Page 106 of Friends Don't Kiss

“I found it!” Linwood calls from the bay. “Jesus Christ, dude,” he yells, his voice coming stronger as he gets closer. “It was in the metal recycling bin!” he says, holding the tool up.

They all look at me like I have three heads.

I lift my hands in apology. “Dunno what happened.”

Orson rolls his eyes, Patrick and Linwood mumble incomprehensibly, and they all return to work.

But then Patrick yells “Fuuuck!” and when I run into the bay, I stop in my tracks. There’s a huge oil spill under Craig’s car.

“I guess someone forgot to tighten the drain plug before refilling,” Orson says. Turning to me, he adds, “Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”

“Shit. Let me deal with this.”

He shakes his head. “The silly phase will do that to ya.”

I frown at him. “Dunno what you’re talking about.” The ribbing about Kiara’s migraines was one thing, but I don’t want to talk aboutphaseswith Orson.

He arches a bushy eyebrow. “You met my wife? She makes sure I know everything I need to know. Get outta here, we’ll take care of that. And get your head on straight, will ya? You made enough of a mess to last us a whole year.”

Grunting, he adds, “I’ll keep an eye out for you at the garage.” He punctuates this with a back slap. “Just don’t mess up with her. They broke the mold.”

I might be in the silly phase, but I still have it together enough to stop at Town Hall before heading to Lazy’s. I spend an hour in the offices looking up the variances the town has approved over the past two years, and I leave rather unsettled. It’s not looking good.

But when I walk into Lazy’s, the sight of Kiara sitting at the bar next to Willow brightens my mood.We’ll figure it out.

I slide up to her, barely noticing Justin and Haley behind the bar, and Chris, Alex, Grace, Ethan, and Noah at the nearest booth.

She whips around, her cheeks get some color, and her hand goes up to my chest. “Hey,” she says. I don’t know how Kiara feels about PDA, and I don’t want to make her do something she’s not comfortable doing in front of our friends. I want to kiss the daylights out of her, and if it was just me, I’d carry her to my truck and we’d go home to fuck the night away.

Granted, we have our whole life for this. I can exercise some restraint for an hour or so—but not much more.

She swivels on her stool and places her knees on each side of me, tugging on my jacket to bring me closer. “I missed you.” Her other hand plays with my hair. “Aren’t you gonna say hi?”

I did not see that coming. After all the running around in circles she had me do, she’s totally liberated and upfront about what’s going on between us.

No complaints.

The sound of Justin setting a foaming pint in front of me—“On the house,” he says as he sets the beer down rather loudly—doesn’t break the magnetic field that is Kiara’s silver gaze on me. I lean down and kiss her softly on the mouth. Damn I missed her. And damn I want her again, so bad.

She returns my kiss, the tip of her tongue briefly wetting my lips. I grip the bar with one hand so I don’t bring her deeper against me.

Justin might be my friend, but he has standards for his bar.

I pull away from her. My gaze slides to Willow, who’s looking at us with an unconcealed look of victory. “You’re welcome,” she mouths.

Chris straightens and semi-shouts, “Can we talk about how Kiara is glued to Colt like a naked hand on an ice-cold mailbox?”

“Nice metaphor, babe,” Alex says.

Willow pushes her stool back and runs around the bar with her hands in the air, shouting, “Whoot! Whoot!”

Noah shakes his head and wipes his glasses, Grace comes around to give Kiara a hug, then leans over to me and whispers for my ears only, “You hurt her, you answer to me.”

How and why the fuck would I hurt Kiara?I frown at my sister, my fuck-off look on my face. She shrugs, winks, and says, “It’s a Bitch Brigade thing. Just thought you should know.”

Justin comes back with three bottles of hard cider. “Best I have, until Haley gets off her ass and makes her own.” His sister gives him a friendly shove and helps him fill our glasses.

After they’ve all toasted to us, we’ve polished off three more bottles, and we’ve helped Justin clear the tables, Chris takes Kiara and me aside. I bring Kiara against me, loving the way she fits perfectly under my arm, loving the way her face tilts up to mine, the way her hand grabs my shirt around my waist like she needs something to tether herself to. Feeling her so vulnerable undoes me. I know how she’s feeling right now. Like she jumped off a cliff and isn’t sure about her parachute. “We’re gonna be okay, sweets,” I whisper. “I promise.” I lean over to kiss her temple.

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