“Hey,” he says softly and squeezes my hand. “Don’t fall asleep.”
Laughter bubbles out of me. “If I do, it’s your fault.”
He pulls to the curb in front of Wildfire Brewery, shuts down the truck, and clicks open his seat belt, then takes my face in both hands and looks at me like I’m precious before he kisses me. “You’re fucking amazing, you know that?”
I sober and meet his eyes. Really meet them and see him. I swear I can see into his soul, and if I didn’t know him like I do, I could make myself believe he really loves me. Beyond friends. But I do know him, and I don’t need another shattered heart, so I kiss him and slide from the truck.
He immediately takes my hand and looks up at the brewery’s sign as he heads toward the front door. “I’m starving now, thanks to you.”
I smile. “Hmm, same.”
&nb
sp; He grabs the handle of the front door, and I put my hand over his. “Wait.”
He does, scanning my face with a worried look.
“I just, you know, want to keep this to ourselves, okay?”
“That’s a tightrope, isn’t it? Make others believe we’re together while making your closest friends believe it’s just pretend?”
I wince. “When did I become so irrationally high maintenance?”
He laughs, cups my cheek, and looks at me with the softest expression I’ve ever seen on his face. “I’ve got you.”
And he kisses me again. This man so easily sweeps me off my feet.
Inside, the restaurant is a dizzying whirl of controlled chaos. Every table is filled, and we find the others in a large rear booth shaped in a half circle. Before we reach the table, both Xavier and I are stopped several times to chat with locals.
At the table, everyone already has drinks. Ben’s two older girls, Poppy and Violet, are spaced out among the group, working on a children’s coloring sheet. Jazz is using the space under the table to move easily between people and be a silly six-year-old.
As we approach, Jazz pokes her head out from beneath the table with an adorable smile. “Hi, Chloe. Hi, Z.”
“Aren’t doing anything illegal under there, are you?” Xavier teases.
He gets a giggle and an emphatic “Noooooo” in return. Then she looks up at her dad. “Can we do presents now?”
Ben laughs. “Not yet.”
Xavier lets me slide into the booth first.
“What held you two up?” Laiyla asks. “Everything okay with the retreat?”
“It wasn’t the retreat that held them up,” KT says with a smirk.
“Oh my God,” I say. “Don’t start.”
I can feel my cheeks heat and try to cover for it by looking at the menu. Xavier stretches one arm across the back of the booth behind me, picks up a strand of my hair, and twirls it around his finger while he chats with the others.
“Well, look who’s come out from under a rock.” I glance up and find Charity Holmes, and evidently our waitress, hyperfocused on Xavier. “Where you been, handsome?”
She’s in her early twenties with all that Generation Z glowy skin, perky breasts, and crazy confidence. I heard they hooked up a few times, and Xavier didn’t deny it when I asked, which means it’s true. Now I wonder just how many is a few? I wonder if he slept over, or if he just left after the sex. I wonder how good that sex was. Is he a stud with everyone, or is it different with me?
Then, right on cue, self-loathing links arms with jealousy. I don’t hear what Xavier says to her, there’s too much ugly noise in my head.
Everyone in town knows Xavier and I are just friends. There may be a few people who’ve heard we might be dating, but that doesn’t seem to have reached Charity.
I used to find all the female attention he received amusing. Used to rib him about who he was sleeping with. But now, that someone is me, and my insecurity rears its ugly head like a fire-breathing dragon.