Page 79 of Single-Minded
“What’s up, Essex?” Luke said to Kemp as Anna and Maeve excused themselves to the restroom.
“Hey, guys,” Kemp said.
I nodded at him and flicked my gaze to Magnolia and Presley, who seemed to be having their own conversation. When Magnolia glanced toward us, her expression changed as she saw Luke. I was guessing her frown was mirrored on his face, as I knew those two didn’t care for each other. Something long in the past I either couldn’t remember or didn’t know.
Presley took forever to look at me, and when she finally did, her attention skipped immediately back to Magnolia, who said something privately to her, then walked away.
And then there were four.
Luke and Kemp dove into a business conversation about hard cider and Rusty Anchor that I knew nothing about, so I sidled closer to Presley and said, “Evening,” in a tone I hoped sounded more like I was talking to a professional contact than a lover.
“Hi, West.” When she smiled up at me, there was an instant of connection that went far beyond being the dude who was installing flooring at her house. It was so brief that I was pretty sure no one else noticed. “What happened to dads’ night?”
“The single dads of us”—I gestured between Luke and me—“decided to embrace the single life by hitting the bars.”
“What a coincidence,” Presley said. “The single girls from dinner decided to do the same, and here we are.”
“Here we are.” I dug my hands into my pockets to avoid touching her the way I was dying to. I leaned closer, ever mindful of still appearing like I barely knew her. “It’s loud in here.”
Presley laughed and said, “Really loud.”
“How was your dinner?” I asked.
“Oh, my God, so good. I had chicken fried steak and seven-layer chocolate cake.”
“Cake, huh?”
“It was my birthday dinner. I felt cake was called for,” she said, grinning, but I was caught up on the first part of that.
“It’s your birthday?”
She nodded. “Number thirty-six. Apparently I’m suddenly too old to have kids.”
“Do you want kids?” I asked her casually, as if just making conversation with my client in a random bar run-in. In truth I imagined making babies with her, and damn if the temperature in this place didn’t suddenly shoot up to inferno level.
Presley shrugged. “I’m not against kids, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.”
“You’ve got the bedrooms for when you’re ready,” I said. I immediately realized that was a dumb thing to say when I remembered being in one of those bedrooms with her. I took a drink of my cold beer, but it didn’t do much to cool me down.
“That’s true,” she said. “Three bedrooms once I move downstairs. I guess I better get busy fast to pop them out before I age out.”
“Just do like I did and have a couple in one go.”
“You’re a smart man, West Aldridge,” she said, laughing.
I liked it too much when she complimented me, even if it was teasing. I cleared my throat and excused myself to go to the restroom. Maybe I’d stick my head under the faucet to cool the hell off while I was there.
When I came back from the restroom, Presley, Luke, and Kemp were gone from their spot. I glanced around for them and found the three of them with Anna, Maeve, and Ty Bishop at one of the dartboards. I knew it would be smarter to wander off and see who else was here, but Bishop was standing too damn close to Presley.
I made my way through the crowd to Presley’s other side and taunted Luke as he finished his turn, acting as if all the nerves in the side of my body by Presley weren’t on edge, begging for me to brush up against her.
Luke bombed his last throw. As he collected his darts, he said, “Bishop, you’re up.”
“Are you playing?” I asked Presley.
She nodded. “My first time ever and it shows.”
I noted the scoreboard and saw there were three scores. “Teams?” I asked.
