The woman seated at the bar next to Kace Matthews has been flirting with him for thirty minutes straight. Not that I’m surprised. Kace’s rough exterior, matched with his gooey insides, make him a bit of a unicorn. I’ve known single women who’ve scoured the dating desert for years searching for a guy like him. With jaw-length brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and those piercing whiskey eyes, he looks like he belongs on an episode of Sons of Anarchy. But see his dimples appear when he talks about his four-year-old daughter, and . . . ovary explosion.
The woman tilts forward. Now, if Kace just happens to glance down, he’ll get an eyeful of her cleavage. But the man’s absolutely clueless, bless his sexy li’l heart.
The woman’s pretty—if you’re into that skinny, blond, flawless-beauty kind of look, and, well, Kace is. But only if his ex-wife is the flawless beauty in question. The man has eyes for no one else. If I know Kace—and after years as his best friend’s little sister, I do—this chick will be going home alone.
“This place is kind of lame, babe. Let’s bounce.”
I jerk my attention back to the guy sitting across from me—Jared, who arrived fifteen minutes late and has been trying to fast-forward to the sexy-times part of the evening since he sat down. Not that I should be shocked. I met the guy on Random, and that’s kind of the point of the app. Not small talk. Not sharing drinks at my favorite bar. Not love matches. Hookups.
Unfortunately, any chemistry I felt with Jared during our brief exchanges on the app fizzled out the second he turned his nose up at my favorite watering hole. He sneered when he walked in the door. Then again, maybe Jared’s snobbery isn’t the real culprit here. Maybe my sudden lack of enthusiasm for ending this dry spell has everything to do with Mr. Unattainable at the bar.
Jared grins and licks his lips. “So . . . yeah?”
“How old are you?” His profile said twenty-six, but he’s got such a frat-boy vibe (emphasis on boy) that I’m suddenly not so sure.
“Why?” Leaning across the table, he snatches my martini from in front of me and takes a big drink. He could be drinking his own shit if he’d bothered to order anything, but no. When I suggested he get a drink, he laughed, as if it was ridiculous to get too comfortable when he was only here to get off. Now, he’s slurping up my expensive vodka like a cow at the trough. “Age is a state of mind.”
I won’t roll my eyes. I won’t. But I do turn away to hide my annoyance—which means I put Kace in my line of vision just in time to see him make a beeline to the entrance, where his ex-wife now stands.
Amy’s too busy messing with her phone to notice him. Then she’s too busy noticing the athletic stranger who’s pulling her into his arms. Kace stops dead in his tracks.
“Who are you staring at?” Jared asks, glancing over his shoulder toward the depressing tableau at the door.
Sighing, I nod to Kace. “That’s a friend of mine.”
“That lumberjack-looking guy?” Jared spreads his legs and glares. “You know him?”
I won’t roll my eyes. “Easier to be friends that way, yeah.”
“You fucking him?” His gaze whips back to me. “Is that why you’re suddenly acting like such a frigid bitch?”
Once again, this less-than man manages to drag my attention away from the best guy in the room. “Excuse me?”
“Come on, you were ready to ride my dick when we made these plans. Something’s changed.” He lowers his voice and leans closer. “You don’t have to pretend with me. I know Reggie’s brother, and so I know you.”
What. The. Actual. Fuck? There’s nothing that makes me go cold faster than the name of my asshole college boyfriend. I lean back in my chair and shake my head. “Yeah, it’s time to go.”
He exhales, and his shoulders sag. “Thank Christ. Let’s get out of here.”
“You go. Alone. Without me.”
He throws up his hands. “Why? What did I say? You can’t deny we had plans when we decided to meet here. But I’m onto girls like you—throwing out suggestive messages to get guys to buy you a few drinks and then never following through with what was promised. But joke’s on you.” He wags a finger at me. “That’s why I never order anything.”