He nodded. Not much he could do about it. He’d just have to focus on Presley and drown out the rest of the noise.
When Presley looked at him, heat simmering in her gaze, he didn’t think that would be too difficult.
She leaned in, kissed him, making him forget about everything else. “Sorry I deserted you earlier.”
He took her hand, stroked his fingertip around the Band-Aid. “Is your hand okay?”
“It’s fine. Just a bruise and a small cut.”
The waitress who’d announced the karaoke stopped by their table. Her name tag readJENNA. Beckett didn’t know her, so either she’d seen him on social media or Liam had pointed him out.
“Hey. How’s it going, you two?” She pulled a pad of paper and a pen out of her Bros’ apron.
“Good, thanks. We haven’t looked at the menu yet,” Beckett said.
“Well, like I said up there,” she said, hooking a thumb over her shoulder, “you’re our special tonight.”
Just then, Libby and Gabby came to the table. Gabby stood too close when she announced, “We had the platter. You were delicious.”
Libby smacked her sister’s arm. “Knock it off. Sorry. She’s had one too many already. Hey, Presley. Beckett.”
They exchanged greetings, the waitress offering to give them a minute and telling them they could scan the QR code on the table for the menus.
“Mom went over to the other side of the pub,” Libby said. “Is your hand okay? We heard about it when we surfaced from our movie marathon.”
Presley nodded, smiling like the sisters weren’t interrupting their time together.Get it together. You don’t need every second of her attention. If you do, this was the wrong place to have met up with her andJilly.He just wanted to show off a bit of his hometown. It was small and quirky, but the people were great, and he knew every corner of it.
“It’s not too bad. Are you having fun?” Presley asked even as she scanned the code.
“So far. We’re going to do some karaoke and then someone named Anderson said they’d give us a ride to a club just outside of town.”
Beckett gave a rough laugh, picking up his beer. “‘Club’ is a generous word for Birdie’s.”
Gabby pointed at him. “That’s what it was called. Does it suck?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. There’s a younger crowd, so you girls will fit right in. There’s dancing, but it’s not a big-city club, if that’s what you were thinking.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just something to do. We’re heading home soon and want to do as much as we can,” Libby said.
“We’re glad you came to stay,” Beckett said. They weren’t the expected clientele—not avid fishermen, that’s for sure. But this was good. Opened things up. And honestly, he appreciated any business his brother could get. Plus, them being there had pushed him and Presley closer.
“I want to sing Lady Gaga,” Gabby announced.
The girls waved goodbye and wandered through the growing crowd. The antsy feeling Beckett had before Presley showed up returned.
“You have a place here?” she asked when he looked her way.
“I do.” He wanted to spend the night with her there. He hoped she’d like his surprise.
“Why don’t we take our food to go and hang out there? If that’s okay. I don’t mean to be presumptuous. You might not want company.” Her gaze widened.
“I very much wantyourcompany, and you can be as presumptuous as you’d like.”
They ordered burgers and fries to go, then took twice as long getting out of the pub as he wanted to. Everyone had a hello, a quip about the Hot Mountain Man hashtag, or a question for Presley.
When they finally made it out onto the street, Beckett pulled in a deep breath.
“You’re a popular guy,” Presley said, her hand in his.
