“Same for me, please. Sorry about that, darling. I am harmless, I promise,” Gavin chimes in, offering her a big, crooked grin.
“Oh, I wasnotworried,” she shoots back with a wink. “I can handle myself, darling. How about you two? What can I do for you?”
“A sweet tea,” I answer, head down because I cannot look right at her, she is too damn pretty. “With the BLT, please.”
“Someone is a little shy, huh? I approve, handsome.”
Before I manage a response to her flirty tone, she bumps me with her hip. I have a sudden urge to pull her down onto my lap and breathe in that sweet scent. I stare at her as Jonas rattles off his order. They flirt back and forth a little and rage clouds my vision. It makes no sense, but here I sit, seething with jealousy as they smile at one another.
Jonas notices it and tones it down, sitting back from their chat about the best on tap beer. Again, she hits me with her hip, and I fight back that urge to grab her and pull her close. I have never had such a reaction to a woman before. After my little heartbreak, I just assumed my broken heart was going to stay broken. I had gotten used to it. Accepted it. Now here I am, jealous of one of my own guys, one of my friends, and a woman we just met.
It makes no sense, but I can’t change how I am feeling. As she walks away, I watch the hypnotic sway of her hips, the way her thighs just barely show in her little jean shorts. I wonder what sort of panties she has on. If she even has any on. Thinking about her being bare makes my dick ache. What the hell is going on with me?
“Cool it, Sebastian,” Jonas whispers, darting a look towards the bar. “If you want to make a move, be a little less.... growly.”
“What does that mean?Growly? Also, who said I want to make a move?”
“He means you have a permanent frown, brother,” Abe chimes in, nodding his head at the waitress. “Along with a hefty chip on your shoulder. That girl is not the type to want to tame your moody beast. Be nicer. Smile at the girl. Stop being growly. Also, your eyes said you want to make a move.”
Dismissing them all, I shake my head. I amnotlooking to make a move. Not on that pretty little thing or anyone else. I have no room for that sort of thing in my life. I work, I go home to my cabin to be alone, read bad mysteries, and snuggle with my dog Biff. No time for a woman or flirting.
The other guys talk about some of the other women in town, who they find worth making a move on. I stop listening before they go too far. I don’t care to talk about women as things to be taken or won. They do not talk badly about these women, in fact quite the opposite. What they talk about is how attractive this woman is or how smart that one is. I ought to be proud of them for not being complete neanderthals, I suppose.
“Here you go, sugar,” Scout hums as she bumps me with her hip again. I am so startled, I nearly grab her this time. My hands tingle with the desire to grasp her hips and pull her down. I flex them beneath the table, trying to rid myself of the desire. It does not work, of course, but I try.
“Thank you, Scout,” I whisper back, ducking my head because I like how her name sounds.
“Welcome, sugar. Can I get you boys anything else now?”
Smiling at me, she puts her hand on my shoulder. I have a crushing desire to bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her fingertips. I flush hot at the wild thoughts I am having today. Tre is a pretty little thing, yet I never flirted with her or felt this way. I guess I have just been alone for too long. A pretty new thing is bound to stir some interest.
“No, thank you, Scout,” I say again, offering her a lopsided smile.
For just a moment, she stares at me, and it feels as if we have an entire conversation without words. I ask where the hell she came from. And she asks me the same. We both wonder what this is, why her hand on my shoulder feels so intimate, why the way she smiles seems just for me.
“Eat up, boys. I will be back to check on you in a few minutes.”
With a squeeze of my shoulder, she offers me that cute half-smile, then turns on her heel. Once more, my eyes drop to her ass, even if it is a bastard thing to do. I cannot help it. Scout has a nice ass and I kind of want to feel it settled on my lap, or cupped in my big, rough hands.
Beneath the table, my dick stirs again and I down my sweet tea as if it will fix things. All that does is bring her back to the table faster. Her hand on my shoulder gives another squeeze and my cock jerks as if under her spell. The other guys watch us as if we were putting on a show for them. Telling them I won’t cover lunch gets them to knock it off.
While we sit there, our drinks stay topped off, we get seconds on fries and chips, and she chit-chats with the guys about Driftwood. I say little to nothing, yet I listen to everysinglething she says. I may seem aloof, but I am hanging on to every piece of information she shares with us.
Scout just settled in Driftwood a few weeks ago. Finished college a few years ago then went backpacking all over the world. Came here because some of her friends settled here last summer. Sounded like a cute place. But the most important things I hear? No boyfriend and no prospect of one.
Should it matter? Were the guys right and I want to make a move on this pretty little thing? What do I even know about making a move? I have never made a move before. I just started holding hands with the girl I had a crush on, and we stayed together until she was done with me. Hell, I have no idea how to talk to someone who makes me feel this way.
“Here you go, sugar,” Scout hums as she slides the check towards me. I almost miss it—but I don’t. That same smile is on her pink lips, her eyes watching me as I grab the ticket. Which has her number scrawled across the top of it. Well, hell. It looks as if I don’t need to make a move.
Scout made a move and beat me to it.
Chapter Two
Scout
Driftwood might be the cutest place I have ever seen.
That is saying a lot, considering I spent my twenties seeing the world. I strapped a backpack on my back, grabbed a map, and hit the road right after I graduated college. I hiked through the Appalachian trail; I took a boat through the Caribbean and even wandered through Canada. It was a lifelong dream for me to see as much of the world as I could after my mother passed.
