“But seriously, thank you. These are my two favorite places,” she states, confirming what I already know. She loves fancycoffee drinks from the little corner shack near the bar and shops the bookstore often.
“Finally!” my twin brother, Cade, announces dramatically as he enters the kitchen.
“Shut up,” I grumble before shoveling chips into my mouth.
He falls into the chair beside me and takes the bag of chips. “So, we thought we’d head up to Chuck’s Place after this,” he says with a mouthful.
I don’t say a word, not really wanting to go up there.
“Heard there’s a hot new owner, so we all thought we’d go check her out.”
I can feel his eyes on me, but I refuse to look his way.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us,” Cade says, filling the silence with his words, like always. “No worries though. It’s all anyone is talking about.”
“When do you work next?” Camden asks, smiling at me from across the table.
I shrug. “Don’t know. Chuck usually texts me, but as you mentioned, he doesn’t own it anymore.”
“So, are you not working there?” Cade asks, his blue eyes penetrating past my defenses.
Again, I lift my shoulders casually. “I don’t know. Haven’t talked to her.”
“But she is hot, right?” I narrow my eyes at my twin, who just laughs. “She is!”
“I didn’t say that,” I retort way too quickly and with too much venom.
He just grins that cocky little smirk of his. “You didn’t have to.”
Charli leans over and smacks my arm. “We’re all going. It’s for my birthday.”
I exhale and close my eyes, knowing there’s no point in arguing it now. If Charli wants to go, then we’re all going. “Fine.”
“Yes!” Cade hollers, throwing both arms up in the air victoriously. “I can’t wait to meet the new hottie. She’ll fall hopelessly in love with the twin who actually got all the charm and good looks.”
I just stare at my brother. Myidenticaltwin brother. “You’re an idiot.”
He shrugs and grabs more chips. “Maybe so, but I bet by the end of the night, I’ll have her number.”
I don’t take that bet.
Why?
Because the thought of him getting Lizzie’s number and calling her sits in my gut like a lead balloon. It’s a picture I don’t want to see, a thought I don’t even want to enter my brain.
But maybe that’s just what I need to get her out of my mind. My brother and I have never fought over girls. Well, not since fourth grade and we both fell hopelessly in love with Missy Johnson. I shared my grapes with her and Cade his Cheez-Its. It caused a huge issue at home between brothers, considering we lived in the same bedroom.
It was at that moment we vowed to never let a woman come between us. If one brother saw a girl first, they got first dibs, and that was that.
Except…
I saw Lizzie first.
CHAPTER
FOUR
Lizzie
