by Daws, Amy
Miles rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I’m just saying I’m amazed you’re breaking any rules for this chick. Since the day I met you, you’ve been playing musical beds with chicks left and right.”
“Nothing is changing there,” I confirm, eyeing him seriously so he fully hears me. “I’m not getting into a relationship with the chick. She has serious baggage that I’m not interested in saddling myself with. You know I don’t do serious after watching what my dad did to my mom. I’m never going down that path. I just exchanged phone numbers with her, so musical beds is an option. That’s all.”
“Fair enough,” Miles replies, nodding thoughtfully as we stop at a red light on Pearl Street. “Still, though, exchanging numbers is not something you’ve done before.”
“I know,” I reply with a deep breath. “This one makes me do weird things.”
He huffs out a laugh and reaches over to fist bump me. “Hell, you met her at a bait shop—it’s already weird. And since I met my girl in a tire shop, I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that weird can be hot.”
“Hot and temporary,” I add for good measure. “Just because you’re Mr. Monogamy doesn’t mean I have to be.”
Miles pulls his hand back and nods seriously. “I hear you, man. Musical beds, it is.”
“Exactly,” I reply with a relaxed smile.
Minutes later, we pull up in front of Pearl Street Pub and Cellar. Miles and I started hanging out at this low-key bar when he first moved to town. It’s sort of a hole-in-the-wall type of place with a chill staff and awesome grub. Plus, as one of the only places on Pearl Street not packed with college kids or tourists, it’s a favorite of mine.
We walk into the low-lit, wainscoted pub, and once my eyes adjust, I see Kate’s fiery red hair piled on top of her head back by the pool tables. We make our way over to where she’s sitting, and I see her friends Lynsey and Dean are beside her with several of the guys from Tire Depot and a couple of my buddies from college who have gotten to know Miles since he moved here a couple of years ago.
My top mechanic hands me a beer out of the bucket of ice as I see a big tire-decorated frosted cookie cake sitting right in the middle of the table. “You guys didn’t have to do all this,” I state, shaking my head. I hate being the focus of everyone’s attention right now.
“Yes, we did,” Miles says, clapping his hand on my shoulder. “You’ve been working hard lately, and you deserve to have some fun.”
I roll my eyes, moving around the table to say hello to everyone else. Kate yanks me her way, and says, “Sam, you remember my friends Lynsey and Dean, right?”
“Happy Birthday, Sam!” Lynsey exclaims and reaches over to clink bottles with me. Lynsey’s a little on the kooky side, but so is Kate, so I can see why their friendship is so strong. Kate’s guy friend Dean, on the other hand…I’m still a little leery of him, but I paste on a smile for him and do my best not to smirk at his plaid blazer.
Suddenly, I hear Miles bellow, “There you are, Megan! Come over here and meet my best buddy, Sam! He’s technically my boss at Tire Depot, but I don’t like to remind him, or he gets a big head.”
I turn to shake hands with whoever Miles is talking to, and suddenly, I feel like I’ve been kicked in the nuts.
Or actually…the taint.
Yeah, this feeling right here…it’s too deep for a nut kick. This panic-seizing, gut-twisting, body-tremoring attack overwhelming all my senses has a taint kick written all over it.
Because I’m staring into the stunning blue eyes of my ice fishing companion from the past two weekends.
“Sam, this is my baby sister, Megan, visiting us all the way from Utah. Megan, this is my best friend, Sam.” Maggie’s smile falters with recognition as Miles, her…brother—oh fucking fuck, her brother—drapes his arm over her shoulder and smiles back at me.
Like a moron, I instantly bring my beer to my lips and take three slow glugs. Whatever I can do to avoid touching her outstretched hand right now because I’m convinced the second I touch her in front of her brother, Miles will know I’ve thought about her naked no less than nineteen times.
And now I’m thinking about her naked again.
I nod stupidly and continue to chug my beer like a damn college frat boy as Miles and Maggie watch me curiously. Finally, I pry the cold glass from my lips long enough to give her a head nod.
A fucking head nod.
Only douchebags who call a girl basic would give a fucking head nod.
I look down at where she’s still holding her hand out for me to shake, and God help me, my traitorous eyes scan the rest of her body at the same time. Her perfect round tits are covered beneath this short black lace dress. It’s way too fucking dressy for the likes of Pearl’s, but hell if she doesn’t look sexy. She’s wearing black plaid tights and little ankle boots with a big ass heel that bring her up to my chin. I’d gotten used to her being at my chest in her snow boots. The same boots she was wearing when I kissed my best friend’s little sister in my fucking fishing hut.
My mind instantly begins trying to remember everything I said to Miles about his sister in his truck earlier. Jesus Christ, this is bad.
Suddenly, Maggie reaches out and forcefully grabs my hand to shake. “Hi Sam, my friends call me Maggie. Miles is the only one who still calls me Megan…even my parents say Maggie. It’s nice to meet you…for the first time.”
She’s talking slow, and I feel myself nodding with buggy eyes as I attempt to swallow back the cotton in my mouth and ignore the sparks shooting up my hand from her touch. “Nice to meet you for the first time, too. How long have you been in town visiting?” Jesus hell, I sound like a robot on acid.
Her dimple flashes when she realizes I’m not going to spill the beans. “I just arrived a couple of hours ago.”
I unclench my jaw and belatedly realize we’re still shaking hands. “Today?” I can’t help but say it as a question because where the fuck has she been staying for the past week if Miles thinks she just got into town today?
“Yes, I was visiting my boyfriend in his hometown on the East Coast and decided to stay in Boulder for a few weeks before heading back to Utah.”
My eyes are blinking, and I can’t stop them because my mind is completely jumbled up right now. I can’t differentiate the lie from the truth. Is she still with her boyfriend and was lying to me? Or did she tell me the truth, and she’s lying to Miles?
This is why you don’t break your own rules, Sammy. Girls with baggage are never easy.
Finally, I find my voice, and say, “Well, I hope you have a pleasant visit.” I quickly yank my hand from hers and wave my empty beer bottle to Miles as he settles on the stool next to Kate. “I’m getting the next round. Nobody argue.”
I turn on my heel and hightail it over to the bar for some space to think. Propping myself on a stool, I thread my hands through my hair, reeling over what’s just happened. How the fuck did I not figure out that Maggie was Miles’s sister, Megan? They totally look related.
Does this mean I’m attracted to my best friend?
I shake that thought off instantly because Miles doesn’t have water balloon tits. Call me a barbarian but breasts are a must for me, I’m afraid. The bartender asks me what I’d like, and I reply, “Another bucket of Coors to stick my head into.”
He harrumphs and sets to work when a voice scares the shit out of me. “You can’t tell Miles about us.”
“What?” I exclaim, my head snapping over to find Maggie standing right next to me.
“You and me,” she repeats, leaning in so close her breast brushes against my arm. “You can’t tell Miles we know each other.”
“No shit,” I growl and yank my arm away from those glorious specimens that have turned me into a fucking pervert. Fucking fuck. Did I describe her tits to Miles earlier? Goddamnit, I’m a moron! “Miles is going to rip off my nuts and hang them on the trailer hitch of his truck like those assholes who drive around with bull testicles.”
“Wha
t?” she asks, her blue eyes blinking with confusion.
I shake my head. “Never mind.”
“So we’re in agreement? He doesn’t need to know that you and I have…met before.”
She stares at me with a pleading look on her face, and my adulterous gaze drops down to the swell of cleavage beneath the lace overlay of her dress. I swallow hard and quickly turn back to face forward. Just stare at the liquor bottles on the shelf, Sam. Just stare at the liquor bottles on the shelf! “We’re in agreement.”
She exhales heavily and slides onto the stool next to me. I do a jerky look over my shoulder to make sure no one is watching us. Everyone appears to be happily listening to Kate tell a story, all their eyes alight with amusement.
Through clenched teeth, I ask, “Are you going to tell me why Miles thinks you still have a boyfriend?”
She winces and looks like she’s swallowing razor blades. “I can’t tell my family that Sterling dumped me.”
“Why not?” I ask, my brow furrowing. “Miles always said his family is cool. Super supportive and shit. He calls his mom every Sunday!”
“Our family is cool,” she groans, bringing her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “They are perfect, and they are everything to me. If I tell them Sterling dumped me out of the blue on Christmas morning, they will all hate him.”
“So what?” I grind out, staring down at her hunched frame. “I think the fucker deserves to be hated.”
She turns to look at me with glassy eyes. “I can’t have them hating the man I want to marry.”
In one day, I’ve been taint-kicked and gut-punched…happy fucking birthday, Sammy. “You really want to marry him?” I groan and scrub my hand over my jaw.
She nods glumly.
The bartender hands me a bucket of beer, and with a heavy sigh, I murmur under my breath, “It’s your life, sparky.”
I stand and gesture with my head that we should go back to the group before anyone gets suspicious. We rejoin the group, and I decide that going beer for beer with Miles, who has a good three inches and thirty pounds of muscle over me, is a good idea. We clink bottles, and I do my best to forget what Maggie said at the bar and definitely forget about playing musical beds with her.
For tonight, I push aside why all of this bothers me so much. It definitely surprises me that she wants to marry that asshat. In the brief time we hung out over the past week, I got the impression she was better than that. I know I told her it was cool she was trying something different to win him back, but now knowing that she’s not just trying to get her dimwit of a football player back but plans to marry the guy—it scares me for her. And it makes me doubt everything I thought about her.
But hell, she’s not my little sister. She’s Miles’s. My best friend…in case I need reminding. And apparently, I do need reminding because I can’t stop checking her out all night. At one point, I have to squeeze past her to get around the table. Our fronts end up rubbing together, and I swear to fuck, I get a half-boner. My buddy’s little sister has turned me into a goddamned teenager, so I have a strong desire to slam my forehead into the wall until I black out.
I head downstairs to use the bathroom located in the dingy basement of Pearl’s. I’m getting drunk because this is fucking painful. The one girl I contemplate breaking my rules for ends up being the one girl I cannot touch.
On my way back up the steps, my eyes land on a sexy pair of legs covered in tights that could easily take my mind off my fishing buddy. But when I raise my gaze to her face, I’m junk punched by the stunning raven-haired, blue-eyed beauty who shares the DNA of my best friend.
“Hey,” I state, propping myself up against the wall opposite the railing to give her a wide berth. I pretend to tip a fucking hat that I’m not even wearing at her and then consider eight different ways I could dick punch myself for being so uncool.
“Heyyy,” she says slowly, pausing on the staircase and pressing her back to the wall opposite me.
Don’t stop and talk to me right now. Keep walking. The less I look at you tonight, the better.
“Listen,” she says, biting her lip and tucking her hair behind her ear. “Thanks again for not saying anything to Miles.”
I lift my palms and shrug. “There’s nothing really to say. I mean…nothing happened, and I know nothing.”
“Right,” Maggie says, nodding curiously as she stares over at me. “Are you drunk, Sam?”
“No,” I scoff and buzz my lips like a moron.
She giggles and brings her hands up to finger the necklace at her chest. And now I’m staring at her tits. Way to fucking go, Sammy.
“You seem drunk, which kind of surprises me. I would have pegged you for a guy who’s always in control.” She narrows her stunning eyes at me, and my brows lift.
“Wellllll,” I sing out in a weird, high-pitched voice, screwing my face up as I attempt to find the best words to convey my message. “When you realize the girl you went ice fishing with who has exquisite tits is the younger sister of your best buddy, alcohol just seems like the only thing to make that all less horrifying.”
She blinks at me, clearly taken off guard by my honest response. “Did you just say my tits are exquisite?”
“So not the point, sparky!” I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose and throwing my head back on the wall behind me in frustration. “Maybe just keep a ten-foot radius from me for the rest of the night. It’s my birthday, and I can’t be trusted.”
She smiles, seemingly flattered by this ridiculous request. She takes a step down toward that bathroom and then looks over her shoulder. “I guess at least I now know why you seem so familiar to me. You and Miles are a lot alike.”
I nod and exhale heavily, feeling weird that she just told me I’m like her brother. “Yeah, he’s good people.”
“I completely agree,” she confirms, and then pauses for a moment, eyeing me like she wants to say something more, but then she gives up and turns on her heel to make her way down to the restrooms.
And like a fucking pervert, I stand there and check out her sexy legs in those tights for her entire walk down.
It’s midnight before everyone clears out, and I’m a little drunker than I should be. Miles throws his arm around me and walks me through the bar, going on about how much he loves me, and how he can’t wait until we’re running Tire Depot together, side by side. Kate and Maggie are just ahead of us, talking quietly like old friends, and I pray to fuck Miles doesn’t notice me checking out his sister’s ass.
“So Sam, are you going to call your fishing goddess?” Miles slurs, touching my ear with his lips and making me cringe.
“Huh?” I mumble, unabashedly pushing his face away from me. God, this fucker is a close talker when he’s drunk.
“Your fishing buddy. The one you’re going to break all your rules for.” He leans in close and whispers loudly. “Water balloon tits.”
“What’s that?” Kate asks, looking over her shoulder with wide, curious eyes.
“Nothing!” I exclaim and slam my palm over Miles’s loud fucking mouth just as Maggie looks back. I avoid eye contact, and add, “Nothing at all.”
They both turn away, and when I release Miles’s mouth, he gasps for air. “Jesus man, you were plugging my nose too!”
I wind back my elbow and jab him in the ribs. “Well, shut the fuck up then!”
“What?” he slurs, rubbing his ribs halfheartedly, clearly too drunk to feel any pain. “Kate won’t judge. She loves this shit. It’s all book material for her.”
“Your sister is right there,” I grind out into his ear as we step outside onto the sidewalk. “Just shut up, man. I’m serious.”
“Meg doesn’t care either. Meg is going to marry a quarterback who plays for the Broncos, and then we can get tickets to all the games we want!” Miles throws his hands up into a touchdown formation, and I begin to wonder how we ever became friends. “I only met him once, and I think he could be douchey, but I’m trying to stop being overprotective of
my baby sister because apparently I’m ‘ruining her life.’” Miles imitates Maggie’s voice at the end, and I have to bite back a laugh because it’s so uncanny, it’s freaking me out.
“Okay, big guy…let’s get you in the car,” Kate says, tucking herself under Miles’s giant arm to take over. She ushers him to the curb while I peer over at Maggie through the corner of my eye. Kate grabs the keys out of Miles’s pocket and winks at him while opening his truck door. “I’m driving.”
He bops her on the nose. “Yes, you are, my future wifey.”
“Come again?” Kate asks, quirking a curious brow.
“I called you my future wifey because—” Miles’s next words have me clumsily barreling over to step between them. If my best friend proposes to his girlfriend while drunk, he will never forgive himself.
“He calls people who take care of him when he’s drunk wifey. It’s a thing he does.” My words are slurred, but they seem really solid. “He’s called me wifey more times than I can count.” I laugh a little too hard and turn on my heel to shove Miles into the truck with a severe look before he says something even stupider. “In you go, hubby,” I add through clenched teeth.
“Aww, thanks, wifey.” Miles giggles, then reaches out and slowly drags all five of his fingertips from my forehead to my chin. It’s a weird, affectionate embrace that I’m embarrassed to admit felt really nice.
I shake my head at that and shut the door before turning back to face Kate and Maggie. “He doesn’t usually do that face pet thing.” I laugh awkwardly, trying to ignore the puzzled look on both of their faces. I pull my phone up to my face. “I’m just going to call an Uber.”
“Megan’s car is here,” Kate states, placing her hand over my phone to stop me. “She’s sober, so I’m sure she can take you. You don’t mind, do you, Meg?”
Maggie looks at Kate with wide, nervous eyes. “Um…sure?”
“Perfect,” Kate exclaims with a clap of her hands. “I feel like I need to get Miles to bed before he ends up proposing to Sam.” Kate reaches out to give me a hug. “Happy Birthday, Sam. We’ll have you out to the house for dinner soon, okay?” She turns to Maggie. “See you at home in a bit!”
