Page 24 of Dr. Sexypants

And just in case someone chose to ignore the universal bar version of “dibs,” I called to Josie, “We’ll be right back!”

She nodded as she pulled beer glasses from a green rack and put them on the counter.

Everyone moved near the bar entrance—even Brian with his bum leg, Jade, and Adam. But I hung back on the fringe. Thankfully, Lainey stayed with me.

The crowd yelled, “Surprise!” when Justin walked in ahead of Rob. He looked yummy in a relaxed pair of medium-blue jeans and a sage-green henley polo that made his hazel eyes look green. His styled messy, wavy brown hair and five o’clock shadow gave off laid-back hottie vibes.

He surveyed the room as people swarmed him, and when his eyes met mine, he broke into a smile that made my heart skip a beat.

This is not good!

Yet, I stood frozen as he made a beeline for me.

****

Justin

Rob paused before starting his car and ’fessed up that we weren’t going to Maxfield’s for dinner.

“I know.”

His brows immediately knitted together. “How do you know?”

“Doesn’t matter. But it’s a good thing you came clean while I still have a chance to back out or our friendship might have been in question.”

“Do you want to back out? I mean, some people went to a lot of trouble to put this together.”

“Who exactly planned this?”

“I’m not sure, but Michelle Walsh was the one who called me.”

I was afraid of that.

As I’d been cleaning out my backpack to do laundry, I found a card from her that was separate from the group card everyone signed. It’d had just the right amount of flirtiness that it could be passed off as innocuous if I wasn’t interested or, if I chose to, could easily be escalated.

I wasn’t escalating anything with Michelle.

She was cute, nice, and good at her nursing job, but to quote a crude idiom—I didn’t shit where I ate.

Not to mention I wasn’t attracted to her in the least.

Rob started the car, and I put my seatbelt on.

“I don’t know why you agreed to help out. You know how I feel about this kind of shit.”

“I know, but she pleaded a good case—talking about how much you do for the community, and this was their way of saying thanks—that I couldn’t say no.”

“Hmph.”

“I think she might have a little crush on you.”

“Yeah, no shit. And I’m going to be the asshole for not being interested after she helped plan this party.”

“Aw, crap.” After a beat, he said, “I don’t think you’ll be the asshole.”

“I hope not.”

My only consolation was Kristy was supposed to be there.