Page 6 of The Good Girl (Nashville Neighborhood)

“You mean she’s lucky.”

Preston’s tone had been accusatory, but my brother’s was plain. “No, I mean she’s good.”

He took his shot, which bounced close but rimmed out. Preston snatched up the cup I’d landed my shot in, pulled out the ball, and slammed the drink. When he’d cleared away the cup, his gaze zeroed in on me.

“I hope you’re thirsty, good girl.” He put emphasis on the word, teasing me, and dear God, it sent a surge of electricity down my spine. He’d said it like being good was actually a bad thing, and the muscles low in my stomach clenched.

He wasn’t wrong. I was a good girl, but sometimes, especially when I thought about him, all I wanted to be was bad.

He lined up to take his shot, only this time he wasn’t successful. The ball pinged off two rims and flew away, landing on the ground and rolling across the carpet. The cocky expression he’d had froze, then drained away, and I had to press my lips together to hold back my smile.

“I wasn’t looking.” My brother pretended to be confused. “Did it go in?”

Preston sighed, and then he snorted. “That’s what she said.”

Madison’s gaze flashed up to the ceiling for a second, the joke too stupid to acknowledge, before focusing on the game.

They put up a decent fight, but she and Preston were no match for Team Novak. On the third round, Colin finally landed a shot, and then we rolled full steam ahead and annihilated them. It was clear Preston didn’t like losing, but as the game went along, his irritation faded. His curiosity about me seemed to outweigh it.

“We’ll team up on the next round,” he announced when he finished the final cup of beer. “You and me together? We’d be unstoppable.”

Oh, lord. Warmth crawled up my neck. Once again, he’d only meant the game, but my mind took the meaning elsewhere.

You and me together.

Had he ever thought about it? I wasn’t that dorky fifteen-year-old anymore, and he’d broken up with Cassidy a long time ago.

I opened my mouth to agree to another round, but Colin shook his head. “No. She drove here.”

I’d had less than one beer, but he had a point, and I struggled not to let my shoulders sag with disappointment. Now that I had Preston’s attention, I didn’t want to lose it, and teaming up with him sounded like fun.

Undeterred, he strolled toward me, taking up all the space around us. He held my gaze as he picked up one of the cups in front of me that was left over from the game. “You can crash here,” he announced, took a sip of the beer, and then his tone thickened with heat. “There’s plenty of room in my bed.”

Holy shit.

My heart tripped and stumbled. He was flirting. Preston Lowe was flirting with me.

And he wasn’t exactly being subtle either.

“What the fuck?” my brother snapped. His chest lifted with a deep breath, perhaps to puff it up, and the atmosphere in the room went taut. Colin glared at his friend, every inch of his face and posture announcing exactly how much Preston’s comment had pissed him off.

Maybe it was because my brother hadn’t been around much once I’d been old enough to date, but I found this reaction surprising. Our parents were strict, which had made him swing wildly the other direction—so I hadn’t expected him to be protective of me. Or so controlling.

I didn’t care what Colin did with his romantic life.

Shouldn’t he feel the same way about me?

Preston laughed, lifted his hands in the air, and backed away from me with a sheepish grin. As if to say his flirting was harmless and he didn’t mean it. He ripped his gaze away from mine and planted it on my brother.

“Chill, dude. I was just kidding.”

I jammed my hands in the tiny pockets of my shorts to prevent me from balling them into fists. If that were true, it stung, and I reeled from the emotional whiplash. I’d been so excited about him flirting, and now I felt like a punchline.

Also, what the hell? Yes, Preston was my brother’s best friend, but he’d never said his friends were off limits. My brother and I weren’t close, and our friends didn’t overlap.

So, why did he care if we flirted?

Or dated?

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