Luke gave a dismissive shrug. “Texas women are hot. It’s just a fact of the universe.”
Liza blinked, suddenly at a total loss for what to say in response.
“I think that’s quite enough, Luke,” the other guy standing with them cut in. Connor mentioned this guy was Carson, the label’s attorney, and he entirely looked the part. He was about Brennan’s age and dressed in a similar stylish,expensivemanner. His black suit and crisp, white shirt were tailored to his tall, fit physique. He had tousled, light brown hair and spoke with a refined, yet subtle southern inflection. “You’ll have to excuse our friend’s lack of the most basic manners. I’m Carson McDermott. I do the contracts for Jimmy.”
“Yes, hi, Carson,” Liza replied, meeting his hand to shake with him. “Liza Hardin. Nice to meet y—”
“Hold up a hot second,” Luke piped up again. “HasRileyseen her yet?” He chuckled heartily and draped his muscular arm around Liza’s shoulders like they were old friends already. “’Cuz you might need to hide her from him.”
Liza turned her head to look at Luke incredulously.
“He’s met her, and he’s behaving himself,” Jimmy explained casually, as though Luke’s suggestive implications were totally commonplace.
“Yes, he’s…” Liza paused, still looking at Luke as she sized him up. “He’s very nice.”
Luke slipped his arm off her shoulders, raking his hand through his close-cropped, medium brown hair, and then tilted his beer bottle at her. “Niceis one step before he butters you up and then takes you home with him.”
“Oh…wow…okay.” Liza blinked rapidly, and it was definitely time for her to just go home. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Corporal,” Brennan’s voice suddenly cut in, “what in the fresh hell has gotten into you?”
Luke wagged his beer bottle at Brennan. “About six of these, bruh.”
Brennan cocked an eyebrow. “How about you keep your sloppy drunk trap shut before you make an even bigger ass out of yourself?”
“He’s fine,” Liza spoke up, then looked at Luke. “You’re fine.” She waved at the small group. “It was nice meeting you all, but I’m afraid I have to head out.” She turned to Jimmy. “I’ll send out an agenda for tomorrow’s meeting a little later if you want to take a look at it.”
Jimmy slipped his phone out of his pocket and waved it at her. “Iwilllook at it. Right here on this fancy new email app.” He laughed gleefully as he looked at the screen and swiped. “I love technology.”
She forced a smile before turning away, thinking she was home free to sulk over the distressing confrontation with Connor in a cab on the ride home, only for Brennan to follow her out of the club.
“Hey, L., hold up a second,” he said. “I figured out the miscommunication and why we all thought you were a guy.”
“Oh yeah?” she asked, placidly tilting her head and preparing to briefly humor him out of pure politeness. As nice as Brennan had been to her all day, the confrontation with Connor had sucked all the emotional energy from her, and she was just ready to be done. “What’s that?”
“You sign off on everything asL.” He tilted his low-ball glass of amber liquid toward her. “And your email is set up asL.Hardin. And all the documents with your name on them sayL.also.”
She pressed her lips into a flat smile. “Yes. I explained that to Jimmy earlier. I do that on purpose to keep everything gender neutral.”
Brennan hitched his shoulders. “Well that’s why everyone thought you were a guy.”
“I know that, Brennan. But thanks for pointing it out.”
“So,” he said, tilting the glass toward her again and flashing a ten-million-dollar grin that pulled deep dimples into his sharp, chiseled cheeks, which were covered with dark five o’clock shadow. Brennan wasabsurdlyattractive, and according to Luke, he was exactly the type ofladies’ manLiza had initially suspected after seeing the sexy woman get out of the cab that morning. “I’m going to call you L., and you can call me B.” He kept grinning as he raised his dark eyebrows and nodded enthusiastically. “Like nicknames, right? Pretty good, right? I think it’s pretty friggin’ good, and I like it.”
The comment was so wholesome and left field that a small laugh burst from her lips. The contrast between it and the ugly confrontation with Connor was striking, and something about Brennan’s tipsy exuberance over them using nicknames was patently adorable and refreshing. “Okay,B.”
He grinned wider, and his brown eyes sparkled with glee as he chuckled. “’atta girl,” he said, punching her shoulder a bit too enthusiastically, and she recoiled at the blunt pain.
Jimmy had done the same thing earlier, and Liza was used to being just one of the guys in her male-dominated industry. Normally she found the casual, masculine shows of affection like the shoulder-punch amusing, but it seemed Brennan wasn’t aware of his own strength, and the punch really hurt, and that triggered the lump in her throat.
Still wincing, she rubbed her arm and looked at the ground before turning away. “See you tom—”
“Ohshit.” He clasped his hand on hers while she was still holding her arm. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine,” she said, eyes trained on the ground.
“You’re crying.”
