Page 18 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell

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Eric sat in front of his computer, typing up an email to his literary agent, Neal Goodman. He knew Neal was out of town for the weekend visiting family, but hopefully he’d get it first thing Monday and be able to give him an update on his submission. Considering Neal was the only one he had to talk to about his novel, he was going out of his mind.

It wasn’t because he was ashamed or thought his family wouldn’t approve. Writing was always something he enjoyed, but since he’d never gone to college or taken any classes, he’d always kept his musings to himself.

The last two years, though, he’d been a bit restless. He’d been running his family’s bar since he was twenty-one years old, and although he loved it, it wasn’t his passion.

Still, he wasn’t ready to share anything with anyone until there was something to share. When he’d finished his manuscript six months ago, and sent a query letter to eight different agents, six of them had come back with a hard no.

Not Neal, though. He’d sent him a contract to review five days after reading Eric’s sample chapters, and the two of them had been tweaking and working together ever since. Neal had finally told him in September that the manuscript was ready to shop.

Now all he had to do was wait.

The clock on the wall chimed six times, and Eric cursed. The guys were supposed to come over for poker tonight, and he had nothing but leftovers and beer in his kitchen. Travis had texted to cancel earlier, so there was one less mouth to feed.

Pulling on his coat, he headed out to the store and walked back through the door forty-five minutes later with enough junk to feed an army.

Just after seven, there was a knock on his door, and he opened it to find Gabe and Mike on his doorstep.

“Hey, guys, come on in.”

Gabe stepped inside first, pulling off his gray wool cap and revealing the short strip of hair along his otherwise dark shaved head. He shrugged out of his jacket and pushed up the sleeves of a gray sweater that looked out of place with the diamond studs and the tattoos.

“Nice sweater, J.Crew.”

Gabe grimaced. “It’s warm.”

“Apparently, Caroline’s sister Ellie made it for him. Knitted it herself,” Mike said.

Eric couldn’t imagine Ellie, one of his bartenders and a bit of a wild child, sitting around knitting anything, but the fact that Gabe was wearing a sweater his girlfriend’s sister had made him spoke volumes about the domestication some men could experience.

Mike tossed his coat over Eric’s couch and made a beeline for the snacks across the counter. None of his friends were shy about their appetites.

“I thought Chase was coming with you guys?”

“Nah, he said something about going to bed early,” Gabe said. “Justin and Everett Silverton are coming, though.”

Eric nodded. He liked the Silverton brothers. Justin was married to Val, Caroline’s other sister, who was in her second trimester. He shuddered. Whatever was in the water this year, Eric hoped none of the women he’d slept with had drunk it.

Everett had been dating Callie Jacobsen, but the two had split suddenly a few weeks ago, and Eric couldn’t figure out why. They had been pretty perfect together, and Everett seemed to be taking it hard.

Hopefully a night with the guys would do them all some good. Eric knew it would help him at least get his mind off a certain, hot-tempered blonde who took offense to just about everything. Eric was still blown away by the way she’d gone off on him, but lesson learned. He was going to avoid Gracie like the plague and stop trying to help her.

At least, he hoped so.

Chapter Seven

“Never trust a man who hates kids and animals.” - Miss Know-It-All’s Gossip Column.

On Saturday, Gracie was just putting Pip down for her nap when she heard her cell phone ringing in the kitchen. Trying to sneak out of the room without waking her, Gracie waited until she hit the hallway to pick up speed and grab her phone.

“Hello,” she said breathlessly.

“Gracie, it’s Darrin.”

Gracie didn’t know why his tone made the hackles on the back of her neck stand on end, but it definitely wasn’t friendly.

“Hey, how are you?”

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