“You getting so defensive about being called cranky is thefirst clue that you are, in fact, cranky.” Callie chuckled. “Rough day at work?”
“Not the best.” I sighed. “Nothing I can’t handle, though.”
She looked at me thoughtfully, and I knew what was coming before she said anything. “You need to get laid.”
“So do you,” I retorted.
“Perhaps. It’s been longer for me than it has you, but I’m not becoming abearbecause of it,” she teased.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” I sighed. “Hell, I stopped at the grocery store yesterday, and I was behind this guy in line, and I was staring at his forearms while practically drooling and imagining things I hadno businessimagining about a total stranger or his arms.”
Callie chuckled. “Okay, but in your defense, forearms can be really sexy.”
“Tell me about it,” I muttered. “All I know for sure is that my poor girl isparchedand starved for attention that doesn’t come from my nightstand drawer.”
Callie tipped her head back with a laugh. “Okay, okay, let’s talk about something different and get your mind off it.”
I was sure getting my mind off it was impossible at this point, but I was willing to try. We chatted about our weekend plans while we scarfed down our burgers from Harbor House.
“You can come out Saturday and help me scope out the scene for a prospect to get me out of my slump.” My tone made it more of a question than a statement. She’d been declining to come out with me for the last month on Tuesdays and Saturdays, knowing Lucas would be around.
She let out a breath. “I don’t know…”
“Callie, you can’t let him being there stop you from going out and having some fun. You’ve gotta get out of the house.”
“I’m getting out Friday.” I gave her a look. “Let’s see how that goes, and we’ll go from there.”
Gabe bought his first house last month, and his younger brother Blake was coming into town to throw him a surprise housewarming party with an oyster roast on Friday. He was a military physician currently stationed at Fort Liberty in North Carolina and didn’t get to come home very often. I knew how excited Gabe would be to have him there, even if it was just for the weekend.
I was surprised Callie agreed to come with me, considering Blake also happened to be one of Lucas’s best friends and he would be there. It took a little convincing on my part, but she gave in. I hoped it went well so she wouldn’t be so quick to turn down tagging along for Tuesday Trivia and Saturday nights at The Sandbar.
“Hey, ya never know, maybe you’ll meet someone at the party, and you can get it out of your system then,” she quipped.
I scoffed with a roll of my eyes. “I’ve met Gabe’s friends before. That’s not happening.”
Chapter 7
Friday evening,I was standing on the back porch of Gabe’s house, mingling with a few others while the oysters were roasting. The two-bedroom house sat on the Northeast side of Bayport in a subdivision of newly built quaint cottages right along the beach. There was direct access to the beach from the porch and a small backyard area off to the side where he’d set up a little entertainment spot around a bonfire pit, which we planned to make the most of later.
Callie was standing next to me; she’d been at my side since Lucas arrived, I assumed so he’d be deterred from trying to approach her. I didn’t tell her he talked to me, and I offered not to interfere, not because I was trying to hide it from her butbecause I didn’t think it would make a difference. She could be pretty stubborn—not that I had any room to talk—and with all of the baggage she was carrying, it would take a hell of a lot more than knowingIheard Lucas out for her to talk to him on her own.
While Callie talked to one of the other girls there who happened to be into photography like she was, I glanced over just as Blake walked up the stairs with the third batch of oysters. I sipped my drink, watching as he dumped them with the others—he’d taken off his sweatshirt, which showed off his flexing bicep muscles as he lifted the bucket.Knock it off, you fucking weirdo, I scolded myself. My drought had turned me into a creepy ogler. I’d met Blake a few times before, and anyone with two eyes could see the man was attractive, but he was the brother of one of my closest friends, so I never looked at him twice because of that. Now, my brain was in its “who fucking cares” era, and I couldn’t help but notice how hot Blake was no matter how much I didn’t want to.
“You’re staring,” Callie whispered with a giggle.
I snapped my gaze away from him to look at her. “I am not.”
“Yes, you are.” She laughed. “I mean, I don’t blame you. Maybe he’ll be the one to end your drought.”
“No way.” I shook my head. “He’s Gabe’s brother. That means he’s off limits.”
“Okay, there’s a bunch of other guys here. Not one of them has caught your attention?”
I looked around at the others, who were all mingling. I knew a couple of them were off the market, so my eyes didn’t linger on them. As for the others…well, none were really my type. And even if I was willing to forgo what usually drew me to a guy, considering my usual taste was doing absolutelynothingfor me these days, none of them struck me as the one-night stand, help-a-girl-out kind.
“They’re all so…nice.”
Callie looked at me. “And that’s a problem?”
