Your Fierce Love (The Bennett Family 7)

“You can say that again. Anyway, I think most men are. I mean, look at Christopher.”

We burst out laughing, and I nearly snort cocktail through my nose. Christopher’s wife, Victoria, has a younger sister, Sienna, who is twenty and very much into dating. Christopher grills the guys so thoroughly when they show up to take her out that most don’t ask for a second date.

“Sienna is a genius,” Summer muses. “We really need to pick her brain whenever we need ideas to troll our brothers.”

Just before Victoria’s bachelorette party, Sienna decided it was time for revenge, so she teased Christopher, telling him the girls hired a stripper for Victoria. I wish Sienna had filmed Christopher because her impression of a jealous Bennett brother was beyond hilarious. Eventually Sienna told him it was a joke, but only because she legitimately feared he’d crash Victoria’s party.

I sip my drink quietly, wondering how it must be to have an overprotective brother or father. I don’t think I’d mind one bit to know someone has my back.

“So, Clara, what have you been up to that you don’t want to tell us?” Summer asks. I choke on the mouthful I just sipped and am close to snorting it out through my nose. Luckily, I manage to swallow.

“How did you figure that out?” I ask. There’s no point denying it. When the Bennett girls sniff you out, they sniff you out. They always sniff everyone out.

“You’ve been too quiet,” Pippa explains. “You usually talk our ear off. How is living next to Blake?”

“He’s a great neighbor.”

“Unleashed his seductive skills on you already?” Summer bats her eyelashes at me, and I jerk my head back abruptly.

“He’s been looking at you like he wants you for a long time,” Pippa says coolly.

Now that they’ve straight up ambushed me, I have to ’fess up. I can’t lie to them, and lying by omission is still lying.

“So, I went to this festival with him,” I begin.

Summer claps her hands. “Was it a date?”

“No,” I clarify quickly. “But that didn’t stop him from backing me up to a tree and kissing me like nobody’s business.” I clamp my mouth around the straw to keep myself from volunteering more information, such as how my skin is still humming at the mere memory of the kiss, or the shower afterward. How I’m buzzing with awareness every night I go to bed because I know Blake is on the other side of the wall. The girls would read into it. Hell, I am reading into it.

“And?” Pippa urges.

“And nothing.” There’s no way I’d share details such as the dirty talk because even I know that would be oversharing.

“Wait, so you just kissed and then went home—together—and nothing?” Summer asks.

“Yep.”

Summer cocks her head to Pippa. “I thought Blake was supposed to be good at this stuff. Do you think he’s lost his game? Maybe he needs more help than we thought.”

“No idea. So he hasn’t tried anything?”

“Nope.” As long as I stick to one-word answers, I’m golden.

Pippa leans back in her chair, drumming her fingers on the table. Just then, a waiter appears next to her, inquiring if we need more drinks.

“Of course,” Summer says. We all order the same drink as before.

As we slurp our cocktails and then order a third round, the conversation turns to what the girls have been up to. I’m becoming more suspicious by the second. Finally, after we’ve finished the third cocktail, Pippa leans slightly over the table.

“So, tell us more about Blake.”

“I knew it,” I exclaim. “I felt like you’d let me off the hook too easy.”

“We were just waiting for you to have more cocktails,” Summer explains.

“Yeah, thought that would loosen your tongue. There’s not much fun in one-word answers,” Pippa chimes in.

They are good; I have to give it to them.