Page 64 of Worth the Risk

“Not a chance in hell. Oh look,” he says and lifts his chin to two ladies standing on the outskirts of the seating area, “another set of ladies trolling by to see if you’re going to take their bait.” I roll my eyes at him. “When I was at the bar buying your beer, Uley said they’re getting, like, fifty calls a day at dispatch from women looking for you.”

“Pussy for days,” Grant says, trying not to laugh but unable to quite hold it back.

“You should thank us,” Grady says. “We did that for you.”

“Jesus.” I shake my head and take another sip of my beer.

“I don’t think he cares about the bait, Grady. Not here. Not there. Not anywhere,” he mocks, prompting me to hold up my middle finger. “I think he has his eye on someone else.”

Images of Sidney in that tight black shirt she had on with a silky little camisole fill my mind. High heels and long legs. Hitched breaths and hard nipples.

I shift in my seat. “I care, all right,” I murmur.

I should have kissed her. There’s no doubt about that. The problem is that there would have been no stopping me once I started. Luke was waiting, and she said no, and fuck if the timing wasn’t right, so I didn’t.

But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to.

“Seems to me like someone isn’t bitching about being in the contest anymore . . . Now, why would that be?” I eye Grant across the table and know where he’s going with this and refuse to give him the ammunition to prove his point.

“And?” I draw the word out.

“And nothing, just glad to see you not worrying about . . . everything.”

“I’m not thrilled with the attention,” I say with a shrug.

“C’mon . . . you don’t like the life-size poster of you over in the Chamber of Commerce booth or the flyers all over the tables saying #TeamMalone?” Grady chuckles as he holds one up before tossing it over his shoulder.

“No. I don’t.”

“Hey, Grant? How many of these women do you think are going to take these pictures home and have some fun while staring at it later tonight?”

“Dude . . . I seriously think Mom dropped you on your head when you were little. There’s something wrong with you.” I push Grady’s shoulder, and he swipes my beer and downs the rest of it.

“You want another?” Grady asks as he stands, and Grant and I both nod. I shove some money into his hand since it’s my round to buy and then lean back in my chair.

“Luke told Mom that Sidney came over to your house the other day,” Grant says, getting to the topic he really wants to talk about.

Leave it to Luke to spill the beans. All Luke has done is talk nonstop about Sidney since she came over, which isn’t a good thing, so I knew it was only a matter of time before Mom started nosing around. I can see in Luke’s eyes how much he hopes she and I are dating. That this woman who paid particular attention to him is more than just a random friend.

That maybe I’ll like her vagina and we’ll get married.

I snort a laugh, and Grant looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. The fact that any of this runs through my head is proof of it.

“So, was she?”

“Christ. Just what I need is Mom on my back about marriage when she knows that will never happen again.”

“Famous last words,” he says, and I crumple up a flyer with my face on it and throw it at him.

“Fine. She came over to apologize to Luke about the picture in the paper, which was the reason he got into his fight, which . . . who the fuck knows.” I scrub a hand through my hair and then close my eyes and lean back against the chair I’m sitting in.

“Which led to her coming over, playing nice with Luke, and then landing in your bed and you not sealing the deal?” Grant makes the comment with humor in his voice, but it’s his eyes that tell me he wants to know the truth. That he’s worried about me.

That it’s none of his damn business.

“She played with Luke’s Creepers.” I’m not sure why I say that, but it really was the last thing I expected her to do, so it’s stuck in my mind.

Well, that and her kiss.