fun to be around. Any man who’s not attracted to you is stupid. Preston wants you to be another one of his girls, but he knows that could never happen. He isn’t ready to change. He isn’t looking for a relationship. All he’s looking for is a good time. He knows he can’t get away with treating you the way he treats the rest of them. I mean, even if things went great at the beginning, you’d eventually want more, and he’s not willing to give it to anyone. That would cause you to leave him. He needs you so much more than you know. So to him, it’s either have you as his best friend—the person he runs to with every bit of good news, and the person who’s always there to pick him up when he’s down—or take what he wants to take but then not have anyone to run to. I love my brother to death, but he sometimes uses people to feel better about himself. He doesn’t want to hurt you. In my eyes, this is the best thing he’s ever done for you. Now you know where you stand and you can finally move on.”
I lift my head off his shoulder and take the bottle of wine back, enjoying another sip. “What if I don’t find anyone else? What if no one wants to be with me?”
He reaches out and takes away the bottle of wine, setting it on the coffee table in front of us as he turns to look me in the eyes. “That’s never going to happen. You’re beautiful, Piper. You’re a good person. Any guy would be lucky to have you.”
“How am I ever going to get over this embarrassment though? I was abandoned on public television, Calvin!”
He chuckles. “No one’s watching that shit, Piper. I only watched it because Preston told me about it the day it happened. Though I had to do some digging to find out when your episode would air since Preston acted like he couldn’t remember.”
“You really don’t think it was that bad? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?”
He smiles and it causes his dimples to show. “Both,” he answers. His icy eyes light up and it feels like they’re cutting straight into my soul. Why haven’t I ever seen Calvin in this way before? He’s good-looking—drop-dead sexy if I’m being honest. He’s mature—outshining Preston in every way. Sure, Preston is fun, but that’s because he’s still a child in so many ways. Calvin has always seemed to know when I needed a shoulder to cry on, whereas Preston never noticed because he was off having too much fun.
“Thank you, Calvin. For everything. For all the years of talking sense into me, for making me feel better about myself, and everything in between. Growing up, I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t had you in my life.”
His smile stays in place as his hand lands on my knee, gently squeezing. “No problem, Pipes. And don’t worry about Pres. He’ll come around.”
“So, you wanna sit and get drunk with me? Some guy brought me a bottle of pity wine, and this isn’t my first bottle of the night.” I reach forward and grab the bottle he set down, taking a sip with a smile before handing it over.
“Don’t mind if I do.” He takes the bottle and looks at the label. “Hey, this is good stuff, too. That guy must have good taste.” With a smile of his own, he takes a drink.
We take turns passing the bottle of wine back and forth while talking about the show. Somehow, Calvin makes me see certain things I didn’t notice before. We make fun of the crowd’s dramatic reactions. By their gasps, you would’ve thought I admitting to killing his dog or something. We make fun of cheesy Jefrey. Calvin says he thinks he saw him in an old ‘80s porno, and I lose it. I’m laughing so hard I can’t catch my breath. I laugh until I somehow manage to fall off the couch and onto my ass, which only makes both of us laugh harder.
While laughing, Calvin holds out his hand to help me up. I grab ahold of it, but instead of pulling against him to get up, I pull him down with me. It’s fair to say the good wine did its job. We’re both tipsy and in the giggly phase.
Calvin lands on his hip, which has somehow