Page 68 of A Lucky Shot

“No,” Cass sighed. “The librarian gangster was the last one, and I don’t have anything new planned yet.”

“I’m not talking about those Tinder travesties.”

“The Tinder travesties?”

“Name of your sex tape,” Libby quipped. “No, not that. I’m talking about whatever’s going on here.”

There was no way Libby had picked up whatever Josh was putting down from across the field.

Had she?

“What else would there be?” she asked, a little too innocently.

“Oh, please,” Libby reprimanded. “You have two dudes practically panting over you.”

Two? Okay, that she hadn’t been expecting. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play coy with me.”

“I’m not playing anything!”

Libby gave her an exasperated look. “Josh is practically pissing on you to stake his territory, and Dawson is just waiting for the chance to wife you up.”

“First? Ew. Second? He’s not,” Cass replied with a grimace. “Third? Extremely unlikely. On both counts.” She wiped her hands over her cheeks, likely bright red from cold and embarrassment. “Dawson’s a sweet guy, that’s it. Josh …” Makes me feel like we could roll around in the snow for an hour and melt this entire field. “Is Josh. He’s like that with everyone.”

Libby raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “Um, he’s really not. Just you.”

That couldn’t be right. She’d seen him charming other people on set. Hadn’t she?

Or had she? She wracked her brain trying to think of a time she’d seen him touch anyone to direct their attention. Smile at them with those panty-evaporating dimples. Whisper in someone’s ear. Or bite someone’s ear.

Nothing came to mind. And she sure had a lot of mental footage to consider. She’d been watching him. Intently. For months.

Dammit.

Why am I my own worst enemy?

“It’s not fair,” Cass whined, with high pitches and everything. If she could do it with anyone, it was her best friend since second grade. “Why does my vagina hate me so much?”

“I don’t think your vagina hates you, but I think your brain and vagina need to have a heart to heart.”

“Doubtful that’ll do any good,” she muttered. Why on earth, after everything, would she trust her brain, either? She’d almost take a text from Nick for the distraction. No one ever said she wasn’t brilliant at self-sabotage, either.

“Speaking of brains and vaginas, what’s going on with you and Stephen? Is this a thing again?”

Normally Libby would launch into a description of all the dirty things she was thinking of doing with the guy she had her eyes on, but her friend gave a guarded smile and shot him a glance. “Maybe. I don’t know. I think it might be.”

Cass eyed her. Just because the breakup had been amicable, didn’t mean Libby hadn’t turned into a ghost for months after Stephen had left. She hadn’t dated anyone seriously since. “You sure you’re ready for that heartbreak again, Libs? They’re leaving when we wrap.”

She needed to think about that herself. Why get attached when Josh would be packing up and leaving?

“What if it’s different this time?” Libby said softly.

Stephen looked up and caught Libby’s eyes, and smiled with a warmth Cass hadn’t seen from him before.

Oh, it was like that.

The sun spilled like lemonade over the fields, thin and pale. Nothing like the rich gold of high summer, but bright against the brilliant snow, and Cass felt her longest friend slipping away.

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