Page 17 of Love Shots

CHAPTER SIX

Summer could not believe she had spilled all the sordid details of her relationship with Ben to Teddy. Even Laney, her best friend, was in the dark about what had happened. Summer was ashamed. Embarrassed. How would Teddy be able to look at her again without seeing the pathetic, weak woman Ben had turned her into?

She could feel the sympathy coming off him in waves. He’d been glued to her side ever since he’d found out. Most women wouldn’t complain about having a beautiful man follow her around like a puppy dog. But she wasn’t most women. And Teddy McCallen certainly wasn’t most men. He was the man. The only man she’d ever wanted more than anything else in the world. So seeing the look of pity on his handsome face wasn’t exactly doing wonders for her self-esteem.

I am not a charity case.

No matter how many times she told herself that, one look at Teddy hovering around her, told her differently.

“Get out of here, Kels. Summer and I will finish up,” Teddy called over to Kelly, who was stacking the chairs onto tables.

The young woman smiled over to them both. Obviously worried Teddy would change his mind, she hightailed it to the back room to gather her things in record time. Less than a minute later, she was out the door.

Alone again.

“There a reason Kelly’s getting special treatment, Teddy? You’ve never offered to cut short my shift before,” Summer joked as she continued to wipe down the bar.

He didn’t answer. Instead, a large bottle of whiskey was plonked down in front of her. Confused, she looked up to see Teddy on the customer side of the bar, grinning.

“Time for a break, dollface. Grab some glasses and get your ass over here.”

Never one to turn down a free drink, Summer made quick work of gathering the glasses and rounding the bar. Teddy had already poured a generous amount of the muddy liquid by the time she’d settled onto the stool next to him.

“What are we drinking to?” She held up her glass in preparation to toast.

“To friendship.”

She beamed back at him and clinked his glass with hers. “To friendship.”

Yep, friends. Other friends want to rip the other’s clothes off and trace every hard ridge of their chest with their tongue too, right?

As the night went on, Summer undertook pouring duties while Teddy made small talk. And that’s all it was. Small talk. The topics were so mundane, they might as well have been talking about the weather. But that wasn’t the problem. Not really. The real issue was the not-so-innocent brown liquid warming her insides. Because it turns out, downing whiskey shots with this man, whatever she should call him—boss, friend, man she’d been in love with since she was twelve—was not a good idea. Hell, three drinks in and she was practically ready to strip naked and beg for him to touch her.

Desperate much?

“Doll? What do you think?”

Shit. What’s he talking about?

Teddy’s deep chuckle echoed around the empty bar. “Am I boring you, dollface?”

“No! I’m just ... uh, sorry ... I missed what you said. I’m listening now, I promise. What do I think about what?”

“I was asking if you were up for going over to Moonrock tomorrow? Ivy and Ace are having some sort of shindig.” When she didn’t immediately reply, he shrugged and continued. “I thought it might be cool. You’ve not been over to the ranch in forever, and Ivy’s really done a lot with the place.”

“Are you going to be there?” There was no way she was going without him to a shindig full of people she didn’t know or hadn’t seen in God knows how long.

He smiled at her question. A smile so distracting it should be illegal. “I’ll be there. So ... you up for it?”

“Sure.” She took another gulp of her drink, savoring the smoky tang. “You might have to remind me though, I’m a few drinks in and there’s a good chance I’ll forget this conversation entirely.” She was only sort of joking. She’d become a lightweight.

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