Page 31 of Wood You Knot

“Oh, I don’t have an official business…not yet, anyway.” My face heated. It suddenly felt like it was a hundred degrees inside, probably because everyone was still staring at me.

“That’s okay.” Mr. Robertson gave me an easy smile. “No pressure to promote yourself, but we absolutely don’t mind the vendors and volunteers making connections. After all, that’s what community is—making connections.”

Chapter Eleven

Nix

It was Friday night, which meant I was headed to The Quarter Lounge to meet up with the guys. Since Parker and I had been so close in age, we had a lot of mutual friends and tended to kick it with the same crowd. Normally, he’d be joining us, but since Tabitha was at the fundraiser planning committee meeting, he was on kid duty at home.

Not that he minded in the slightest. When I left his place, he was making an epic blanket fort with the girls. I think he was more excited about it than they were.

The bar was already packed, typical for a Friday night. I spotted the guys sitting at our usual table by the pool tables and made my way over, stopping to talk to a few locals along the way.

With Parker on kid duty and Kaleb at home enjoying his babymoon with his wife, that left just Donavon, Noah, and myself. Auston Robertson would show up later, after the planning committee meeting.

There used to be more of us gathering every Friday night, too, but over the years, they’d gotten married and settled down. We still saw them on occasion, but not as much as before, when we were all bachelors. Now it was down to Donavon, Noah, Auston, and me—the only remaining bachelors of the group.

Donavon lifted his chin in greeting when I joined them. There was a full pitcher of beer already on the table and an empty beer glass waiting for me. I sighed in appreciation as I sat down in a vacant seat across from them and poured myself a drink.

“Tough week?” Donavon joked while Noah just smirked at me.

“Not really, no.” I shrugged, unable to explain my mood. I felt like I was in limbo, though, stuck between where I wanted to be and where I was. Not that either Donavon or Noah would get that—they both seemed to enjoy the bachelor life.

“I’m telling you, man, you just need to get laid,” Noah said, shaking his head. His long brown hair fell over his shoulders with the movement. His blue eyes twinkled with mirth as he leaned back against the booth and appraised me. “What’s it been, a year since the last time?”

I scowled, not liking the direction this conversation was already headed in. Why the hell was everyone suddenly on me about my love life, or lack thereof?

The guys knew I wasn’t one to do the whole random hookup thing. Call me old-fashioned, but I liked to wine and dine a woman and get to know her a little more before taking her home. They also knew the one time I’d allowed myself to partake in a random hookup, after the whole Lori thing, had ended up with the woman borderline stalking me.

Luckily, that woman had been a tourist, and after three months of dealing with that crazy situation last summer, she returned to her hometown. But it had seriously turned me off from casual hookups. Since then, I’d been under a bit of a dry spell. I hadn’t met a woman I’d wanted to get to know more on that level.

At least, not until Sage came back to town. Now she was all I could think about, but I sensed she was still nursing a broken heart, and I wasn’t the kind of guy to take advantage of that.

“He’s not wrong, you know.” Donavon shrugged. He chuckled when I turned my scowl on him. “Sex lowers stress and anxiety. Proven fact.”

“Yeah, unless sex results in a stalker, which increases stress and anxiety.”

“That was one time.” Noah laughed. He thought that whole situation was hilarious. Parker hadn’t been so impressed, though…considering the woman had shown up several times uninvited to the residence he also lived at with his family.

“I don’t know, I could see how that would sour a guy.” Donavon chuckled. He was practically the king of casual hookups and had so far never encountered a crazy stalker. Guess he just had more practice and could suss out problematic people. He also had a list of rules a mile long—one of them being no hooking up with colleagues or parents of students.

I was too trusting, too new at the game, and I hadn’t had any rules at all. I’d just wanted to forget how shitty Lori had made me feel.

Lori had been my college sweetheart. We’d started dating shortly after we met while attending the same community college. Well, I suppose most of us attended Springwood Community College, but still.

I’d thought we were building a life together, but Lori had other plans—plans that involved cheating on me every chance she got, until I caught her red-handed.

I opened my mouth, about to fire off a retort, when Noah’s gaze darted to the door. He straightened up immediately, interest flashing in his eyes. “Well, damn. Hello, fresh meat. Who are the gorgeous babes with Tabitha?”

I turned my head, catching Tabitha walking into The Quarter Lounge with two other women—Sage and a woman I didn’t know.

“That’s Sage Whitaker and…I don’t know…” I trailed off, not recognizing her. Not that I was even looking at her—my attention was on the captivating blonde who had the strangest hold on me.

“Sage Whitaker; why is that name so familiar?” Donavon asked with a frown as he tried to work out where he knew her from.

“She’s related to the Alcotts,” I answered, pausing to take a sip of beer. My throat had suddenly gone dry. Wasn’t hard to guess why…not that Sage, or Tabitha, for that matter, had noticed us sitting over in the corner as they made their way inside. “She used to visit during the summer when we were kids.”

“Oh, that Sage,” Noah said, sounding as if everything made complete sense. He exchanged a look with Donavon. “Damn…”

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