Gideon, who had hair the color of midnight, took a large sip of beer and narrowed his eyes at me. I mirrored the gesture and after a couple of seconds, he laughed. “Sarah, Brigs here was saying you met in his place.”
“Yes. I’m dog sitting for another eleven weeks across the hall from him.”
“Convenient.” Gideon’s stare turned dark and his attention dropped to the card on the table. “You happen to get this job right after all the shit went down, and you have the card of fucking Kayla Brandy?”
“What?” Bummy sucked in a breath, his once kind face turning sour. “Brigham, don’t be an idiot. This is clearly a setup to get more information, dude. What do you want us to do?”
Their words were harsh and my heart beat faster as their meaning took hold. They thought I was a threat? To Brigham? The guy who’d kissed me and ruined every other potential first kiss I would ever have? I turned to stare at Brigham, whose face paled as he studied the journalist’s card in Gideon’s hands.
“Woah, woah,” I said, setting my fingers on the tablecloth to prevent my trembles from showing. “You are all wrong. So wrong, my god.”
“Enlighten us, then,Sarah,” Gideon snapped.
“Dude, I appreciate you looking out for me, but watch your tone with her,” Brigham said, doing the super-hot thing of dragging my chair closer to him. “I don’t like the timing of this shit either, but I’m willing to hear her out. Blue Bell, I’m sorry my friends are assholes.”
That made me feel better about the situation. “It’s nice you have people standing up and looking out for you. You never said what happened in your sports ball world, but it’s reassuring to know you do have people on your team.” I reached over and patted his hand, forgetting about the audience or that his teammates had accused me of essentially being a tabloid spy.
He grinned, dropped his gaze to my mouth for a second and took my hand so our fingers were intertwined. “I never thought about it like that. Thank you.”
I squeezed his hand and braved to look back up at his friends. I attempted to make my face look tough. “I got the job with Mr. Alexandre because his younger brother had me watch his exotic fish for a month and I managed to save them all when the place caught fire. It was great for my pet-sitting reputation. Secondly, this Kayla person you seem to know cornered me in the bathroom and said some not-so-nice things, and shoved the card into my hand. I was so dizzy from kissing Brigham that I floated back here and didn’t realize the severity of the situation. And thirdly, if you didn’t pick it up yet because you are sports ballers who’ve gotten hit in the head too many times, I don’t even know what you do! Or what happened with Brigham! So don’t call me an uncover tabloid hussy spy. I have zero mean parts in my body. Zero. The meanest thing I’ve done was not put a shopping cart back once because it was raining and I was hungover.”
Gideon waited one second before bursting into laughter, Bummy following suit. My chest heaved from my little outburst, but Brigham leaned over and pressed a kiss on my forehead, somehow making the entire situation better. I leaned into him, breathed in his woodsy cologne and scowled at his teammates. “You boys done?”
“Yes, we are,” Bummy said, amusement and pride coming from his eyes. “Sorry we were so wrong, man.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” Brigham said.
“You’re right. I’m better than that.” Bummy’s face turned serious. “Sarah, I’m sorry we assumed the worst.”
“I am too. The world we live in…distrust is easy and necessary,” Gideon added. “You seem all right.”
“You don’t know me yet, but opinions can change.”
Whatever distrust was there evaporated and they hung around for dinner and dessert, laughing and sharing stories about their shenanigans. I liked how they laughed and made fun of Brigham, much like Megan and Ethan did with me. He had good friends who cared about him, and I decided I didn’t care they’d accused me. They had good intentions, and while a part of me worried exactly what had happened with Brigham, I wasn’t brave enough to ask. It was his story to tell and he would when he was ready.
“Hey, let’s walk around,” Brigham said an hour or so later. “We can network.”
“Oh, let’s!” I stood and he took my hand right away, tucking my thumb on the inside of my palm and placing his over it. It felt protective and my nerves danced again. He led us around the venue. We passed some tables with information on how to donate money to the rescue shelters, a booth where all proceeds went to the HALO foundation, and to a photobooth with fun props. I stopped and stared at a group of friends who wore silly glasses and hats with boas and fake mustaches, and Brigham followed my stare.
“Come on, let’s get in line.”
“Wait, really?” I asked, gleeful at the thought of doing something so goofy. “What would you wear?”
“You decide for me.” He smiled down at me and I had the urge to kiss him again. He must’ve read my mind, because he dipped low and pressed his perfect lips to mine. He made the same heart-stoppingmmsound when he pulled back and I almost turned into a puddle. “I wanted to make sure it was as good as I remembered.”
“Most definitely was, uh-huh,” I responded, sounding like an idiot.
His answering chuckle made my stomach swoop and he brought our conjoined hands up to his mouth and pressed a kiss on the back of mine. “You mentioned that Kayla cornered you in the bathroom and said some hurtful things. Do you mind telling me so I can replace them with nice things?”
“You’re a charmer, Brigham. You are. It’s dangerous.”
“You’re cute, but please don’t avoid the question.”
We moved up one in line once the friends left and a couple got ready for their silly photoshoot. I took a deep breath and chose to look at the hanging tea lights instead of his face. “She assumed I was with you to get inside information or for some bet…because I’m not the type of woman you usually bring to these things.”
The lines around his lips tightened and he looked annoyed. “You don’t believe that, right?”
“That I’m here for insider sports ball trading or as a bet? No. I don’t. But I’m also under no illusions that I’m your normal…‘date’.” I finger quoted the word.
