Page 416 of Small Town Firsts
“Afraid I’m going to get tipsy?”
“Just wear baggy jeans or something.”
I choked out a laugh. “Excuse me?”
“Your ass is entirely too pinchable.”
“You think? I’ve never been pinched when out and about.”
“I know. Later, PMS.” She clicked off before I could do more than grin dopily at my irritated cat.
He leaned forward and very specifically bit my big toe in my open sandal. Then he sauntered off while I stared at his ungrateful back end.
I spent the rest of the disgustingly hot and humid afternoon doing paperwork in my chaise lounge on the balcony with some music playing and chilled iced tea. I wouldn’t be drinking much of the hot stuff anytime soon, but even the iced version made me think of her.
Hell, everything did.
Later, Ryan texted me a snapshot of a pair of bug-eyed llama potholders.
Miss Moon:
These screamed PMS.
Did you buy them?
Miss Moon:
Even better. I bartered a pair of booties for them. You’re welcome.
Smoky was sunning himself in a beam of sunshine on the railing. At my bark of laughter, he glanced over and sneered.
Elvis came on when I was just about to head inside and get ready to go. I grinned and cranked up the music, only to lower it again when my phone went off.
Bishop.
“Hey, what’s up? You on your way?”
“I’m still in Fiji. Shit went sideways. Needless to say, I’m not going to be at the bar tonight. Sorry.”
Only one word stuck in my brain.
“Fiji? You didn’t tell me you were there. And you said you met a woman?”
“Oh, I met a woman, all right.” His tone verged on furious.
“What happened? I thought you were in love and all that.”
“All that is correct. Until she ghosted me.” Static filled the line, and it sounded as if he dropped the phone. He came back on, sounding out of breath. “If I can’t find her, I’m catching a flight tonight.”
“You’re still looking? And um, just for curiosity’s sake, her name isn’t April, is it?”
That would be very, very bad if I wanted him to take my place in the law firm, and his new assistant had just fucked and ducked him.
I grasped the back of my neck. I did not want to think of my cool, competent assistant in that manner. I separated church and state so thoroughly that I’d barely even noticed she was a woman.
Didn’t work so well with Ryan though, huh?
That was an entirely different scenario. She’d only been a temp.
