When she scowled and crossed her arms, I held my hands up in surrender and apologized. “Sorry. Want me to leave you alone?” I asked, my eyes shifting between watching her expressions and keeping tabs on Paul.
He was hovering, watching.
She glanced over her shoulder and noticed it too.
“No.” Her phone buzzed on the dark wood countertop. She picked it up and read her messages.
“Shit,” she whispered.
“Everything okay?”
“My friend’s kid is sick; she has to cancel.” She sighed as she typed a reply. “I really wanted a night out.”
“Then stay and finish your drink.”
Her eyes flickered to Paul again. “I don’t want him to think I need company.”
“I can stay.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“It’s a great idea. He’ll see us together and leave you alone. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to trick you into a date.”
Madi eyed her still mostly full beer. “I really could use a night out.”
“Then it’s decided. We’ll order dinner and have a few drinks.”
She nodded, lifted her beer, and took a long drag.
“What’d you order?” I asked as I removed her jacket off the stool so I could sit.
“The house IPA.”
“Is it any good?”
She handed me her glass. “Want to try it?”
My hand brushed hers as I reached for the cold glass.
That’s all it took for me to become instantly, uncomfortably hard.
Her eyes followed the glass as I lifted it to my lips and sipped.
My eyes never left her beautiful face.
Based on her rounded, non-blinking hazel eyes and flushed cheeks, I figured it wasn’t the glass she was watching.
I smiled as I handed the glass back to her, then used my jeans to wipe the glass sweat off my hands.
Her eyes tracked the movement.
Nope.I’m here as a friend. I won’t think about dragging Madi out of here like a fucking caveman and taking her back to my place to relive that night.
Nope. Not risking life and limb, my job, or my balls. I didn’t doubt Madi would remove them if I acted out of line.
“What do you think?” Madi asked.
I think I can’t think clearly with all my blood in the wrong head.
