all things related to the solar system, so that tracked. That being said, I wanted to send Addie a card of thanks. The deepVmeant that the swells of Ivy’s breasts were visible. Holy God, how would I make it through this night? I wondered what closet Sully had dragged Maggie to. Was there another one open?
“Jake?” Ivy snapped her fingers. “Eyes up, bud.”
