Page 9 of Catching Mr. Right

Chapter Four

SAM

“Oh man, this is perfect. I’ve been fanging for some salty, cheesy goodness.” Mandy pulls a piece of steaming hot pizza from one of the boxes between us and lifts it until the tip of the triangle dangles above her mouth. Greasy, elastic mozzarella hangs in a string from the tip and she opens her mouth and darts her pink tongue out to catch it before taking a proper bite.

I clear my throat, push my damp palms down the legs of my jeans under the diner style table and pretend I didn’t imagine the dirtier version of what she just did. Summer’s friend is one strange girl. Hot and forward and incorrigible. Completely not my type. The first time we met she told me that she was going to name her vibrator after me, and that my dick could be in her if I wanted it to be.

I haven’t been able to forget it, though I’ve given it my best shot. I’ve tried with multiple women, practically got engaged to the last one. All except the ring that Claudia’s expecting when I go back after opening this new restaurant for her father.

I should probably have a conversation with her one day soon about why I won’t be extending our relationship. I recently realized Claudia was more into my housemate than me, and I didn’t particularly mind. Our relationship was never going to be based on a crazy passionate type of love, but we had a decent enough base. Especially since it solidified my relationship with Josef and swayed his decisions when it came to my suggestions for his business. Marrying his daughter would have been worthwhile.

Even if it isn’t Claudia, I still should settle down with someone nearer my own age, with the same values and life experience.

Mandy’s only a girl, almost the same age as my sister, one who sees the world through a lens the same pink as her lips. Sometimes I still feel a little ick about Summer dating two older guys—because apparently one isn’t enough. Being attracted to someone so much younger than me makes me shift uncomfortably in my seat. And now I’m going to have to try harder to ignore her since we’re going to actually see each other, and she’s already working her bizarrely arousing flirtations on me.

“You got in early,” Dylan says, slinging an arm around my sister’s shoulder and giving me a grin that’s almost as cheesy as the pizza in his hand.

“Found out we were starting the fit out ahead of schedule.” I take a slug of my Coke and lean back on the leather bench seat. “I need to be here to make sure they do it to Josef’s specifications. My boss is pedantic when it comes to his restaurants.”

“What are we talking about?” Mandy asks around a mouthful of pizza.

“Oops. Did I not tell you?” Summer gives Mandy a guilty look while Dylan and Gabe, Summer’s two fiancés, grimace at each other over her head. “Sam’s boss is opening a restaurant in Reverence.”

“You’re going to be living here?” Eyes bugging out of her head, she taps the table with one pink fingertip. “In the same town as me?”

“You had one job, Sum.” I shake my head at my little sister who only shrugs. She knew what Mandy’s reaction to me being in town would be, and I’d hoped a conversation between the two of them might have made it clear to the tenacious girl that there was no point in flirting with me. Perhaps saved me from having to let her down gently myself. A lifetime on the fringes of my sister and her friends’ lives has made it clear that sometimes it’s best not to get involved at all.

Gabe leans around her to snag a slice of the pie. “If it helps we’ve been keeping Summer preoccupied.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“No, not like that.” Summer reaches across the table to smack my bicep. “They’ve been coming up with new flavors. I get to taste test.”

“I knew you couldn’t stay away from me.” Mandy purrs, slipping closer, her hand finding my leg, making me jump. “I just had to meditate on your sexy ass in my bed enough times to make it happen.”

Perhaps letting her down gently isn’t the way to go. She reminds me a little of a blonde Jessica Rabbit, in the state that a rubber mallet would probably be a more useful way to get through to her. I grab her hand and drop it on her lap. “Josef’s opening a second restaurant here on my recommendation. I’m hoping to split my time between L.A and Reverence so that I can spend more time near my sister. I’m not looking to settle down here.”

Or at all. But especially not with a girl in her twenties who I can’t possibly have anything in common with, beside my sister. There’s no way that would end well.

“No need to be grumpy,” Summer tells me.

Mandy studies me, her brows drawn up under pale bangs. Green eyes, framed with dense lashes, are serious with thought and hazy from alcohol. “Then again, you’re even sexier when you’re grumpy.”

“Christ.” I shake my head. “You’re one weird chick. Are there no men your own age in this damn town?”

“Yes, but they don’t interest me.” Mandy shrugs. “Hard to look at another guy when you’ve already gotten up close to your dream man.”

“Dream man?” I twist in my seat to face her. “Look, Mandy, you don’t even know me. You don’t know anything about me.”

For a second she stares at me like she’s uncertain how to respond, then she touches my hand and smiles wide. “But I want to.”

She is the most frustrating woman I’ve come across. Well, there’s my mother, Sasha, but that’s in a completely different way. No, Mandy makes me want to yell with how frustrated she makes me, and in the same breath I’ve wanted to take her up on her offer from the first time we met. Which would be the worst idea and only make her more difficult to deal with.

I climb out of my seat. “Let’s just stick to you being my kid sister’s friend.”

“Sam?” Summer calls after me as I walk out of the pizza joint.

I give her a two finger wave over my shoulder, and try not to let the physical evidence of my frustration be noticeable. I thought seeing Mandy again would be strange. It had the potential to be awkward. What I didn’t expect was to end up with a serious erection.

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