Page 83 of Lucky Strike

I blink away tears, scanning the elegant black font. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss your dad’s birthday.”

“Maeve’s flying in for the weekend, too.” Turning off the water, he maneuvers me around so we’re facing one another. “You mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad?” I stare up at him.

“I know you, and it feels like.” He frowns, waving his hand between us. “Like you’re keeping yourself from me.”

“Maybe unintentionally,” I admit. “But Conlan, you do see the irony in what you’re asking me, right?”

“See, like that.Conlan.” He rests his hand on my hip, tugging me closer as he brings his lips to my ear. “You were callin’ me Lucky last night. You’vebeencalling me Lucky since …”

My face warms as he trails off, letting me fill in the blanks. I didn’t even realize. “I guess you’re Lucky to me when we’re like that.”

“Don’t call me Conlan anymore.” It’s the softest demand.

I nod, but press my hand to his chest, needing space. “Stop changing the subject.”

His self-satisfied little smile fades. “You think I keep myself from you.”

“I know you do, and you know it, too,” I say. “We came home from the beach house and bam! Back to reality. But the beach was real for me, as real as this is.”

He swallows, his eyes almost pleading. After a moment, he nods. “It was real for me, too.”

“I’ll always be your friend. I’ll always be here for you. But I can’t keep going back and forth with … the other stuff. It affects how I feel about everything else in my life, like my job, and that could affect Liam. It wouldn’t be fair to him.”

“Or to you,” he says, gazing at me. My heart flip flops. I could move to the other side of the world, and I’d still be trapped by the memory of his gaze. He curves his palm to my cheek, his thumb brushing my lips, and gives me a gentle kiss. Maybe this is how we communicate best, when we’re not using words. “I’m not playing games with you, Bria.”

“I know, but I don’t do friends with benefits, and you don’t want something more.”

“This is a lot more than fucking friends with benefits,” he says with a scoff. Pursing my lips, I twist away but he grabs my arm. “You’ve never just been a friend, just like you’ve never just been Liam’s nanny.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to give me time to figure my shit out.”

“I guess I can try,” I say, sighing. “It’s not like I can date someone else while I’m living here.”

His eyes darken, and he pushes me up against the counter. “Real fuckin’ funny.”

“I wasn’t joking,” I shoot back, even though I was.

“You don’t want to date anybody else.” His hands grip the counter on either side of me.

“No, dummy. I want you. I want what we used to have, when we were too young to know any better.”

The storm in his eyes shifts like molten metal, and he grabs my face, kissing me. “I’ll try,” he says against my mouth.

“Promise?”

“Pinky swear.” Taking my hand, he hooks our pinkies with a stare so earnest it makes me laugh.

I tighten my finger around his and we kiss again … until a pair of small, clammy hands pushes us apart.

“Why are you kissing?” Liam scolds, flabbergasted. Bacon barks twice, punctuating his statement. “Stop it!”

We reach for him at the same time. “Liam?—”

“Buddy—”

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