Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(51)

“These things are always sticky,” she said.

Jake, my favorite bartender, came over to our table. He and I had always enjoyed a harmless flirtation. Never serious—he’d been happily married the entire time I’d known him—but he had a great smile. It was fun to get him to use it.

“Hi, ladies.” He waved at Ella. “Hi, little squirt.”

Ella held up the toy Everly had given her to play with.

“That’s awesome,” Jake said. “How old is she? Two?”

“She will be in July,” Everly said.

“I figured. My daughter will be two in August, so they’re close.”

“How sweet,” Everly said.

“Yeah, she’s the best.”

“What are you doing out here?” I asked. “I thought they liked to keep you behind the bar.”

“Apparently this is what happens when you become an owner.” He shrugged. “You wind up doing a little bit of everything.”

“I didn’t know you bought this place,” I said. “Congratulations.”

He smiled. “Thanks. It’s kind of a dream come true, so I’m pretty excited about it. Anyway, what can I get you, ladies. The usual?”

“Yes, except iced tea for me,” Everly said. “And she’ll have the grilled cheese with a fruit cup.”

“The usual for me.”

“You got it.”

Our drinks came out quickly and he brought some bread for Ella to snack on while we waited for our food. He clearly knew what he was doing when it came to toddlers.

“How’s work?” Everly asked.

“More of the same.” I sipped my drink. “Frustrating more often than not but it still has its good points.”

“Really? I’m surprised.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, you just seem like you’ve been in a really good mood lately. I thought maybe things at work were better.”

She was right, I had been in a good mood lately. A great mood, actually. But it wasn’t because April had suddenly decided to let me have my creative freedom.

It was Dex.

Specifically, the weapon of pussy destruction he kept in his pants.

I opened my mouth to tell her just that but I glanced at Ella. She didn’t talk a lot yet, but she was learning, and there were probably things I shouldn’t say in front of her, even if she couldn’t understand them.

So I chose my words a bit more carefully. “A fling with my very hot neighbor has that effect.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Do tell.”

“Having him right next door is so convenient. I can just pop by and let him rock my world, then it’s back to work.”

The truth was, Dex and I had been slipping over to each other’s houses, usually shortly after Riley went to school, almost every day for the last several weeks. Days I had to go into the office were trickier and weekends were usually out because Riley was home. Although he’d appeared at my back door late last Saturday night for a quickie before sneaking back to his house.

“Sounds great,” Everly said.

“It is. He’s…” I glanced at Ella again. “Extremely talented.”

Jake brought our food and Everly cut up Ella’s grilled cheese sandwich into small bites. “When do we get to meet him?”

My eyebrows drew in and my fork dangled from my hand. “Meet him?”

“Yeah. We’d all love to meet the guy you’re dating.”

“No, no.” I waved my hand with a soft laugh. “We’re not dating.”

She met my eyes and there was an unusual seriousness in her expression. “Are you sure?”

“He doesn’t take me out on dates, which I would say ought to be included in the definition of dating. It’s just sex.”

She pulled out her phone, scrolled to something, then held it up for me to see. It was a photo I’d sent of me with Dex and Riley at a French bakery I’d discovered. We’d gone for macarons.

“I sent you that because I wanted you to know about the bakery. It’s divine. And it wasn’t a date.”

“Maybe not a traditional one, but how many times have you gone somewhere with them lately?”

I gave her a nonchalant shrug. “I don’t know. A few.”

Not quite a lie, but not exactly true, either. It was more than a few. He’d invited me to come with them to get Thai food one evening, plus there had been that Indian place we’d all wanted to try. Sushi, which had been my idea—Riley had loved it, Dex hadn’t been a fan. He’d insisted on grilling steaks for us the next night. Then there was the shopping trip for a new swimsuit for Riley a couple of weeks ago and our runs around the neighborhood together.

But none of those were dates.

“It just seems like you spend a lot of time with him outside the bedroom,” Everly said. “Half the time when we talk, you’re with him.”

“I probably do, but that doesn’t mean we’re dating. We’re neighbors, of course we do things together.”

“How many neighbors did you even know in our old building?”

“I knew you. And Hazel.”

“That doesn’t count, we were friends before we moved there. You weren’t going out to dinner with people from next door.”