Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85157 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“I’ll be sure to tell your friend you already arrived, sugar.” He winked.
“No, no. We really are just friends,” I replied as I followed behind him.
“I didn’t say you weren’t.”
“Yeah, but the way you said that…”
“I didn’t say it like anything. Honestly? It’s none of my business. I’m just here to seat you.”
Well, now I felt dumb. I believed what I was doing was called projection.
The host walked me to a booth toward the back. My overactive brain started to go crazy, wondering if he was seating me back there because he thought I was hiding. Did he really think Beau was more than a friend? Was I losing my goddamned mind? Yes, yes, I was.
He sat me, and the waitress came up right behind him.
“He’s waiting for a friend,” the host said.
Was it me, or did he stress the word friend? “Can I have a beer, please?” I asked, then told her which kind.
I fiddled with the black menu, kept looking up to see if she approached with my beer. Having dinner with Beau was strange in a way I hadn’t expected, and I hadn’t even started the having-dinner-together part yet. And then there was the fact that it was my idea…one that I couldn’t let go and had pushed until Beau said yes. Because I’m a nice guy…because I want to get to know an old friend…because there’s always been something about Beau that gets to me.
The waitress brought over my beer, and I drank half of it in a few quick swallows. The moment I set it down, a shadow crossed the table and Beau was there, his black hair kind of messy and looking a little wavier. He wore a T-shirt that said Fever Falls Fire Department and a pair of jeans. “You’re early,” I told him.
“Not as early as you.” Beau cocked his right brow.
He had a point there, so I figured it best I ignore it. “You want a beer? I’ll signal the waitress over.”
Beau sat across from me, a smile tugging at the right corner of his lips. There was a small scar there that I remembered from when we were kids, but I wasn’t sure what had happened to him. What the hell was with me and his scars, I didn’t know. “You’re smiling again.”
He frowned.
“Damn it! I ruined it. What happened to your lip?”
Beau raised a hand and rubbed his mouth. “There’s something wrong with my lip?”
Shit. That wasn’t what I meant. “No. Your lips are good. I meant the scar.” Your lips are good? What the fuck was that?
Beau winked. “I’ve never had any complaints.”
Okay, this wouldn’t do. “Somehow, I believe we just traded places. I don’t like it. I’m the cocky one, remember?”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He shook his head as though he didn’t know what to do with me…but he also smiled again. I liked making Beau smile. I decided it was my goal to do that more often.
CHAPTER TEN
Beau
Beau says sometimes life surprises you. I wonder how often it surprises him. ~ Love, Kenny
The waitress arrived, I ordered a beer, and then Ash and I took in the menu. Your lips are good. Why had he said that? No matter how many times I tried to focus on burgers, fries, and salads, all I heard was Ash telling me my lips were good.
Lips he’d kissed.
And then promptly forgot about…ten years later reminding me it was a mistake because he was straight, yet there I was obsessing about it, something I was determined to stop doing.
“Okay, stop. What are you thinking? Right now, tell me what you’re thinking? You’re tightening your jaw so much, I’m worried you might break it.”
“I’m wondering why you’re watching me,” I lied. Obviously, I wasn’t going to tell him I couldn’t forget the way his mouth moved when he told me he liked my lips…well, kind of told me that.
“I’m not watching you.”
“Then how do you always know when I’m smiling or frowning? Or in this case, working my jaw?”
“You forget that I don’t have to see you to know these things about you. You’re easy to read, Campbell. Plus, I know you.”
“Used to know me.”
“Seems like I still do.”
Yeah, yeah, it did. The strange thing was, I didn’t feel like I knew Ash anymore. There was something different about him. The confidence was still there, but there was a vulnerability I’d never seen in him. Because of losing his career? I wondered… But then the partying and orgies surprised me too, even though they probably shouldn’t have. Ash’s main goal, even in high school, had been hooking up. “What are you going to eat?” I asked, figuring a change of subject was in order.
“I’m thinking about a lettuce-wrapped burger and maybe some sweet potato fries. I ate like shit yesterday. This is a little better, I guess.”