Chapter One
Last year, in July
* * *
"Honestly, Amanda, I'm fifteen hundred miles away," Jenna Montgomery said, her voice as clear as if she were sitting on the next barstool at The Fix on Sixth. "How am I supposed to assess the situation in Austin all the way from Los Angeles if you don't give me anything to work with?"
Amanda Franklin bit her lower lip, forcing herself not to giggle into her smart phone. Assess the situation? The way Jenna was talking, you'd think they were engaging in espionage.
Then again, maybe they were. She'd seen enough movies to know that espionage was a game that centered around a dangerous dance where any misinterpretation of signals could get you killed.
Sounded pretty much like dating to her.
"Is he cute?" Jenna asked.
"Would I be calling if he weren't?"
"Good point. What's he doing now?"
"Tiffany's working his table. He just ordered something. I think--Oh! He wears reading glasses."
"Is that bad?" Jenna asked.
Amanda made a low growling noise. "Nope, and especially not with this guy." He'd been holding the menu when he'd first caught her eye, and she'd assumed he wore glasses as a matter of course. But he'd set the menu aside, then taken off his glasses and tucked them into a case.
At the same time, he'd shifted in his chair. For the second time that night their eyes had met, and she'd been rendered breathless by a pair of pale gray eyes that reflected a heat that belied their stone-cold color.
"That's twice," Amanda said, picking up her Jalapeno Margarita, then putting it right back down when she realized she'd already drained the thing. "This guy. He's..."
"What?" Jenna pressed, as Amanda trailed off, unable to find the right word.
"Intense, I guess. I mean, those eyes are the kind you swipe right for, you know?"
"And you don't think it's your imagination? That he's checking you out, I mean. You said he was sitting with someone. He's not on a date and scoping you out, is he? Because that translates to asshole, and you don't want to go there."
"I don't think so. He's sitting with a gorgeous black guy sipping a whiskey. But I'm not getting a vibe that either of them is gay. On the contrary, I'm getting a dancing lady parts vibe."
"From Mr. Glasses?"
"From both of them, but Glasses is the one who knows I'm alive on the planet. Mr. Whiskey hasn't looked at me once. Glasses has taken a couple of peeks. It's kind of..." She trailed off with a shrug even though Jenna couldn't see her.
"What?"
"Hot," Amanda admitted. She couldn't explain it. But there really was something in the way he looked at her that made her tingle in all the right places. And she had to assume it was because of him. Because goodness knows he wasn't the first guy to shoot her a smoldering glance across the bar.
"You should go for it," Jenna announced. "Or, actually, never mind. Damn. I wish I were there. Doing the BFF thing from long distance sucks."
"It does," Amanda agreed. "But what were you going to say?"
"I don't remember."
Amanda wrinkled her nose. "I smell bullshit." She swiveled the bar stool away from the table so that she was facing the bar, then signaled for Reece to bring her another. One of the bar's managers, he was pouring tonight. "Just tell me," Amanda said into the phone, once again turning her attention to Mr. Glasses.
"I don't know," Jenna said. "Rebound guys can be cathartic and all, but you've been--"
"Whoring around?"
"I didn't say that!" Jenna squealed at the same time that Reece slid a fresh margarita in front of Amanda.
"Who's whoring around?" he asked.
"Jenna," Amanda quipped, surprised by how quickly and intently his expression darkened.
"What the hell?" Jenna sputtered. "Who are you talking to?"
"Your BFF who ranks higher than me. I need to get out of here soon, so I'm going to let you guys gossip while I slam back my drink." She and Jenna said their goodbyes, and she passed the phone to Reece.
Reece grinned as Jenna said something, and Amanda silently motioned for him to bring her the check. Since the two of them could easily talk forever, she figured it was better to go ahead and get it now. Then she took a contemplative sip from her margarita and went back to watching Mr. Glasses.
/> Rebound guy.
Whoring around.
The words swished around in her head like cartoon ghosts with long, wispy tails.
I didn't say that, Jenna had said. But maybe she should have. Maybe it was true.
With a sigh, Amanda took another sip, enjoying the fiery tang, so much more pleasant on her tongue than the aftertaste of her mistakes.
The truth was, Leo had pretty much destroyed her. And, yes, it had been over nine months since she'd even spoken to the bastard, but that didn't change how much his betrayal had hurt. Her friends only knew that it had been a bad breakup. Even Jenna didn't know that Amanda and Leo had been planning to elope.
But then he'd dropped the bomb, and suddenly she was staring at a man she didn't even know. A man who was saying words like "mistake" and "carried away" and "romantic haze."