Page 64 of Temporarily in Love

“I thought kilts were a Scottish thing,” Gemma said as she stared at Finn from her seat next to me at the bar.

Felix shrugged. “I don’t know. Ask the Scottish-American next to you.”

I shrugged. “It’s all Celtic. So who cares?”

Gemma nodded in approval as she looked around the pub. “No, I get it, it’s a gimmick, and it definitely works. It matches the vibe here. Lila did a great job putting this together so fast. I’m impressed.”

I nodded and sipped my beer. Killian and Brian were behind the bar, slinging back beers and looking stressed, but in a good way. In a way, that told me the place hadn’t been this packed in a really long time.

Lila had been taking tables since it was so busy that I saw spare glimpses of her every once in a while, but I let her do her thing. She seemed to thrive on being at the pub, and a part of me wondered if I could convince her to stay. If not for me, but for her family’s business. After all the work she put into the place, was she really going to up and leave?

“When does Lila go back to California?” Felix asked.

I shrugged. “She keeps saying vaguely after Halloween.”

Gemma put her hand on her chin. “Okay. That means I need to make sure the Halloween party’s the best damn one we’ve ever thrown.”

I waved her off. “It’ll be great. You already did so much planning.”

Gemma pulled out her phone and started tapping away at something. Felix gave her an annoyed look, but she ignored him as she focused on her phone.

Felix told me when they had been in the Poconos together before Gemma accepted the marketing director job, she had thought of marketing stuff for the brewery the whole time. She took photos for the social channels and even took him on some brewery tours, where she compared our beers. She never stopped thinking about what to do to help the brewery. That had been exactly why I wanted her for the job in the first place.

“Sweet thing,” Felix said in a warning tone. “We agreed not to do work stuff tonight. It’s our night out.”

She held up a finger to him. “One second.”

He bent down towards her ear and whispered something that made a blush blossom across Gemma’s face. I didn’t want to know, but I had a feeling it was super dirty.

I looked around to see if Avery and Nolan were still around, but they were nowhere in sight.

Gemma slid her phone back into her pocket. “Oh, those two bounced like an hour ago. You were too busy drooling over your girl.”

“Shut it!” I said and nudged her arm.

“Truth, though,” she teased.

Felix hid his smile behind his beer glass.

Traitor.

Speaking of the devil, Lila came up behind the bar and punched something into the register. She gave me a tight smile. “One more table, and then we can go.”

“You do what you need to do,” I told her. “I’ll be right here waiting.”

She leaned over the bar and gave me a quick kiss. She bent to my ear. “I’m going to let you fuck my face so hard later.”

I nearly choked at that, and I was pretty sure Gemma and Felix heard what she said based on their snickering beside me. Lila grinned like the little brat she was and walked off.

Gemma nudged me.

“Not a word,” I snapped.

She grinned. “No wonder you’ve been in such a good mood lately.”

“Lay off him.” Felix came to my rescue.

“Well, Lila certainly hasn’t.”