One Night Stand-In (Boyfriend Material #3) - Lauren Blakely Page 0,44

him a you can’t be serious look. “I wasn’t in love with her in college.”

“Are you now, then?”

“No,” I say immediately, squashing that notion, then stomping on it for good measure. “Not at all. We’re just friends again,” I say, even though that description doesn’t entirely sound right to my ears. It feels too neat, too easy for last night.

Maybe Reid senses it, since he lobs another question at me. “Friends with bennies, you mean?”

I don’t answer, but he doesn’t need me to because he claps me on the back.

“Good on you, mate. And I take it you want more than bennies, since that’s what got you so worked up you nearly clocked me in the jaw.”

I groan from deep within my soul. He’s too on the mark. “Why are we having coffee together?”

“Because I’m the only person who can tolerate you.”

“Ah, yes. Of course. Speaking of tolerating, we really need to find a woman to tolerate you.”

He peers into shop windows as we go. That’s his MO. “I’m looking. Trust me, I’m looking,” he says.

When we stride into Doctor Insomnia’s, I spot a trio of women, but I only have eyes for one—one I didn’t expect to see here, or so soon today.

But I’ll take this serendipitous encounter, thank you very much.

Even though nothing about the way I feel for her is neat, or easy.

Her smile is, though, when she locks eyes with me. Surprise flickers across her brown irises, then happiness. Maybe she’s feeling serendipity’s role too.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Lola says, waving to me.

I walk over to her. “Of all the coffee shops in the city, she walks into mine.”

Lola pats the couch. “I like to think of it as mine, but I’ll let you join us.”

“Lucky me,” I say.

Lucky me indeed.

17

Lucas

That’s it. Our friends are officially assholes.

Lovable assholes.

Their suggestions for the final item on the list—what Luna and Rowan would do with lottery winnings—border on ludicrous.

“Take a cruise,” Amy shouts. I only met her a few minutes ago, but she’s one of those people who invites you into her world right away, as if she’s known you forever.

“They’re already on one,” I point out, sliding right into the group vibe.

“Buy a shark tank,” Reid suggests.

“So you think we should go to, say, the aquarium and see if the Ringmaster left their clothes by the sharks?” Lola posits with an eyebrow arch.

“Not a bad idea,” Reid says, before knocking back some tea.

“What if Rowan wanted to buy a baseball team?” Peyton suggests, sounding thoughtful. She’s Lola’s good friend too, and she also makes it feel like we’ve all hung out like this for ages. “Maybe they’re at Yankee Stadium.”

I shake my head. “That’s not what he’d do.” I drop my head in my hands, tugging at my hair like it can activate my memories of Rowan’s fantastical lottery dreams. “What would Rowan do if he won millions?” I mutter. I should know this. We’ve had countless conversations on all sorts of topics. But every time we’ve touched on this one, we’ve joked.

Buy a rocket ship.

Buy a castle and a moat.

Buy an amusement park, that one with the upside-down twisty roller coaster.

I lift my head. “If his clothes are somewhere at an amusement park, I will throttle him.”

“You mean you don’t want to spend the morning going from Ferris wheel to Tilt-A-Whirl to Death Ride Extraordinaire Upside-Down Cutter, or whatever roller coasters are named these days, saying, ‘Excuse me, did my brother’s landlord leave his clothes here?’” Lola asks, deadpan.

“I do like roller coasters,” I say.

“Me too,” she seconds.

Amy wiggles her brows. “Do it! Go to Great Adventure! Spend the day there. The worst that’ll happen is you’ll have a—wait for it—great adventure.”

Lola laughs and shoots her a look. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re an enabler?”

“If you mean enabler of fun, I wear that tag proudly.”

Reid parks his chin in his hand, his brow creasing. He raises a finger. “Knowing your brother, I bet he’d have picked a waterslide as the very first thing he wanted to build with his lottery winnings, and no doubt the landlord overheard that little row. Check that water tower ride first at Great Adventure. And if you don’t want to, I will gladly go in your stead. I happen to have an affinity for water rides.”

“So you’d be a water-ride proxy. Interesting,” Peyton says, some sort of knowing look in her eyes.

“I’d be absolutely willing.”

“I know someone else who has a passion for water parks,” she adds, but before I