Page 5 of More Than Friends

I scrunch my nose at the idea. I truly have no idea who he has and hasn’t slept with at the club. I don’t want to know. It’s frowned upon for anyone who works at Pembroke to get involved with the members, but people still do it. Jude openly flirts with everyone in front of me, but as far as who actually goes home with him, I have no idea. I’m happy not knowing.

“Well, I want to know how to find myself a mega-hot, rich, thoughtfulbest friend,” Mia remarks.

I start to fill my cooler with the bottles. “I’m not sure I’d call him thoughtful. Plus, it’s not like I was looking for a new friend.Jude and I just got thrown together when his best friend and my best friend started dating. Then he was annoying and decided to never leave me alone.”

Jude’s best friend, Cal, is now engaged to my best friend, Lucy. Jude and I first met last year when Lucy became Cal’s private chef. They had a little bit of history—she dated his brother—and she quickly went from being his employee to being his girlfriend to being his fiancée. Cal and Jude are always together, and Lucy and I try to spend as much time as we can together too, so Jude and I becoming friends was inevitable. Cal and Lucy spent the off-season back in the city like everyone else, but Jude spent a lot of his time here. Since I live in the Hamptons full-time, we found ourselves spending a lot of time together. It was easy to want to spend time with him, even when no one else was around. I never thought about how lonely the off-season could be, but I’ve never once felt lonely because I’ve had him here.

Speaking of Jude, I walk around the bev cart and pull my phone from the compartment on the passenger side. I pull up our text thread and fire off a text.

CHARLOTTE

A special coffee delivery for me? You shouldn’t have.

I go to put my phone away again, but it vibrates in my hand before I can.

JUDE

I didn’t want you to have to conquer the day without any caffeine. I pity the poor members who had to deal with an uncaffeinated Charlotte this morning.

I can’t help but smile.

CHARLOTTE

I’m a professional. I was very nice this morning. I’ve even made some generous tips already.

JUDE

Good. Everyone should be tipping you well. If they don’t, let me know.

I roll my eyes at his comment. He’s always trying to get me to tell him who is and isn’t a good tipper. He did the same thing when I was a waitress at Pembroke Grill. I’ve kept my lips sealed on who tips terribly or who doesn’t tip at all. Luckily, Jude is a good judge of character when it comes to who he spends his time with. All of his friends and colleagues tip extremely well.

JUDE

I’m waiting for my thank you.

“Thank you for the coffee, Jude. You’re the best, Jude. You’re my hot, swoony hero, Jude.”

CHARLOTTE

Thank you for the coffee, Jude.

I consider sending him the middle-finger emoji but decide to leave it out. I really do appreciate him going out of his way to bring me the coffee this morning. If I remember right, he had a tee time early this morning that running out and grabbing coffee might’ve made him late for.

JUDE

One of these days you’ll call me hot and swoony and it’ll make me the happiest man on Earth.

I shake my head at his text.

CHARLOTTE

I’m not here to stroke your ego. You’re not hot and swoony. You’re more of a bridge troll.

JUDE

A bridge troll?!

That’s cruel.