Page 3 of After Tonight

“No?” Curly said. “He sounds amazing.”

Riley wasn’t so sure that amazing was the word she’d use, but he was intriguing.

“He’s hot-fling material,” Sephora said. “Not boyfriend material. Once you get past the orgasms, and look around his apartment and stuff, you’ll realize he’s a confirmed bachelor and would be way too much work to convert.”

Okay, well, trying to convert anyone into anything else was always a bad idea, but Riley was glad this woman was cautioning her friend against even trying.

“Is it a dump?” Curly asked.

“Not really. It’s just very…male. He has a few kinds of body wash you can pick from in his bathroom, and he has nice towels and stuff. I thought that was interesting,” she said. “But the rest of the place…looks like a guy lives there with no female influence at all.”

The guy gave these women a choice of coffee creamer and body wash at his place? Good Lord. Riley had to admit that impressed was starting to edge out horrified. He was kind of a master. And the disposable, to-go coffee cups? Brilliant.

The door to the Come Again opened just then and Riley realized Sephora was facing the door. No doubt waiting to spot the Sex God. Though Riley thought the guy really should walk around with a T-shirt proclaiming him as such. Or something. Did the guy glow? Did he have a halo over his head for all the good he was doing for the area women?

“Oh!” Sephora gasped. “There he is.”

Riley almost hurt her neck snapping it around to see who had come through the door.

But the next second, she frowned.

No. That couldn’t be right. The woman must be confused. Because the guy who had just walked into the Come Again was Derek Wright. The bartender. Riley’s brother’s best friend. The guy she thought of as a second brother. Her second, even more annoying brother, to be exact. The guy who had once put dead spiders in her bed. She’d kicked his ass for that. Of course, then he’d been scrawny and a lot shorter than he was now.

“Oh my God, he’s gorgeous,” Curly said.

Riley looked from her and then in the direction she was staring. But no, she was still looking at Derek.

“I know, right?” Sephora said. “Look at those shoulders.”

So, Riley did. But they were just shoulders. On Derek. The guy who, when she was eight and he was twelve, put all of her Barbies in compromising positions with Kyle’s army guys all over her bedroom. She remembered being shocked that Derek had known those positions. In fact, looking back now, she was still a little shocked.

She narrowed her eyes and studied the guy that she’d known her entire life. Literally. He’d been there when her parents had brought her home from the hospital as a newborn. He’d lived next door and decided that where there was excitement and cake, he too would be.

But Sex God? She winced. She wasn’t sure she should know the stuff she now knew about him. Or that she wanted to.

Then again, maybe the girls were looking at someone else at the bar. It was Tuesday night, so it wasn’t like it was packed, but there were three other guys up there. Of course, one was her brother, Kyle. And she did not want to know if the girls were talking about him.

But it couldn’t be Kyle. For one, he didn’t live in a house, he lived over at Ty Bennett’s place, a sort-of boarding house type setup. He was building a house, but it was far from finished. For another, he worked horribly long and erratic hours as the town physician, so he’d hardly have time for all of this Good Samaritan screwing. Even before Hannah, his one true love, had walked back into his life. Which she had. So no, it wasn’t Kyle.

But maybe they were talking about—

“So that, my friend, is Derek Wright. The man who is going to change your whole sad, post-break-up perspective,” Sephora said.

Well, crap. So much for pretending they were talking about someone else.

“Okay,” Curly said with a nod. “But, why is he all muddy?”

Riley looked back over to where Derek was now leaning on the bar. He was the main bartender here, but the business belonged to Bryan Murray, who was currently behind the bar. Derek was leaning on his forearms, laughing with the guys, including Bryan and Kyle. And Curly was right. He was muddy. Not as in his shoes were muddy from being outside. He was muddy from the ass down. And it looked like he had streaks of mud on his arms and even his face. What the hell was that about?

And for reasons she couldn’t quite explain, Riley pushed up out of her chair and headed in that direction. As she approached Derek, her mind swirled with all of the things she’d overheard. He was well-known for his short-term flings? He made women feel better after their breakups? He was…a Sex God? He had flavored coffee creamers in his kitchen?

No freaking way.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked, walking right up to him and interrupting whatever conversation was going on between the guys.

Derek looked over at her and lifted a brow. “Me?”

She rolled her eyes. She was looking right at him. “Yes, you.”

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