Page 20 of Hat Trick Daddies

“Well, I’d write home about it,” I reply, my grin widening.

She shakes her head, but there’s a warmth in her smile that pulls me in. Before I can stop myself, I lean closer, my hand brushing lightly against hers. Her breath catches, and for a moment, the space between us feels charged.

Then I kiss her.

It’s soft at first, tentative, but the second our lips touch, I’m overwhelmed by her. The noise, the lights, the people, all of it fades away until it’s just her and me.

The kiss ends as quickly as it began, and Ally pulls back, her eyes wide with surprise.

For a moment, she just stares at me, her lips slightly parted, and I can see the wheels turning in her head.

“I, uh,” she stammers, glancing around like she’s looking for an escape route.

I sit back slightly, my grin fading. “Ally, it’s–”

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she blurts out, cutting me off. Her voice is hurried, and before I can say anything else, she’s heading toward the back of the bar.

I watch her go, weaving through the crowd like she’s on a mission. The sinking feeling in my gut tells me I probably just screwed up, but there’s another part of me, one I’m not entirely proud of, that feels a flicker of triumph.

She kissed me back, even if it was just for a moment. That has to mean something.

Brooks returns to the table, two bottles of water in hand. He glances around, his brow furrowing. “Where’d Ally go?”

“The bathroom,” I say casually, taking a sip of my drink.

Brooks narrows his eyes, his annoyance palpable. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” I reply, raising my hands in mock innocence.

He doesn’t buy it for a second. “Tyler,” he says, his tone sharp, “I swear to God, if you…”

Before he can finish, Nick comes back, sliding into his seat. He takes one look at me, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Who’d you kiss?”

I blink, caught off guard. “What?”

“Don’t play dumb,” Nick says, pointing at me with his good hand. “That look on your face? That’s your ‘I just kissed someone and I’m trying not to make a big deal about it’ face.”

Brooks groans, his palm slapping against his forehead. “Oh, for the love of—please don’t tell me you kissed Ally.”

I shrug, my smirk creeping back despite myself. “Maybe.”

Brooks and Nick both groan, leaning back in their seats like I’ve just told them the world’s worst news.

“What?” I say, my grin widening.

Brooks glares at me. “You’re unbelievable.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ally

I sitin the cramped bathroom stall, my heart pounding like I just ran a marathon.

The sound of muffled laughter and music seeps through the walls, but it does nothing to drown out the rush of thoughts spinning in my head.

I can’t believe I let that happen.

Butthat kiss wasn’t just a kiss, it was something else entirely. And I didn’t want it to stop.

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