Page 52 of Love At The Shore
Great. She was going to have to go over there, wasn’t she?
Never mind the fact that she was once again going to come across like a major wet blanket, but now she’d have the added humiliation of busting up a party to which she wasn’t invited. She and Lucas were friends now. She’d thought they were, anyway.
Right. And you’re just the sort of party animal he’d want at one of his bachelor bashes.
It didn’t matter. She had work to do, and it was a full hour past the noise curfew.
She pushed back from the table and slipped out of the house as quietly as she could so she wouldn’t wake Nick and Ally. As soon as she stepped out onto the deck, she could see silhouettes of people milling around Lucas’s side of the duplex. Ten or fifteen, at least.
His door was wide open, so she waltzed inside without bothering to knock. Jenna realized a second too late that even though she was wearing a plain blue t-shirt, it was paired with her favorite shorty pajama bottoms. Not exactly festive attire.
Oh well.
No one seemed to register her presence anyway. The lights were dim, and a crowd was gathered on Lucas’s sectional sofa—Tank included, of course. Nearly everyone balanced a laptop or tablet on their lap, and the huge flat screen on the wall was paused on a still of a swimmer doing the backstroke. EPSN, maybe.
What was this? A fantasy water sports league?
Jenna crossed her arms. “Are you really having a party on a Tuesday?”
On the far end of the sofa, Lucas looked up from his computer and flashed a smile, giving her the full-on dimples treatment. “Are we really being that loud?”
She looked around and spied another small group of people in the kitchen. Soda bottles and pizza boxes littered the counter.
Jenna sighed. Pepperoni sounded delicious right about now, but that was beside the point. “I don’t want to be a killjoy, but—”
“It’s nice to see you,” Lucas said.
Tank let out a woof of agreement.
“Don’t try to charm your way out of this one.” She wagged a finger at both of them. “I won the bet, fair and square.”
“Oh, so you think I’m charming?” His mouth twitched. The guy sitting beside him stopped typing and shot a curious glance at Jenna.
“What?” She blinked. “No.”
Maybe just a little bit, especially when he and his dog were tag-teaming her like that. She was only human.
“You sure?” He cocked his head, and of course Jenna noticed that it was a handsome head. Very handsome indeed.
Again, a completely irrelevant observation.
Tank let out a snort. Super. Even the dog knew she was lying.
Her face burned with embarrassment. She knew coming over here was a terrible idea. “Stop trying to change the subject.”
“It isn’t a party.”
“No?” She gestured to the people around her. “What is it, a ‘hang out?’”
Lucas typed for a second and then stopped. “We’re working.”
“You’reworking?” Ha. Jenna was a parent. She knew loafing off when she saw it.
“Well, that guy over in the corner isn’t.” Lucas tipped his head toward a bearded man carrying a fresh tower of pizza boxes. “But everyone else is. We just wrapped a little promotional video.”
The guy next to him, who was now following their interaction with rapt interest, shook his head. “It’s not that little. Some dude wants to franchise the summer camp.”
“Someone wants to invest? Like aShark Tankguy?” Jenna asked.
