The Best Friend (Red's Tavern 1)

But instead, the thought of another guy’s lips on his made me want to go hit a punching bag for an hour. I’d been craving Evan all week, and now all of that was disappearing in an instant.

How did I already miss his lips, his heat, his body, even though they’d never really been mine?

“I’m sorry it had to be tonight,” he said. “I’d normally reschedule, but Bruce said it was the only night he had available for a while.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. It was also my only night off for the next six days, but I didn’t bring that up.

“It had to be tonight?”

Evan scratched the back of his head. “Well, yeah. He’s… a doctor and he’s the new head of the EMS response team for the Amberfield fire department.”

I stared at him blankly. “He’s a firefighter and a doctor?”

Evan bit his lip. “Well, kind of. I guess.”

The guy may as well have been God himself. Shit.

“I’m happy for you,” I said. “This guy Bruce… well, uh, he isn’t going to know what hit him.”

I forced a smile, finally digging in my pocket for my key. When I brought it out to the lock, I fumbled a few times. My hands were shaking a little bit.

“Let’s go move this thing so you can get the hell out of here.”

11

Evan

There was only one goal. The goal was to remember that there were other fish in the sea besides Mitchell Price. Even if he was the only one I really wanted to swim with.

It only took a split second for me to locate Bruce when I walked into the restaurant. The place was small and incredibly fancy compared to what I was used to, but Bruce was sitting at one of the booths along the wall. Even just sitting there, he looked like he was commanding the room.

“Evan—hello,” he said, graciously standing up and giving me a quick hug.

“Hi, Bruce. Nice to meet you.”

He smelled like some sort of cologne I’d never smelled before—definitely more than just my usual stick of Old Spice deodorant. We both slid into the booth and I stared at all of the forks and spoons laid out on the table.

“I’ve never been here before,” I said, looking around. Sampson’s was the one place in the area that was in any way pricey and upscale. It was in Hampden, the town just north of Amberfield that was a little fancier in every way.

“You haven’t?” Bruce asked. His eyes went wide. “I’ve only been in Kansas for a short while, and I’ve been here at least five times. The food is phenomenal. I’ll order for you.”

“Okay,” I said, glancing over the menu in front of me. It was thick and glossy, and I swore the edges were dipped in gold leaf, or something. I didn’t know what half of the food items were. Duck confit, gougeres, some sort of oysters. “I’m lost anytime I’m not in a simple burger place,” I admitted.

Bruce smiled. “I’ll take care of it. Trust me.”

A few moments after I’d sat down, one of the hosts came up to me with a clean blazer.

“For you, sir,” he said.

“What?”

Bruce glanced up. “They offer blazers for people who aren’t… well, for people who are dressed down.”

The host pressed his lips into a thin line, holding out the jacket.

“Oh, I’m supposed to put this on?”

“For the dress code,” Bruce said.

“Shit. I totally forgot. You did tell me about that,” I said.

Truthfully, I hadn’t known that I was supposed to dress up in a blazer just to go to this restaurant. When Bruce had told me to dress business casual, I’d thought a nice cashmere sweater would be enough.

“God, that’s embarrassing,” I muttered.

Luckily he chuckled. “It’s a silly rule, anyway.”

The waiter came soon after and took our order. Bruce handled it perfectly, and I just sat there and smiled awkwardly.

“So, you’re a doctor and a firefighter?” I asked.

He nodded. “I was a firefighter, plain and simple, for ten years. Then I started the long road to getting my medical degree.”

“And now you run an EMS department,” I said.

He nodded.

The man had a dusting of grey in his hair and close-cropped facial hair, but I knew he couldn’t be that old. He was likely forty years old, and he’d already accomplished so much.

He was attractive, to be sure, but… I wasn’t sure if he was my type. Bruce was like a beautiful, sharp-looking wolf, whereas my type was definitely more a big, lovable teddy bear.

Kind of like Mitch.

But I really, really wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Mitch right now.

“That’s… wow. It’s very impressive,” I told Bruce. “I don’t even know the first thing about being a doctor or a firefighter. You are an expert at saving lives.”

“And you said you’re a math teacher?” he asked.

I blushed. “Yeah. Definitely not as impressive.”