Page 119 of Lucky Shot
“Yeah. I’m good.”
“All right.” He looks past me to Ev. “Best behavior.”
“Yeah right, Galaxy,” she says, linking her arm through mine.
He shakes his head, gives me one more long look, then turns to follow Jack to the bar. I stick with Everly as she leads me to a table across the restaurant. A woman with long blond hair waves and stands as we approach.
She’s shorter than I am, but she gives off a confidence and friendliness that has me liking her immediately.
“Hannah.” Everly hugs her. “It’s so good to see you.”
“You too,” Hannah says as they pull back. Her light brown eyes flick to me. “Hi.”
“This is Ruby,” Everly says.
“Hannah,” she says, reaching her hand out to me. “Are you one of Everly’s clients too?”
“Oh god no,” I blurt out as I shake her hand.
Everly’s brows rise and a humored smirk dances across her lips.
“I’m not sporty,” I clarify. “At all.”
“She’s dating Nick. Jack’s former teammate that I was telling you about.” Everly slides into the booth and Hannah takes the seat across from her.
“Dating might be the wrong word.” I sit next to Everly.
“I’ve known the man for something like five years and I’ve never seen him so much as talk to a woman, let alone grope her in public. You’re dating.” Everly’s words leave no room for debate, so I keep any further arguments to myself. And honestly, I like it.
“So, Hannah, what do you do?” I ask to take the questioning off me.
“I’m a gymnast.”
Everly looks at me as she says, “She’s the best gymnast in the world.”
“Okay, that’s a stretch but I don’t hate it.” Hannah sits back in the booth across from us as the server approaches.
We order food and drinks, then Everly and Hannah talk a little about work stuff. I learn that Hannah recently moved here to train at a top gym and that she’s originally from Iowa but spent the past five years training in Colorado. She talks fast and animated, and when she rests her elbows on the table, I’m distracted by her arms. She might be little but every inch of her is lean muscle.
“What brought you to Moonshot?” Everly asks me as our drinks come.
“Nick, sort of,” I say, then explain how his dad invited me here and volunteered Nick to help me with my book edits with his son having no idea about any of it.
Everly is in a fit of giggles as I finish.
“Oh my gosh. I can picture his face when he found out.” She does a surprisingly accurate impression of grumpy Nick’s face, down to the jaw flexing.
“He’s been great, though. I couldn’t have done it without him.”
“So the book is done?” Hannah asks.
“Yeah. In fact, I just sent it to my editor today.”
“No way. We have to celebrate properly then,” Everly says, and I already know there will be no dissuading her.
A smile pulls at my lips. “What do you have in mind?”
What she has in mind is shots, followed by karaoke. After we finish our dinner, we move over to the bar side. The three of us down a round of lemon drop shots and then sing a poor rendition of “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
