Hayden frowns. “What do you mean, one night of kissing?”
“I mean exactly what I just said. We kissed on the 4th of July. That’s it.” I shrug. Like it’s no big deal.
“Wait a minute. You two just—kissed? Once? You and Caleb?” She sounds dumbfounded.
“Yes. That’s it. We’re not taking it beyond that. I don’t want to,” I say, lying through my teeth.
I’m dying to take it further. If he has sex the way he kisses, then I’m guaranteed a good time. Like seriously, the man can do no wrong when it comes to his mouth. It was a true joy, being wrapped up in his strong arms and kissing him.
“This is so unlike you,” she murmurs, appearing concerned. She’s frowning and everything. “And Caleb. Is this ‘friendship’ —serious between you two?”
“Of course not!” I laugh, but it sounds overly fake so I stop. “It’s definitely not serious. Caleb doesn’t have a serious bone in his body. Neither do I.”
“You do too, you just haven’t found the right guy to be serious about yet.” Hayden winces. “Please don’t tell me you think Caleb could be the one.”
“I definitely don’t think that.” I push away from the counter and head for the sliding glass door, opening it and stepping outside so I can talk to the guys. I’d rather hear them chat about football and bro stuff than continue the conversation Hayden and I were having. I’m sure she’s not mad at me for leaving her like that anyway. I’ve done that sort of thing to her before. She’ll just follow me outside and throw herself at Tony, who’s currently taking over manning the barbecue, since Eli burns everything every time he tries.
He gets too distracted, telling stores and laughing it up with his friends. Or he gets too wrapped up with Ava. One time we even had to call for pizza because everything he tried to cook was charred to a blackened crisp.
“Haven’t seen you around much lately,” Tony says when he spots me approaching him. He’s probably the safest guy to talk to out of all of them currently standing around.
“Work is keeping me really busy,” I tell him, watching as he scrapes at the grill with some sort of cleaning tool before setting fresh burger patties onto the cleaned surface with a spatula.
“I hear the lake is packed this summer.” When I frown, he explains, “Caleb mentioned it to me earlier.”
I am dying to ask if Caleb mentioned anything else, but that would be too obvious that I’m digging for information.
“Yeah, it’s been a constant stream of people every day. It’s great though. Making money and working on my tan. Best of both worlds,” I tease.
“You are looking pretty tan,” Tony observes.
“She is, huh? Looking sexy, G,” Caleb says, choosing that exact moment to sidle up next to me and sling his arm around my shoulders, tugging me in close to his side.
What the what? I glare up at him, shrugging his arm off of me. “Stop, Caleb.”
“See you two are getting along as usual,” Tony says, returning his attention to the grill. This is why he doesn’t burn anything. He’s patient and he doesn’t get distracted.
“We’ve been getting along better than ever,” Caleb tells his friend, his smoldering gaze meeting mine in challenge. “Huh, Gracie?”
“Yeah. For sure,” I say through gritted teeth, annoyed as hell that he’s trying to…what? Rile me up?
I leave Tony and Caleb when they’re in the middle of a conversation, going in search of someone else. Anyone else. Eli is chatting with Diego so I join them for a second, but all they’re talking about is football and stats and other teams in their division, so I bail. I find most of the women inside, sitting in the living room and teaching Diego’s two-year-old daughter Gigi how to say Louis Vuitton correctly. This is all Ava’s fault, who is currently letting Gigi carry her Louis Vuitton purse.
“Isn’t she adorable?” Hayden picks Gigi up and gives her a smacking kiss on the cheek.
“Put me down!” Gigi shouts, and Hayden does exactly that. Gigi sashays around my living room like a model striding down a catwalk, the purse chain slung over her shoulder and the bag dragging on the carpet.
“You really shouldn’t let her play with your expensive bag,” says Gigi’s mom, Jocelyn, to Ava.
“It’s no big deal. Besides, look how cute she is,” Ava says, her gaze on Gigi and no one else. “I can’t wait to have a family someday.”
“With Eli?” Jocelyn asks.
Ava nods and smiles, her gaze hazy. A little dreamy. “He’ll be the crazy dad in the neighborhood. All the kids will love him, especially ours.”
“I can’t believe you’re already thi
nking about having children with Eli,” Hayden tells her. “I have three years on you and I still kind of freak out at the idea of having a baby.”