Page 108 of Not That Ridiculous

I scowled.

Everyone abruptly went back to their coffee or newspaper.

Pippa didn’t.

She was standing at my elbow, staring at me. Her eyes were big and shiny. Her lip quivered.

“What?” I said, a little rougher than I’d intended to. “Sorry, that was rude. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She laid a hand on my arm and rubbed it gently. “I’m fine. It’s nice to hear you laugh.”

“I laugh,” I muttered. “I laugh all the time.”

She nodded quickly. “Yes, of course.” Turning to the counter, she went up on her toes to lean over and say to Phil, “Well, there’s my favourite boy. Hello, Phil. Don’t you look smart today! Yes, you do.”

Phil gave another of his throbbing, inappropriate groans. A woman with a toddler in a pushchair twisted around and glared at Kevin, who shook his head and pointed at Phil.

The dishwasher in the back beeped and Pippa flitted off to go and empty it.

“So,” I said. “Can I get you anything?”

“Why yes, Charlie, you can. Thanks for asking.”

“What would you like?”

“What I’d like is a nice pair of buns spread out for me on?—”

Before he could launch into a replay of the worst dirty talk known to man, the doorbell jangled and Jasper walked in with Adam and Ray.

“Phil!” Jasper called from across the room, beaming.

Phil huffed loudly—his version of a bark—and looked up at Kevin, who had tightened his hold on the lead.

“Stay,” Kevin said firmly.

Phil was visibly torn, but he did as he was told and waited until Jasper was within licking distance before he embarked upon his usual rapturous greeting.

Jasper, as always, went to his knees. Phil, as always, flung himself into Jasper’s arms. I glanced at Kevin, ready to share a smile, and was startled to see that Kevin wasn’t quite as charmed by their nonsense as I was.

In fact, other than Kevin’s stern mouth, his face was expressionless.

Adam’s face, sadly, was not expressionless.

He looked at Jasper and Phil, at Kevin, then at me. He ran his beautiful golden-hazel eyes with their stupid long lashes down my body and lazily back up to my face, and he smiled. His brows lifted.

He opened his mouth to say something, and was thankfully stopped by the only force on the planet who could derail the little shit.

Ray muscled past him and Jasper, leaned across the counter, and said urgently, “Charlie, Dougal’s on his way in for his puppuccino.”

That put an abrupt end to the Jasper-Phil lovefest.

“What?” Jasper said, whipping his head around to look at the door. “Oh no.”

Both Jasper and Ray had been there the day Dougal kicked Phil’s arse.

No one wanted a repeat.

Jasper exploded into action, leaping gracefully to his feet, snatching the lead from Kevin, and hauling Phil?—

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