Eve, who, despite my best effort, I cannot get off my mind. We haven’t talked since our last kiss, mostly because the way she tore her hand out of mine when she saw my grandmother made me think the whole thing was a mistake.Another kiss that tears us apart rather than pulls us together.
But again,shekissedme.
Sheinvitedmeinside.
And it kills me to think of everything we could have gotten up to had my grandmother not interrupted us.
“Hey man, how’s it going?” Aiden asks, clapping me on the back as I take the stool next to him.
“Good, you?” I say, as the bartender heads toward me.
“What’re you having?” he asks, wiping down the bar quickly and discarding his rag.
“Whiskey neat, please. Something old if you have it.”
He holds up a finger, nodding as he turns to select a bottle and holds it up for my approval. When I nod, he pours a finger and slides it across the bar toward me.
“Thank you.”
He nods. “You were here with Eve Harper the other day, yeah?”
I gulp down a taste of whiskey, briefly wondering if I’m about to be read the riot act. “Yeah, I was.”
“You dating? I don’t usually see her out this time of year.”
“Uh, no. We were just both waiting on approvals from the town council.”
The bartender nods, and in the moment of silence that falls between us, Aiden says, “So, this is Joe, but I take it you’ve already met.”
I hold my hand out over the bar. “Ryder Blackwell.”
Comprehension falls over his face as he shakes my hand. “Oh. You’re the developer. Got it.”
And with that, he spins on his heel to take care of the next patron.
I blink, turning to Aiden. “That was weird, right?”
He shrugs, turning toward me. “That’s just Joe.” He takes a sip of the dark beer in front of him. “Little weird but a genuinely nice guy. Eve comes in here with the girls a lot in the off season, so they know each other.” He’s quiet for a second, his brow furrowed as if he’s debating something in his head. “Whatisgoing on with you and Eve, though?”
I take another sip of whiskey in lieu of answering becauseI sure as hell don’t fucking know.
“We’re… friends,” I say.
Aiden raises his eyebrows. “You’re friends?”
I nod.
He rolls his eyes. “Come on, dude. When we were seventeen you gave me an in-depth analysis of Margot McMann’s breasts.” He holds up his hands before I can interrupt him. “Believe me, I’m not looking for that sort of detail. If you even have it.” He shakes his head as if trying to rid his brain of the thought. “Just want more than the party line you give to people you don’t know. I mean, you left a rooster in her chicken coop, for Christ’s sake.”
I swallow over the number of dirty jokes that come to mind.
Becausefuck, do I want to leave my rooster in her chicken coop.
I take a sip of my whiskey as Aiden eyes me. “We’re friends who… have kissed. More than once.”
He nods, digesting this. “Look, I know we’ve known each other a long time, but it’s been a while and I have to ask—you’re not trying to get her on your side by acting like you like her, right?”
I rear back. I expect this sort of thing from other people in Eve’s life, but frommyfriend? “No, of course not.”
