Page 65 of Better Luck Next Time

“Not a clue or I wouldn’t have agreed to come. Which is why she purposely kept it from me.”

Adalia looked at the door to the lobby, worry starting to brew in her chest. “Should I be concerned?” Her gaze lifted to Finn’s. “ShouldGeorgie?”

“No.” He took her hand and held it against his hard pec. Maybe she shouldn’t notice something like that at a time like this, but sue her. She had hormones. “River loves Georgie,” he continued. “I would never be part of anything that would tear them apart.”

When she made a face, he added, “Again.”

“So what’s going on?”

“River and Maisie have been friends for a long time, and they’ve always been tight. They used to hang out all the time, and the three of us got together every week for Taco Tuesday.”

“But he doesn’t do that anymore,” she said. “At least Georgie never mentions it, and I know she would.”

“You’re right.” He dropped her hand and walked past several of the kennels.

The dogs leapt in their cages, eager for attention, and while Adalia felt compelled to give it to them, this conversation was too important for her to let it go.

“Georgie wouldn’t forbid River to see his friend,” Adalia said defensively. “She’s not the jealous type.”

“I know,” he said, his mouth twisting to the side. “Or at least I know Georgie’s not the reason they haven’t gotten together.”

“River?” she asked, giving it some thought. “Did he stop meeting you two weekly after he and Georgie started seeing each other? Partially because he was pissed with you?”

“The weekly Bro Club dinners? Yeah, that had something to do with it.”

“Bro Club dinners?” she teased. “Really?”

He smirked. “That’s what Maisie called them, and it kind of stuck. As a joke.”

“But he stopped seeing Maisie?” That bothered her more than she cared to admit. She understood why he’d shied away from Finn for a while, but had he really just abandoned his childhood friend? If so, it didn’t say much for his character.

Finn grimaced again. “This is not my business to tell.”

He was protecting someone. River? Maisie?Georgie?

“Were River and Maisie ever more than friends?”

“No, Addy. If they were, I would tell you. Honest.” His expression said he meant it.

“But something’s going on, otherwise we wouldn’t be hiding back here. We’d be with River and Maisie.”

“They had a fight,” Finn blurted. “No, not really a fight, more like a misunderstanding. I advised Maisie to talk to him about it, but apparently she doesn’twantto, otherwise we wouldn’t be here right now. We’d be at my place or yours watchingFast Five.”

She grinned. “We never finishedPride and Prejudice.”

He grimaced. “I might have finished it without you.”

She gave his shoulder a playful shove. “You cad.”

He laughed and captured her hand in his.

They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, and Adalia was astonished that she was in this place with him, not the dog rescue—okay, yes, the dog rescue—but in this state of happiness. Ofeasiness. She’d never felt this way with anyone before, and while she reveled in it, she was still scared. She’d given far too much of herself to Alan, and look where that had gotten her.

Finn is nothing like Alan. Alan isn’t even fit to tie the shoelaces on his dockers.

Are those laces even real, or are they just for show?

She laughed, and Finn’s eyes lit up.

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