Page 138 of Major Love

“He’s talking about another bar,” I tell Jason raspily, my voice hoarse after coughing on the lemonade.

“Another bar?” Jason asks, flicking his eyes down to me, his brow creasing.

I shake my head, trying to dissipate his worry, and I say gently, “It’s a long story. And it’s not actually my bar. It just… it could be… if I wanted it to be.”

“You should go for it,” Riley tells me, having to shout a little over the loud music. Then he smiles up at Jason, his expression sincere as he says, “If Sunday takes it over, next year it’ll be the go-to bar in Nashville. Just wait.”

I peek up at Jason over my shoulder, loving that he’s still holding me protectively against his chest, and his eyes lock with mine, a secret dialogue passing between us.

One where he’s asking,you never told me about this, right?

And I’m saying,okay, maybe not, but you have nothing to worry about, I promise.

He searches my eyes, unsure, but then he nods and hunches down, pressing a light kiss against my jaw that has heat flickering in my stomach.

And to my surprise when I look up, Riley is watching us, but he doesn’t look irritated.

If anything, he looks curious, his head tilted slightly to the side, and then he gives me a small smile, his eyes warming as he moves slightly closer.

I smile back at him and squeeze his forearm, a tiny gesture to say,thank you for being here for me.

Real friends were hard to come by when I was living in Tennessee, so my bond with Riley is one that I’ve always appreciated.

“Jason?” a voice calls out, and we all glance at the woman behind us, her smile bright as she sidles into our circle, her fingers already trailing up his muscular arm.

And my eyebrows hit my hairline.

Did she have to be tall, blonde,andfreaking gorgeous?

“Halle, hey,” Jason says gruffly, before subtly shoving me between them and taking the lemonade from my fist. And he gives her awhat-can-you-do?look because both of his hands are now full.

Halle laughs, rolling her eyes playfully, before dropping her gaze down to me.

She stares at Jason’s possessive palm on my hip and the way that my little heels are between his boots, and then she lifts her eyes back to mine, cocking her head in the same way that Riley did.

“Do we know each other?” she asks casually, smiling down at me with slightly raised brows.

The kind of look that subtly says,and who the fuck are you?

“Nope,” Jason says simply, swallowing a mouthful of lemonade before passing it back to me.

And even though I’d been drinking from the striped paper straw to start with, this time I decide to sip from the same place that Jason did.

“She doesn’t live around here,” he says, which has Halle perking up a bit.

“Oh?” she asks, her eyes meeting mine again. “Where do you live?”

“Nashville,” I tell her reluctantly.

“Oh my goodness, that’s amazing!” she exclaims happily, her eyes sparkling with joy, at the fact that that puts me over one-point-seven-thousand miles away from Jason.

“But I might be moving,” I add quickly.

Jason arches an eyebrow.

Oh, you bet your ass that I’m jealous right now.

“Oh,” she says again, still looking between us. “Where to?”

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