We get to the other side of the door, and I take a moment to pause and catch my breath. Low slowly loosens her grip on my hand, and I’m quick to regain my holdonher.
“Not so fast,Peaches.”
She cowers a moment, biting down on her lower lip, but it’s that mischievous look in her eyes that lets me know she’s enjoyed every single moment. “You’re not mad, are you?” She gives a little wink when shesaysit.
A moment swills between us. Those pouty lips of hers call out to me like candy just begging me to take a bite. “Nope. Not mad. How about we grab some food and you can fill me in on our buddingrelationship?”
She wraps an arm around my waist as we make our way down the hall. “Anything for you,Boobear.”
The double barbequebacon and jalapeño jack cheeseburger at The Sloppy Pelican just so happens to be my favorite menu option. I could easily eat three in one sitting, and yet here I am seated across from Low Hartley unable to take asinglebite.
“So, what’s up with BertieHiggins?”
“Bertie who?” She looks perplexed as she racks her brain. “Was he Beta Kappa Phi? I never could keep those frat brat namesstraight.”
“No, he’s Key Largo—as in the singer of that song you like to play on a loop. What’s the storybehindit?”
“Oh, it’s a stress thing.” She eyes the overgrown salad before her as if it too might be a stress thing. “When I was a kid—about seven or eight, my dad and I went out for milk. It was on the radio, and he sang along. He looked really happy that day. My dad was not known for being happy. Anyway, he took off shortly thereafter. I heard the song again years later, and it brought me back to that car ride—one of the last times my family was whole, and well, I sort of listened to it on a loop. Over the years, I guess you can say it’s become a musical crutch.” She spikes up in her seat and blinks back tears. “But that’s enough about that.” Low dives straight into her salad, and I can tell there is a lot of unresolved pain stemming from the fact her dad took off. An instant anger percolates in me over the fact. How could anyone leave their kid behind? Especially someone like Low. She’s bright and beautiful, and it’s clear it was his loss. A big oneatthat.
“Mmm.” She lifts a fork as she enjoys her Chinese chicken salad served in what amounts to a mixing bowl. “So good.” She washes it down with her lemonade. “Really good, actually.” She glances back at the bar before leaning in. “I’m sorry about calling your food plastic. It was totally a barb meant specifically to take you down a notch for that whole arrest thing.” She tips her head to the side as if the ball was in mycourt.
“Apology accepted. And believe me, I’m relieved to know I’m not subjecting you to lumps of manufactured synthetics.” That hellish night comes tumbling to the forefront of my mind. As soon as Low stepped into the place, it was as if a light switch went on inside of me. It’s still on. As much as I don’t want to admit it, she ignites something in me, makes me feel alive and needed, wanted on somelevel.
“And?” Her teeth graze over her bottom lip, quick and bright as shooting stars. “You realize what comes next,right?”
My mouth opens, then closes. I realize what comes next—an apology, but technically, I’m not the one who had herarrested.
“Wow”—she blinks back incredulously, and as much as it makes me sound like a bastard to say this, she looks hot as hell when she gets all worked up. “Your sister graduated summa cum laude with highest honors. You sure you’rerelated?”
A sharp laugh barks out of me. “I graduated Order of the Coif when I received my JurisDoctor.”
“A legal eagle, huh?” Her brows twitch with curiosity as she takes another sip. “Are you aBriggs’man?”
“That’s right. I did my undergraduate work there before heading to the Flynn School of Law.” Flynn is WB’s very own law school and a most impressive one at that. “It’s where I met Axel, the third and silent partner in The Sloppy Pelican.” Ax is the one who pulled the patrol car trigger on poor Low, but since her wrath reaches far and wide, I think I’ll spare him of it in general. We may have dropped the charges, but it doesn’t lessen the sting of what happened thatnight.
“Well, aren’t you just a Briggs’ boy through and through?” She takes another enthusiastic bite out of her food, and this time her eyes close and she lets out a guttural groan that works its way up from that secret place a noise that glorious can only come from and my dick tickstolife.
“That would be me. And you? You mentioned you roomed with Raven. So, you’re a sorority girl Itakeit?”
“Kappa Gamma Gamma.” She thrusts an enthusiastic fist in the air and accidentally kicks me under the table. “Sorry.” She makes a face. “Speaking of that littleSword, you sure you don’t have anything you’d like to say to me regarding the nightwemet?”
I lean back, doing my best to hide the smug grin waiting to burst on the scene. “I may have forgotten to tell you there’s a spare key under the mat by the back door.” I scan the ceiling a moment. “And—that’sit.”
“Ugh.” She lets out a strangled cry. “You’re impossible. And in that way, I can honestly say you’re exactly like your sister. And yes, I’m a Briggs’ girl. Bachelor’s in business just like your not-so-sweet little sis.” She gives a sly wink as if we were both in on this joke, and my stomach sours. The last thing I want to know is some salty truths about my sister. As far as I’m concerned, yes, she is mysweetlittle sis. “I graduated cum laude.” She shrugs as if it weren’t good enough. “Raven went on to do her graduate work. It only took a year, and she begged me to join her, butno—” she rolls her eyes as she exaggerates the word—“I didn’t see what an extra degree would get me, so I opted to get right out into the real world. And five years later, I’m an unemployed window salesman’s secretary while Raven globetrots around the world with an army of half-naked men who could qualify to form their own boy band. And yet, life in all its ironic glory has landed me homeless and eating out of the merciful hand of her family.” She knocks back half of her lemonade, and I’m guessing she’s wishing it was something farstronger.
“It’s not all that bad. I’ve just officially hired you as the new head waitress of The SloppyPelican.”
Her pretty pink lips part with surprise. “Head waitress? Is that athing?”
“Itisnow.”
She smacks me over the arm. “So, tell me Boobear. What sparked this lawyer seated before me to turn into arestaurateur?”
“Would you believe me if I told you time andmoney?”
“Time and money rule the world. Why wouldn’t I believe you? Unless, of course, you don’t mean it in the traditional sense.” She pushes her salad forward, signifying she’s through with it, and yet it hardly looks as if she put a dent into it. Food waste is something I’m always looking to correct. Most all of the patrons end up taking more than half their plate home, which I’m hoping is a good thing. Bang for the buck. That has been my battle cry with this place while it was still inconception.
“You are a smart cookie because, no, I don’t mean in the traditional sense. I wanted something that would eat up all my time and something that wouldn’t necessarily make me all that much money—at least not in the beginning. But I’m ready for that tochangenow.”
