Sweet (Landry Family 6)

“First, I haven’t heard anything about the apartment,” I say slowly, still working through the question. “So there’s that.”

“Will you move there if they call?”

I sigh. “I don’t know, Kinsley. Probably. I mean … yes.” I grab my water with both hands. “Of course, I will. Nate and I are a couple—”

“Officially?” Her eyes sparkle. “That’s freaking awesome.”

It is. I smile at her, my heart swelling in my chest. Because I have never, ever seen this face—such … joy—directed at me about one of my boyfriends. It’s as though I’ve finally chosen right, and my best friend is backing me completely. That feels good.

“But we aren’t at the point where I’m moving in with him. That would be crazy.”

She leans back in the booth. “But would it, though?”

“Yeah, Kins. It would.”

“It’s obviously working out for you. And I’m sure he loves having you there, being the big, strong, alpha male that I bet he is.” She grins wickedly. “It would be much more convenient to walk across the house to see him rather than driving across town.”

She’s right, but the idea of staying there indefinitely makes me itchy. My skin feels too tight when I think about taking things another step in that direction. It’s too much, too soon.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” I say, happy to move the conversation along. “How was the date with Leo?”

She pauses long enough for the server to deliver our sandwiches. We thank her before she moves on to another table.

Kinsley picks up a fry. “It was fun. We drank and danced and went back to my place for a little nightcap, if you will.” She laughs. “It was an all-night cap and then a morning cap. He’s quite good in bed.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” I squirt ketchup on my plate to form the letter n. “Not sorry I missed it but glad you had fun all the same.”

“I bet you’re not. You were in bed with Nate. Well, I assume it was a bed.”

I nod.

“And that choice was a solid one because Griffin … that would’ve been self-sabotage at its finest,” she says with a laugh.

“Oh, crap. Why?”

“Let’s just say that I think he’s married and has a kid on the way by another woman whose last name he doesn’t know that he met on an airplane coming back from a bachelor party in Vegas.” She watches my reaction. “Yeah.”

I dip a fry into the ketchup. “Wow. Okay. That’s a lot to unpack.”

She laughs. “Just be glad you’re not the one trying to dig into those suitcases because they’re probably filled with bedbugs. And lice. And venereal diseases.”

“That’s such a shame. He was so cute.”

“Apparently, half the nation has thought that.”

I bite the end off my fry and contemplate Griffin. Why am I always drawn to guys like him?

Always, except for Nate.

For as long as I’ve known him, he’s felt like a shelter from the world. He’s protected me and supported me and put up with my shit.

Why does that scare me, while the troubled guys don’t?

I take another fry.

Because Nate will fight for me in more ways than one.

My stomach twists, and I set the fry down.

“You okay?” she asks.

“Yeah. It was the talk of venereal diseases. It grossed me out.” I take a drink. “Leo wasn’t at that bachelor party, was he?”

She laughs. “No. Thank God. I’m all for a good bachelor party, but this one sounds like it went off the rails. And not in a funny way like in The Hangover. In a he woke up and didn’t know where he was without his wallet and a fresh new tattoo kind of way.”

“How do you know this? Griffin just told you?”

“It’s funny what tequila will do to a man.”

“Trust me. I’ve seen a lot working at The Gold Room.”

She smirks. “How is that going to go—you bartending and getting hit on while Nate lurks in the back? I can’t see him taking that well.”

“We’ve been together now for like a day. I don’t have all the answers. I haven’t thought about it.”

“It could be super hot.”

Or super annoying. I think of the way he grabbed my hips from behind the last time I was at the bar. Okay, or super hot.

“We’ll see how it goes,” I say, wiping my hands with a napkin. “But speaking of work, I have to run by there and get my check. If I don’t get it in the bank today, I just might overdraw.”

“Now you’re speaking a language I can understand. I’m always right on the line. Every morning when I check my balance—it could go either way. It’s like bank roulette.”

I laugh. “I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a trust fund baby. Oh! Speaking of wealth in buckets, did you know Mallory from Stretch is married to one of the Landrys?”