Page 44 of Mr. Flirt

“Perry,” I corrected, wishing I hadn’t bothered.

Lucy’s right brow went up. “Right. Perry, and he had the sudden urge to confess right there.”

I let out a groan. “But it was too late. I’d screwed up my chances.”

“Wow. That’s low,” Winter chided. “Even for you.”

But my sister already knew a lot of this from the brunch at her house, so why she wanted to kick me while I was down told me she liked Lucy.

“Blame Mike. He’s the one who placed the bet with me.” I gave him a wicked grin. “Who’s snickering now?”

Mike shook his head and chuckled. “We’ve really been trying to work on our gambling issue.”

“Not hard enough,” Skylar prompted, giving Lucy a sympathetic look.

Mike nodded. “Right. Because there was that second—”

I coughed, interrupting him and Mike laughed, not realizing I never told Lucy about the bet in the bar about whether she’d give me the time of day.

Lucy shrugged. “That event was a good reminder that I’m not programmed to date. Maybe just experiment with meaningless encounters.”

Mike chuckled while my sister’s husband almost choked on his drink.

“That sounds like Shep’s motto,” Skylar said, eyeing me.

“Ah, my brother will settle down one day.” Winter let out a wistful sigh and touched her belly. “One day, there will be a woman who knocks the air right out of his lungs and makes his knees buckle, and before he knows it, he’ll want lots of little Sheps running around.”

“Is the world ready for lots of little Sheps?” Skylar joked, and Mike clanked his beer bottle with mine.

“So, I decided to make the best of this odd situation,” Lucy continued, and my expression fell.

She wouldn’t.

Would she?

“He’s obviously a master at his craft.” Her full lips formed a perfect pout. “And I’ve come to realize that I need some lessons.”

“Don’t say it,” I muttered. “Don’t say it.”

Mike gave me some side-eye as Lucy’s smile widened.

“Shep agreed to teach me how to—” She stopped herself when she saw the horror in my eyes. “To flirt.”

I let out a deep breath when I realized that was all she was going to say.

Of course, it was all she would relay to them. She was a professional with a career that relied on integrity and truth and loyalty.

“Well, he’s a master at that.” Mike smiled and nodded. “No doubt about it.”

“As much as I love getting roasted here by my student and ex-family and friends, the oven dinged.”

“I didn’t hear it.” Lucy eyed me.

“Trust me. It dinged.” I reached for her hand, and our fingers curled into one another’s as I nearly pulled her to the kitchen.

“Seriously?” I studied her expression, which was completely void of any emotion.

“Seriously, what?” She played around with a towel hanging from the fridge. “These are the closest people in your life. Why would you hide our little experiment?”

---