Page 9 of 10 Things I Hate About Mistletoe

“No problem.” Merry stood up, stretching out her back. “Thank you for stepping up. I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with.”

“We’ll be in touch.” He dragged Pike toward the exit, ignoring his protesting friend. When they got outside, he released Pike and continued walking to work, grunting when he felt a sharp kick to his thigh. “Your pants are too tight to kick me in the ass, huh?”

“Fuck you. I can’t believe you hate my Brussels sprouts.” Pike said, pouting. “That hurts my feels.”

“They’re fine, but not something you want to eat, man.”

Pike sniffed dramatically. “I like them.”

“Good for you, but you should go with the majority on this one.”

“You suck.”

“Maybe,” Anthony said, reaching into his pocket for his keys, “but better you know now than when they’re spitting your dish out in a napkin.”

“Speaking of a dish … ” Pike took a sip of his coffee with a grunt. “What did you say to Delilah Gill?”

“When? Today?”

“Yeah, when you went to grab our coffees. She looked ready to twist your head off.” Pike chuckled, waving at a car driving by. “I’m used to that reaction from women, but you?”

Anthony hadn’t told Pike about the kiss with Delilah because he’d thought that’s what her goal was, but also because, as hurt as he’d been, he didn’t want anyone to think badly of Delilah. Despite how the night ended, he’d liked the woman he’d gotten to know that night.

“I simply wished her a good morning. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Why do I want to call bullshit?” Pike asked.

“You know what?” Anthony snapped his fingers. “I told her I liked her breast cancer awareness shirt.”

Pike pursed his lip thoughtfully. “There is something afoot. Are you into her?”

“No, man.” It wasn’t a lie. While there might have been a moment during their kiss when he’d been tempted to lose himself in her softness, Anthony was thankful he’d come to his senses.

With her snarky T-shirts and magnetic tops for her glasses that seemed to match everything she wore, they were polar opposites. Yet, even with everything that happened, wearing that I Heart Boobies shirt had made him smile.

“You should think more about hitting the bar to meet women,” Pike blurted.

“That came out of left field.”

“I’m serious, bro. We go to Brews and Chews a couple times a week, and you just sit there nursing a beer.”

“You date enough for the both of us.”

“Because I’m looking for something real.”

“You think you’ll find your dream girl in a bar?”

“Why not? Nick and Noel kissed for the first time at Brews and Chews. Clark realized his online date was Merry.”

“I seem to remember you telling Nick a few years ago there was plenty of fish in the sea or some shit like that.”

Pike shook his head. “That was before I realized I was staring down the barrel of thirty-two, and other fishermen are getting their hooks in the best catches.”

Pike didn’t talk about the girl who’d burned him the year before Nick returned from the military or his unrequited feelings for Noel often, but when he did, it was always some weird food metaphor.

“There’s no reason to rush into something because you’re afraid of being alone,” Anthony said.

“That’s not my problem. In every relationship I’ve ever had, I’ve always cared more. Becky. Noel. Even Sally, although her dumping me may have been my fault.”