Page 52 of A Little Harmless Pleasure

She smiled at him. “Went to one of your competitors. I have to say, they do have a way with Carolina barbeque.”

Placing her hands on the bar, she lifted herself up and leaned over to give him a kiss. She jumped up on one of the barstools, settling her elbows on the counter. “How’re things going here?”

The warmth of her breath still tingled over his lips, scrambling his thoughts. It took him a second or two to answer. “Okay. Had a bit of a problem with a customer who must’ve started drinking at eight in the morning. But May handled it.”

“May can fix anything,” Evan remarked, smiling at the woman in question. She offered him a vague look, then walked away.

“What the hell was that about?” Evan asked, still watching May as she sauntered to the back of the restaurant.

Chris shrugged. Sharp as a tack, Evan could work the most complex figures out in his head. If he couldn’t understand why May was mad at him, Chris didn’t want to be the one who told him.

Cynthia slid off the stool. “I gotta get going. Mike wanted to show me another property for rent in Hawaii Kai.”

He frowned at her. “That’s some pricey real estate.”

She smirked at him. “Spoken by a man who owns a home in the area.” Giving him another quick, hard kiss that had his head fogging and his body humming, she smiled at him. “It must be within my price range or Mike wouldn’t have suggested it. I have some shopping to do after I get done. Wanna meet back here for dinner? I won’t even mooch off ya. My treat.”

That was a bit too smooth of an offer, but he let it go. “Sure. Whatever you want.”

“Good, because I’m stealing May.”

May walked out of the back, her purse in her hands. She tossed Chris a lethal smile. “Don’t worry about Chris. He knows better than to say anything. I’ll leave him high and dry.”

Cynthia turned to Evan. “Thank you for lunch.” She rose to her tiptoes and brushed her lips over his cheek. “Even if it was ruined by the stench of a USC fan.”

She waved her fingers, then slipped her hand through May’s arm and walked out of the restaurant.

“You know, if you hadn’t snapped her up, I might’ve taken her for a ride.”

Chris glanced over at his friend. “Really? Good girls aren’t your cup of tea.”

His attention still fixed on where the two women had last been in view, Evan said, “Yeah, but there’s something about her. Something about how proper she acts and how she is with you. It’d be mighty fun to strip away all that good-girl veneer to see the naughty woman beneath.”

“Hey!”

Evan shook himself and glanced over his shoulder with a grin. “Even if I wanted her, that woman is stuck on you. Damn, it was disgusting the way she gets all goo-goo eyed when she talks about you.”

Chris smiled, warmth curling into his heart. “Yeah?”

“Ick. Yeah, just like that. You two are disgusting.”

“Come on, have a drink, on me.”

He nodded. “Give me a Dr. Pepper.”

“So, everything went okay?” He filled a glass and set it on the bar in front of Evan.

Evan took a healthy gulp. “No problems. Sure doesn’t take any crap.”

“What did you do?”

Evan’s eyes widened. “How did you know I did something?”

Chris arched one eyebrow.

“Okay, I tried to talk smack. Didn’t fly.”

Chris scratched his chin. “Yeah, I can imagine that it didn’t.”

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