Page 12 of Wingwoman
I shrugged. “I’ll be here until my dad’s wedding and then maybe a couple weeks after.”
I slipped into my bedroom and grabbed a plaid button down shirt from my closet. Something not so revealing.
Being Josh Gabriel’s wingwoman meant making myself as non-threatening as possible to other women. Though something told me that wouldn’t necessarily sway them in their attempts to meet Josh.
Four
JOSH
“What do you want to drink?”I nearly had to shout over the line dancing and loud music surrounding us.
I watched Hope closely as she looked around, taking in her surroundings. Somehow, she made an understated plaid shirt and jeans look formal. Like a girl in a costume, she simply didn’t belong, even though she was dressed the part.
And she did, in fact, put on those Cole Haan peep toe booties. They were sexy as all hell. Especially when I kept imagining them propped on my shoulders.
But they were no cowboy boots.
“Beer?” she answered, dragging my thoughts out of the gutter.
“Is that a question or a statement?”
With another quick glance over her shoulder, she shrugged. “You tell me. I’m not really sure what else to order here.”
Just what I thought. “They make a mean Texas Tea—it’s sort of like an adult Arnold Palmer with a Texas twist.”
“What’s the Texas twist?”
“Bourbon.”Lotsof bourbon. “Mixed with pretty much every other alcohol there is.”
“Soooo… it’s a Long Island Iced Tea.”
My eyes narrowed, but I softened the glare with a smile. “Fightin’ words. Careful what you say in these parts, Yankee.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll try your ‘Texas Tea’.” She threw air quotes around the cocktail name, but I was still choosing to take it as a win.
I squeezed my way toward the bar and caught the bartender, Nina’s, eye. It was busy—hell, this place was always busy. She gave me a nod from behind the bar as she poured a beer for someone else. “Your usual?” she called out over the crowd to me.
“Please,” I shouted back. “My usual and one Texas Tea.”
She sent me a thumbs up high in the air and went back to pouring for the other patrons. Turning back to Hope, I hitched my thumb over my shoulder, pointing to Nina. “Best bartender in all of Texas,” I said. “We went to high school together.” I left out the fact that she was one of the few people from high school who still talked to me.
I wasn’t all that popular with my local peers after Jenn and I broke up.
Hope lifted a brow and peeked over my shoulder, carefully watching Nina.
No, not watching… scrutinizing. “Muse material?” she asked, a gleam of hope in her caramel eyes.
I shook my head. “Not a chance.” I wasn’t risking one of the only friends I had left. I had to fall in love with my muse, let her break my heart. And while I cared about Nina, there was no way she could be that person for me. Not to mention, she’d see it coming from a mile away and call bullshit before we’d even had one date.
Somehow, she had managed to stay friends with both Jenn and me. She’d watched from the outside and knew the whole story.
She knew every move I had because she had watched me use them on her best friend—and then on practically every woman in this damn bar.
A piece of Hope’s chestnut brown hair fell from behind her ear, landing across her forehead. Slowly, I lifted my hand, dragging my fingers across her face and tucking the stray hair behind her ear.
Blinking, she tilted her head to look at me. My heart pounded, blood roaring in my ears as I got lost in those eyes of hers.
And as I stared, falling into a trance, I heard the whisperings of a tune in the back of my mind. A song was coming to me.
