“Who is he?” Gabi pulled out her phone. “What’s his name?”
I grabbed her hand. “I don’t want you to look him up. He’s just a friend.”
“A friend who put his tongue in your mouth,” Gabi said.
I glared at her. “Hedid notput his tongue in my mouth. It wasn’t like that. We are just friends.”
Sloane poked me. “When are you going to give a guy a chance?”
“I’m not interested,” I said.
“Name?” Gabi insisted, her finger hovering over her phone.
I glanced over at the bachelor party, looking for Xan. “He’s coming over here in a minute.”
“Hurry,” Sloane said.
Another quick peek at the group on the other side of the bar told me Xan was still engaged with his friends. Even though our kiss hadn’t sparked any chemistry between us, I was curious about him. “Xan,” I said.
Gabi tapped her phone. “Last name?”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked his contact. “Carson.” I peered at her phone as she tapped, curious about what she’d find. “He’s probably not on there.”
“Wanna bet?” Gabi grinned. “Xan Carson from Mossy Oak. Can’t be too many of those.” She turned her phone toward me. “That him?”
The screen showed a man posing on top of a Volkswagen bus, legs planted wide, arms outstretched. Behind him, a lake glistened in the setting sun and mountains framed the sky.
A smaller photo showed him on a beach, shirtless.
“That’s him,” I said. Grabbing the phone, I zoomed in on the photo. “Whoa…”
Xan’s naked chest was a canvas of muscle and ink. Tribal tattoos curved over his shoulders and across his well-defined pecs. His long jet-black hair fanned out over his shoulders. He grinned at the camera. In person, his eyes were just as dark and full of zest.
“You have all the luck,” Sloane said with a pout.
“Shh…” I glanced over my shoulder to see if Xan was coming.
“Text him and tell him to come over here,” Mia said.
Gabi grabbed my phone and pressed call before I could stop her. She handed me back my phone and I flipped it shut, ending the call on the first ring.
“You guys are annoying,” I told them, my words coming out a little slurred. Whoa. I sounded drunk. I felt it too. I’d only had two beers, but it felt more like five.
My phone buzzed, and I flipped it open to see a text from Xan. The restaurant was so dark that I had a hard time making out the words. I squinted at the screen, feeling more than two beers drunk.
“That was him,” I said. “He’s busy and might be awhile.”
“Damn. I need to go,” Mia said. “I have to get back to work.”
“Work?” Sloane cried. “It’s Friday night! And you just finished a big case.”
Mia’s eyes narrowed. “I just lost a big case. That can’t happen again.”
“I’m out too,” Gabi said. “Mia is my ride, and Shane is by himself.”
“Shane is fine,” Sloane said. “He’s a good kid.”
“It’s not him I’m worried about. It’s his friends. All those older kids on the basketball team are teaching him stuff I’d rather he not know about yet.” Gabi got up from the table and nodded at a group of women at the bar. “I just spotted Kaylee Andretti’s mom over there. I don’t want them to see me.”
