Playing for Keeps (Heartbreaker Bay #7)(20)

Sadie eyed the chalkboard menu on the side of the truck. Every single thing on the menu was amazing, which she knew from experience. “An egg, cheese, and bacon soft taco—make that two , and a side of what do you think of Caleb Parker?”

Ivy froze in surprise. “Well,” she finally said. “I think he’d go better with today’s special, which is my spicy chorizo and fried egg breakfast taco.”

Sadie rolled her eyes.

“I’m not kidding,” Ivy said. “Caleb Parker’s ridiculously hot. You know that feeling when you meet someone and your heart skips a beat?”

“Yeah,” Sadie said. “It’s called arrhythmia and you can die from that shit.”

Ivy laughed. “Why are you asking me about Caleb?”

No use keeping it a secret. There were no secrets in this building. “Because we rescued a dog and I think we’re going to share her.”

“You’re going to adopt a dog with a man you’ve been calling Suits all year in order to avoid saying his name?”

“Ridiculous, right?” Sadie shook her head. “I’d rather catch a Razor scooter to my ankle twenty-five times in a row than ever catch feelings for anyone ever again, and yet . . .” She spread out her arms. “Here I am, feeling all the damn feelings,” she admitted.

Ivy set her knife down. “You’re serious. Okay. Wow. That doesn’t happen often. You’re so picky, I thought you’d never want another guy.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m picky,” Sadie agreed. “Too picky. But last night I watched my new dog look for the perfect place to poop for like thirty minutes, so I’ve decided to rethink some things.”

“Good to know,” Ivy said. “And the dog’s adorable by the way. I saw Caleb’s post. Let me make you my special—on the house—and we’ll talk, okay?

“But I don’t know if I’ll like spicy chorizo and fried egg breakfast tacos.”

“Have some faith, woman. I’m making it, which means you’ll love it. So let’s hear it. Don’t skip anything.”

Sadie sighed. “I don’t know where to start.”

“With the feelings!” Ivy demanded, brandishing her knife for emphasis.

“But I don’t know what to say about the feelings. It’s like on the outside, I’m cool as a cucumber. But on the inside, I’m more like . . . a squirrel in traffic.” When Ivy laughed, Sadie shook her head. “It’s dumb. I feel dumb.”

“Hold on.” Ivy’s smile slowly faded. “It’s not dumb. It’s just that you’ve never shown much interest in any guy in all the time I’ve known you, so it struck me as funny that you’d then pick a guy at the highest level of expertise end of the spectrum, that’s all. I mean just last week, you told me to never be the chaser. To always be the one who’s chased. That I’m the tequila, not the lime. I loved that because it implied you were badass enough to never let your feelings get in the way. But, Sadie, feelings aren’t always bad.”

“They are in this case,” Sadie said. “Caleb’s so far out of my league that I can’t even see the league.”

“No. No ,” Ivy repeated softly. “It’s not that, not even close.” She drew a deep breath and looked around to make sure no one was near. “I mean yes, he’s shockingly easy to look at, but he’s also—”

“Oh hell,” Sadie said. “He’s an asshole, right? He kicks kittens? Doesn’t leave tips? Wears lifts in his shoes? Don’t tell me he wears the male equivalent to Spanx. Is there a male equivalent to Spanx?”

“God, I hope not.” Ivy shuddered as she worked on Sadie’s order. “Honestly? He’s just a good guy.”

Sadie shook her head, even though she’d been thinking the same thing earlier. “Not possible. Nice guys are urban myths. They’re extinct, if they ever even existed.”

Ivy shrugged. “I’m inclined to agree with you, but one apparently survived.”

“He’s got flaws. He can’t be perfect.”

“Oh, I didn’t say perfect,” Ivy said. “No penis-carrying human is perfect. But in spite of his flaws, or maybe because of them, he really is just a good guy. He’d be a good guy for you.”

“How do you know?”

“I have this test,” Ivy said and handed Sadie a basket with her two tacos. “No matter how rich or intelligent you are, how you treat an animal tells me all I need to know about you. And look at how he treated your dog.”

Damn. That was a good rule. Sadie took a bite of her breakfast taco and moaned. “Oh. My. God.”

“Right?” Ivy asked with a smile.

Sadie couldn’t get enough or stop eating. “I want to marry these tacos and have their babies. And seriously, you believe Caleb’s a good guy, just like that?”

“Yeah. Call it blind faith.”

Sadie shook her head. “I don’t have the capability for blind faith.”

Ivy watched her inhale the second taco she’d claimed to not want and smiled. “I think you might be wrong about that.”





Chapter 7





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