“’Twas a necessity. We’re lucky I didn’t borrow your hockeystick to defend myself.” I turn to Ty, who’s still looking at me like I accosted him unfairly. “I really am sorry.”
“It’s fine, I’m just shocked.” Ty rubs his lips, his eyes rocking from Liam to me and back again.
“It’s not like you two haven’t met,” Liam says, laughing as he elbows Ty in the ribs. “Vivian’s family owns the jewelry store—Sullivan’s Fine Jewelry. It’s right near Leaf & Letter. Juliette’s shop.”
Ty’s gaze flicks back to me, sharper now. Like something just clicked into place.
“Juliette?” he repeats.
Liam looks at him like he’s kidding. “Yeah, Juliette. Sawyer’s better half.”
Ty blinks once, then nods slowly, like he’s putting the pieces together.
“Right,” he says. “The plant shop.”
“Yeah, the plant shop,” Liam confirms. “The one Sawyer got sent to for that whole community outreach thing.”
I can’t help the small smile that pulls at my mouth. “Community thing” is one way to put it. More like forced proximity, public embarrassment, and a man who didn’t know a pothos from a philodendron being dropped into a plant store and told to behave.
“Worked out for him,” Liam adds with a shrug. “Guy went in for PR damage control and came out coupled up with the owner of the store.”
“As you would,” I say lightly, but in jest. “Where’s Lucy?”
“With a friend,” Liam says. “She’s helping her get a record shop up and running. Lucy’s gone all in.”
“That sounds like her,” I say, smiling.
We talk for a minute about the shop and Lucy being exactly the kind of person who would drop everything to help someone get settled—and I nod along, trying to get my heart rate back down to something reasonable.
It almost works, until I glance at Ty, and then immediatelywish I hadn’t. Because now I’m noticing things I definitely did not need to notice.
Like how put together and casually handsome he is without trying. The way he’s standing there, a little guarded, still clearly processing what just happened. The fact that I kissed him. On purpose. In public.
Fantastic.
Then, my gaze drops before I can stop it.
His arms. Solid. Defined in that unfair, of-course-he-looks-like-that kind of way. Exactly the kind of build I’ve always liked, which my noticing now is deeply inconvenient timing. The curves of his biceps are barely contained, stretching his T-shirt and leaving next to nothing up to my imagination, and that does something to a woman.
Then his jaw—clean, sharp, the kind that makes you want to run your fingers along it just to see if it feels as solid as it looks.
I drag my eyes back up. Because wow.
I haven’t really looked at another man in a long time. Not like this. Not with interest. And now that I am?—
I could have done a lot worse.
“Anyway,” Liam says as he waves his keys in the air. “We need to get going. Ready, man?”
Ty nods, his eyes still locked on me as he follows Liam to a car parked on the street. I clear my throat and shift my weight, pulling myself back on track and walking with them.
“I should go,” I say, brushing my hands together lightly. “This was supposed to be my quiet day.” I glance at Ty once more, shooting him a quick, apologetic look. “Sorry. Again.”
He studies me for a beat, like he’s deciding what to do with me.
“Next time,” he says, voice even, already reaching for the door of the car parked just behind him, “maybe lead with the explanation.”
Heat creeps up my neck. Oof. “You have a point,” I admit.
