“I’m sorry your mom made you feel like you shouldn’t eat dessert,” he says.
I suck in a breath. I wasn’t prepared for that.
“She was just looking out for me,” I tell him. I didn’t mean to barf out all that minor childhood trauma. I certainly don’t want the pity. Not from him.
But Dan’s face isn’t filled with pity. It’s serious—more serious than I’ve ever seen it, which is really saying something.
“Anyone who ever made you feel like you were less than perfect was seriously misguided,” he says, his voice a rumble that I feel under my skin. “I know you’ve had a bunch of shitty dates lately, so maybe you haven’t heard it in a while. But please hear me now when I say that you’re gorgeous, Carson. An absolute knockout.”
Dan looks at me with an intensity that makes all the sights and sounds around me fade away. Suddenly it’s just him and me and this one hot look. I stand so still I can feel my blood rushing through my veins. Everything in my body is telling me to reach up and feel his five o’clock shadow against my palm, to stroke a thumb over his mouth, to rise up high on my tiptoes and press my lips to his.
I swallow hard, that little voice inside my head reminding me that this isn’t real. It’s just a fantasy that a man would take me out, buy me ice cream, and tell me I’m beautiful without showing me pictures of fish he’s hooked or telling me about treasury bonds.
My breath feels ragged, and I squeeze my fists at my side. My nails bite into my palms, the pain a reminder not to get carried away.
I finally manage to summon a smile. “You’re putting on a hell of a master class in how to be a good date,” I say, forcing out a little laugh, like I’m in on the bit.
Dan blinks, the fire in his eyes flickering. “Hey, that isn’t?—”
“Hey, you guys!”
I don’t get to find out what it is or isn’t, because Owen and Wyatt are here.
Dan’s younger brother has all the trademarks of a McBride, from the height and the ice-blue eyes to that thick, dark hair. But while Dan is quiet and wears his height like an uncomfortable sweater, Owen is a walking, talking ray of sunshine, a golden retriever in human form. He’s got his arm around the waist of Wyatt, Grace’s and my other best friend. She’s grinning, her purple-tipped curls held back by a pair of hot-pink cat-eye sunglasses, her swirling tattoos peeking out from under a vintage band T-shirt she’s hacked up and sewn back together to fit her body like a glove.
The two of them could not look more mismatched or more in love.
“Hey, girlie-pop, what are you up to?” Wyatt asks, cutting her eyes over to Dan. I don’t know how long ago they spotted us, but if it was any amount of time at all, then Wyatt definitely saw the way Dan was just towering over me, the intensity of our gazes in that moment. Nothing gets by her.
But intense Dan is gone. So is the Dan who leaned casually against a brick wall and talked about his childhood. Now Dan is standing up straight, his shoulders tight, his hands pressed deep into his pockets. He looks like the human embodiment of a door that’s just been slammed.
“Just getting some ice cream,” I say, trying to catch Wyatt’s eyes, but they’re too busy roving over us. She studies the two of us like we’re a murder board, taking in Dan’s posture, my flirtydress, the way I suddenly can’t figure out what to do with my hands. If I don’t deflect—and fast—Wyatt and her powers of perception are going to read me for filth. “What about you guys?”
Whatever they’ve been up to must’ve been pretty good, because Wyatt immediately breaks into a wide grin, her suspicions suspended.
“Well, we’ve got some big news,” she says.
I drop my gaze to Wyatt’s left hand, because she and Owen, who danced around each other for months last year, have been attached at the hip ever since they finally admitted their sizable feelings to each other. They didn’t even have to tell the rest of us, because they’d been walking around with big cartoon heart eyes and everyone else could see it. I guess some people have to spend a little time being idiots before they can become lovers.
But Wyatt’s left hand is bare.
“Not yet, Grandma!” Wyatt cries, swatting at my arm.
“Ouch!” I cry, rubbing at the spot where her hand landed. Next to me, Dan lets out a low sound that damn near sounds like a growl.
“Someday,” Owen says, giving Wyatt a hot look that has her absolutely melting, but then he turns to us with a wide grin. “But first, we’re moving in together. We bought a house.”
Wyatt gives him a pointed look. “Hebought a house, and I’ll be living there with him.”
“I bought a house forus, and I’m putting your name on the title, same as mine. It just passed inspection, and we’re closing in two weeks.”
I squeal, bouncing in my wedge sandals, then drag Wyatt in for a hug. “That’s great, you guys! I’m so happy for you!”
“Thanks, friend,” Wyatt says, but as she leans in close, burying her face in my hair, she whispers, “What the fuck is up with you and Lurch?”
When she pulls back, I give her a stern look that I hope saysCut it out, you meddler, but she just volleys one back that I’m pretty sure saysI’m going to blow up your phone later, you absolute minx.
“Congrats,” Dan says. He nods in what I think is an attempt at brotherly love.
