“Ash. Have you been here before?” Ash asked, wanting to keep the conversation going with the beautiful stranger.
Luke nodded. “Nearly every week. My buddies and I come after work on Fridays. You?”
“Not in a while, but my friends and I frequented here during undergrad.”
Luke raised his eyebrows. “Were you like those drunk kids who stumbled in without knowing this was a townie bar?”
Ash laughed. “Actually, no. We aren’t dancing people; we just want a quiet space to talk and have a drink.”
Luke glanced briefly over his shoulder before turning back to Ash. “Can I buy you a drink?”
Ash blinked a few times in shock.Thisman wanted to buythema drink? Ash had half a mind to look around for Ashton Kutcher and the crew from ‘Punk’d’. Ash opened their mouth to answer just as the bartender appeared with the tray of drinks Ash ordered.
“Or I can reimburse you for that one?” Luke let out a laugh. God, his laugh was sexy. It started deep in his chest and rolled out of him like distant thunder.
“I should bring these back to my friends, but I’ll be right back. Because yes, I would like that very much.”
Ash gathered the drinks and rushed over to their friends, who watched them approach with smirks. Ash doled out the drinks and then ran a hand over their newly-buzzed head.
“Are youtalkingto someone?” Michael asked, his glasses sliding down his nose again.
“Yes.” Ash’s breaths were shallow. “And he wants to buy me a drink. I know this was our night to spend together, so I can tell him no-”
Trixie cut them off by raising their hand. “If you don’t go over there right now, I will drag you back to that sexy cowboy by your fucking ear.”
“She’s right,” Sage said. “We’ve been trying to get you to hook up with someone foryearsnow. We’re not letting up just because we haven’t seen you in months. You’re staying in town; we can get together whenever we want.”
“Are you sure?” Ash asked, wringing their hands.
“Ash,” Michael said, turning to Ash fully. “Go get him.”
“Fuck, I love you guys.” Ash grabbed their drink and made their way back towards Luke.
Ash felt their skin catchfireunder Luke’s stare as they approached him. “You came back,” he said.
“Did you think I wouldn’t?” Ash asked, sitting back down.
Luke shrugged. “Fifty-fifty.”
“Well, I’m here,” Ash said. “What are you drinking?”
Luke’s hand was wrapped around a pint glass as he turned the empty can towards Ash. “Vodka pink lemonade.”
Ash had to resist the urge to burst out laughing. Not because men couldn’t drink pink lemonade, but because, based on Ash’s first impression, they thought Luke would drink IPA. But that was the thing about stereotypes—they were rarely true.
“In a can?” Ash furrowed their brow.
Luke raised a brow. “For someone who frequents this bar, I’m surprised you don’t know they started a canned cocktail line. They have vodka pink lemonade, vodka soda grapefruit, and whiskey cider.”
Ash dropped their jaw. “No fucking way. I don’t come here for a few months, and they put my favorite drink in a can?”
This elicited another rumble of laughter from Luke. “Would you like one?”
Ash looked down at the lager they ordered and weren’t enjoying. “Very much so.”
Chapter two
The first sip of the whiskey cider tasted like drinking hot cider by a bonfire with the trees in peak color change.
