The Girl Next Door - Emma Hart Page 0,45

step closer to her and dipped my head. “Well, since everyone here thinks we’re married…” I pulled her against me and closed my lips over hers.

She squeaked, but she softened against me in a second.

“Hello, darling,” I muttered.

“Hello, sugarplum,” she shot back dryly, moving away. “Happy birthday!” she added, extra loudly.

Two seconds. That was all it took for everyone in the immediate vicinity to turn to me and begin the rigamarole that was birthday wishes. Before I knew it, I had half the damn bar offering me them, and I was half expecting a rendition of the song to break out.

“If there’s a cake, I’m going to kill you,” I said under my breath.

Ivy laughed as her parents joined us and repeated the whole happy birthday thing. By the time her mom had kissed my cheek and her dad clapped me on the back and they’d both been called back to work, I was so tired I was ready to turn around, walk out, and go to bed.

“Come on.” Ivy grabbed my hand and tugged me through the bar.

“Did you have to tell everyone it’s my birthday?”

“Yes.” She threw a grin over her shoulder. “Ta-da!”

I stared at the huge group in front of me. Anna, Josh, Colton, Tori, Kinsley, and Holley were sitting at the table, all of them grinning and wearing party hats. Holley tugged on a string of a balloon, diverting my gaze up.

Yep.

Two huge foil balloons—one a two, one a nine.

I turned to Ivy. “My sister put you up to this, didn’t she?”

“I did not!” Anna protested.

Ivy shook her head to agree with her. “Nope. I did it. It’s punishment for not telling me when your birthday was.”

I ran my tongue over my lower lip. I really did hate birthdays, and while I knew she’d definitely done a part of this to punish me, something about the look in her eye told me she’d done it because she genuinely cared.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tucked her into my side. “Well, it’s not the worst thing a guy could do on his birthday.”

Ivy rolled her eyes and sat down. “You changed your tune.”

I took the empty chair next to her. “I’m trying to be grateful.”

Josh snorted. “Yeah, you’re doing a shit job. Hey—ow!” He reached down under the table, and I glanced at Kinsley who was smirking.

Tori laughed and grabbed a menu. “Yeah, yeah, can we do this in a minute? I’m fucking starving, and I’m about to waste away.”

Colton looked her up and down. “No, you’re not. Ow!” He did the same as Josh had a moment ago, and I looked at Kinsley again, but it was Tori herself wearing the smug smile.

“Whoops,” she said through gritted teeth, a fake smile plastered on her face. “I guess I didn’t see your shin there.”

“Your toes found it just fine.”

Holley rolled her eyes. “I hate to break up the inappropriate hate foreplay going on here, but I agree with Tori. I’m hungry. I’ve been at the store taking stock with Saylor all day.”

Kinsley looked at her. “I’ve been there, too, you know.”

“Where is Saylor?” I asked, turning to Ivy so they could continue their conversation.

She shrugged one shoulder. “She said something about a date, and since I organized this last minute, she couldn’t change her plans.”

“Something about a date?” Josh asked, peering over the top of the menu. “She tells you everything. She wasn’t more specific?”

Holley shook her head. “No, she was weirdly cagey about it. We thought she might be meeting her ex, but we saw him in the store when we bought the balloons.” She motioned unnecessarily to the monstrosities that were bobbing against each other at the end of the table. “We asked him if he’d seen her lately, but he said they hadn’t spoken since they broke up.”

Kinsley nodded in agreement. “I tried getting it out of her and she didn’t say a word.”

“Weird,” Colton muttered.

I met Ivy’s gaze and shrugged. Of all of them, I knew Saylor the least. She was probably the most introverted of them all, which meant you rarely saw her outside the bookstore unless she was with everyone else.

We all placed our orders within a few minutes. After a moment of arguing about whether Ivy cared about anyone drinking or not, of course. She finally won the argument, forcing everyone but me to order alcohol. I was driving after all, and while I knew she thought that argument was complete bullshit, she didn’t push the issue.

Anna was