Yeah. That stung. My hand clenched around my beer bottle. “You’re really going to sit over there and tell me I’m raising my kid wrong?”
He scowled. “Isn’t that what friends are for? To call you out when you aren’t seeing straight? Because it’s time you realized your vision is completely skewed. It’s been three years. And fuck, man, you know you’re a great dad, but don’t sit over there and act like there’s not something missing.”
He rocked back in his chair, arms going across his chest, like he was offering up a dare. “When’s the last time you got laid?”
Ollie took that opportune time to show up at our table with a fresh round of drinks. He placed the rocks glass down in front of Kale before he slid an icy bottle my direction.
Ollie forced a smile, dude wearing his own special kind of veneer, shoving all the bullshit down, locked up and contained. “Pretty sure this one’s cock has shriveled up and died. It’s a sad, sad state of affairs.”
My brow rose. “Thanks, man,” I said, totally dry.
“Hey, just keeping it real,” he said, giving me a clap to the back.
Taking a swig of my beer, I shook my head. “Why don’t you keep it ‘real’ with someone else?”
A smirk pulled beneath his beard. “Now, what would be the fun in that?”
Kale leaned forward. “Seriously, man. Think about what you’re doing. The vibe you’re feeding and how that affects not just Frankie but you, too. You can sit there and pretend all you want, but I know you’re lonely.”
I swallowed around the lump, doing my best not to look Rynna’s direction.
Call me a failure.
Because my gaze was slanting that way, drinking her in.
Fuck, I was a fool.
The way I welcomed the bolt of need that slammed me.
It was so goddamned wrong. But this unwanted feeling bubbled up inside me, latching on to the sight of her laughing from across the room. The way her chin lifted and her mouth curved. Something so free.
A quality that didn’t belong to me.
In discomfort, I looked back at Kale. “Believe me. Frankie’s the only girl I need.”
My everything.
The one I lived for.
The one I’d gladly die for.
And I’d never give anyone the chance to threaten that.
7
Rynna
“Who do you keep looking at?” Nikki swiveled on her stool, straining to look behind her. Muted light cast a shimmery drape of warmth over the bar, tossing it with shadows and mystery.
But one man stood out amid it all. And he was looking right back at us.
I smacked her leg, my voice a panicked whisper. “What are you doing?”
She had no shame.
She looked at me as if I were crazy. “Um . . . trying to figure out which lucky bastard has already snagged my new friend’s eye. That’s my job, you know. I’m head matchmaker, right, Lily Pad?”
She smirked in Lillith’s direction.
Lillith just wagged her ring finger adorned with the huge rock as proof while she took a sip of her wine.
“No one’s caught my eye,” I said.
Honestly, it was a useless defense. Not with the way I couldn’t stop from stealing another glance at the man who was beginning to consume my every thought. I wasn’t one prone to obsessions. Or stalking. Or spying.
But there was something about him that wouldn’t let me go.
Something that fascinated and enthralled.
Maybe it was his adorable daughter.
It had to be. It was the only explanation.
Nikki followed my gaze. She froze for a beat before her head whipped back in my direction. Her mouth hung open in blatant shock. “Oh my God! Tell me Rex Gunner isn’t the one who has you all spun up over there?”
Before I could give her another futile excuse, awareness dawned on her face. “Holy shit. He lives right across from you.” She rapidly snapped her fingers in front of my face as if she were on to something. “Oh, and his company has the contract for the hotel that’s on Fairview . . . right across from Pepper’s Pies.”
My shoulder lifted as if I didn’t care at all. As if he didn’t actually have me so spun up I could feel the knots lining my stomach. “I went over and introduced myself to him the other day. That’s it.”
I conveniently left out the part where he’d slammed his door in my face. I figured guilt was found in the small details.
The ironic laughter dripping from Lillith’s tongue sounded like a warning. “You should probably leave it at that. The only women Rex Gunner likes are his daughter and his momma. Otherwise, watch out. That boy is as cynical as they come.”
I glanced his way again, snared by the way his throat was exposed when he tipped back his beer, the way the thick muscles rolled as he swallowed, that short, trimmed beard little more than a five o’clock shadow.