Page 3 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell

Erick laughed. It was no secret Mike had been searching for Ms. Right, while Eric was just fine with being single. There wasn’t a single woman in this town that tempted him to settled down.

A silver CRV pulled up the drive and past them, the driver waving at them. Eric recognized Gracie through the glass and took a long pull from his beer.

Fine, maybe I can think of one.

It was no secret that Gracie and he had been having a weird back-and-forth thing for almost two years now, ever since he’d been the winning bidder at the Sweethearts Valentine’s Day Charity Auction. He’d hauled her off the stage so they could have a little talk, and it had just made things worse. Eight months ago, they’d called a truce on their little feud, and Eric had thought maybe they were headed in a new direction. One where they might actually be friends.

But after he’d almost confessed how he really felt about her at the Halloween Ball two weeks ago and she’d walked away with some dork she’d met online, he was done. He wasn’t hanging onto some misguided hope that Gracie McAllister was going to wake up and realize she wanted him.

For good this time.

“Guess Gracie’s new boyfriend bailed,” Mike said.

Eric raised an eyebrow. “Who? That lawyer?”

“How do you know about the lawyer?” Mike asked.

“I met him at the Halloween Ball.”

Mike ran a hand through his brown hair, ruffling the short strands. “Yeah, I guess she invited him, and he said he would come. Must have gotten cold feet.”

“Or he’s bringing his own car in case he needs to escape,” Travis said.

Gabe tossed his beer can into the trash. “Now, who would want to escape all this fun?”

Eric was contemplating a speedy exit himself when he heard his mother yelling his name.

The guys started heckling him about his mommy calling him, and Eric flipped them the bird as he walked up the driveway to the house. He came up behind Gracie while she was headfirst in the back of her CRV, wearing a lacy white dress, tights, and cowboy boots. Her blonde hair traveled past her shoulders now, covering up the collar of her jean jacket and he had to admit that he liked it better than the shorter do she usually sported.

“Need some help?” he asked.

She jumped a mile in the air with a scream and dropped the brightly wrapped package in her hands.

“Geez, do you have to sneak up on people? Do you understand that if I was holding Gemma and Travis’s cake, you would have been the reason it was smashed to bits?”

Eric held up his hands in surrender. “I was just offering to carry stuff in for you. No need to bite my head off.”

Gracie’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of red, and he hated that he noticed how it brought out the green of her eyes.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a rough day. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

Eric was surprised by her apology. Most of the time, she would snap back at him, something snarky that would set his teeth on edge. He wondered if she was coming down with something.

“It’s fine, we all have them. Do you want some help or what?”

Gracie tucked a stray curl behind her ear, revealing the smooth line of her throat.

Christ, get it together, Henderson.

“Sure, can you grab the presents while I get the cake?”

He reached past her to pick up the packages, and their shoulders bumped. He was close enough to smell the fruity scent of her hair and notice the shine in the blonde strands, almost as though she sprayed it with glitter.

“Are you having fun?” she asked abruptly.

Eric couldn’t stop his laugh. “At a baby shower? Sure, I’m having a blast.”

“Oh come on, it hasn’t even started, so it can’t be that bad.”

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