Page 30 of Dr. Sexypants

“You guys know Kristy…”

****

Justin

This girl was either an enigma or didn’t know what the hell she wanted.

Or maybe she did and that scared her.

This time I rested my hand possessively at the small of her back while we talked with Rob, Katelyn, and Emily. She didn’t seem to mind as she looked at me more than once with smiling green eyes.

Fuck, she’s beautiful.

I wanted to lean down and kiss her mouth right there but settled for a gentle squeeze of her hip before resting my hand again at the small of her back.

I’m not even sure if she realized that she took a tiny step—maybe an inch—toward me.

But that inch spoke volumes.

Chapter Five

Kristy

I didn’t leave Justin’s side for the remainder of the party—even when he blew out the candles on his cake, and I noticed more than one young woman cast a dirty look in my direction.

I wanted to mouth, “Just friends,” at them, but the longer we hung out, the harder it was to convince myself that was the case.

Besides, Brian was right—since when did I care what other people thought?

We ended the night in the corner booth that Lainey, Adam, Jade, and Brian had occupied all night. Rob and Katelyn also joined us.

It was an interesting dynamic, with Lainey now living with Adam, and Katelyn being Shawn’s little sister.

To her credit, Katelyn seemed supportive of the new relationship. I knew her parents, Hugh and Teresa, were totally on board. I think they found comfort in spending time with Conor, who looked more and more like Shawn every day. It was in their best interest not to piss Lainey off.

Not that Lainey would ever keep them from seeing their grandson; they’d have to do some outlandish shit for that to happen now. My BFF wasn’t nearly as petty as me. I would have cut them off after the way they’d initially treated her when we all found Shawn had been killed in action, and she’d told them she was pregnant with his baby.

But they’d made amends, and Hugh and Teresa even made sure Lainey got Shawn’s life insurance money, which is how she was able to buy the bakery.

So maybe being petty wasn’t always the smartest move.

Perhaps that’s why I tried to be nice to Katelyn after my dig about her drinking hard cider like a college kid.

“So, Katelyn, where are you working these days?”

It seemed like she, too, had the petty gene, because she looked me right in the eye and deadpanned, “Why do you want to know?”

The problem with being petty, however, is if people don’t know your reason for it or the context behind it, you just come off as an asshole.

Lainey furrowed her brows. “Aren’t you working as a loan officer at the bank?”

Katelyn schooled her expression when she looked at Lainey. “I’m coming up on my two-year anniversary with them.”

My BFF still looked confused, prompting Jade to ask, “So why was that a secret?”

Realizing there was no way to answer that without cementing the asshole label, she relaxed her shoulders and offered a contrite smile. “It wasn’t.”

I didn’t try making any more small talk with Katelyn.