“Oh, you’re just bored?”
“Maybe a little.” Technically I was bored.
“Macon!” I turned as a blonde I’d met at a bar the other night called my name. She was with the same crowd as last time, all girls in their early twenties.
“Hey.” My mind blanked on her name, I’d have to cover it well. I hadn’t taken the girl home or anything, I’m not a jackass.
“We’re going outside to get drinks, you should come.” She tugged on my arm.
“Go ahead. I mean you weren’t here for a reason anyway.” Carly’s voice had a slight edge to it, but I ignored it. What did she care if I hung out with a bunch of tourist girls?
“Ok, see ya. We’ll catch up later.” I let the blonde tow me along.
Maddy shot me a look as we passed the bar. She always gave me a hard time for the way I was with girls, but a little flirting never hurt anyone. Besides, I was already at the Grille and both she and Carly were working. What else was I going to do?
“Who was that girl?” The blonde asked as soon as we were seated at a table.
“My friend, Carly.”
“Carly?” A brunette asked. “Isn’t that a ditsy name?”
“What’s your name?” I hoped she’d say something good like Cookie, but I knew it was going be something typical.
“Sally.”
“Great.”
“Do you remember my name?” The blonde ran a finger over my hand. I hate overly touchy feely girls.
I inched my hand away. “I can’t say that I do, sorry.” When pushed against the wall, honesty is usually best. Besides, after her friend’s comment about Carly’s name, I wasn’t interested in hanging out with them for long.
“It’s Emma.”
“Okay, great.” I sipped my beer trying to come up with a good excuse to go back inside. If I’d been willing to leave it would have been easy, but I wanted to stay until closing. Carly needed to celebrate her first night of work, and those guys were still around. I wanted to make sure they didn’t bug her again.
“Do you live around here?” Emma asked.
“Not too far.” If she thought there was a chance in hell she was going to find out just how close it was, she was crazy.
“Oh, cool. We’re staying at the Sanderling.”
“Nice. I’ve been to the bar there.”
“Yeah, we hung out there last night. We met some cool guys.”
Was she trying to get me jealous or something. I smiled. This could be fun. “Oh yeah? Think I’d like any of them?”
“What?” Emma and Sally said in unison. “You’re into guys?”
“No, but I can’t figure out why else you’d be telling me about them.”
By this point the rest of their group was listening in.
Emma smiled and leaned in. “I’m just letting you know, I get a lot of interest from men.”
“So I’m supposed to find the fact that you hook-up with a lot of guys appealing?”
She turned bright red. “I don’t hook up with them, they just flirt with me.”
“So what you’re saying is you’re a tease and you’re wasting my time?” I struggled to hold in a laugh. The expression on the girl’s face was too much. I had to stop while I was ahead. “Listen, that was rude. I’ve got to go. Nice seeing you again.”
“What? You’re leaving?”
“Yeah, I have some friends to talk to.”
“You mean Carly?” She said the name with distaste.
“She’s one of them.” I smiled at the rest of the girls. “Have a good evening, ladies.”
I laughed on my way back inside knowing they’d find some other guys to occupy their time. Maybe they could talk to that group of idiots that were bothering Carly earlier.
All the stools at the bar were taken, so I decided to check on Carly again. She was busy seating a group.
“She’s a pretty girl, huh?” Max surprised me.
I turned to look at him. I was in the Grille so much that sometimes he felt like my boss too. “Yeah, she’s pretty.”
“But, she’s your friend’s sister. Remember that.”
“Why does everyone think I need the reminder? Besides, Colin’s not my friend.”
“He’s dating your best friend. You might as well consider him a friend too.” He patted my shoulder. “And we’re reminding you because of that look on your face. I haven’t seen you with it before.”
“I just like her. Colin’s taking up more of Maddy’s time now, and I think a guy needs female friends.”
“But she isn’t Maddy. She’s not like your sister, and if you kiss her it’s not going to feel that way.”
“How’d you know about Maddy and I kissing?” Had she told him about our drunken kiss from years earlier?
He laughed. “I didn’t know you two actually had. I was just assuming it would be the case. There’s no chemistry between you and Maddy, but I saw you and Carly earlier. There’s something there.”
“What?” I forced myself to keep looking at Max instead of back at Carly. “You’re a relationship expert now?”
“I run a bar, and I bartended for years. I know people.” He turned to leave. “Just be smart about this, Macon. A man doesn’t meet a girl he connects with that way every day.”
I shrugged off his words and went to talk to Carly. So what if I found her attractive? I’d already promised Brody I wouldn’t mess around, and Colin would go through the roof. I’d just have to keep things platonic. It couldn’t be that hard.
Chapter Nine
Carly
I slept in until ten o’clock the morning after my first day of work. My feet hurt, and I was so tired I didn’t think I’d ever want to get out of bed. I’d worked until closing, and then ended up hanging out with everyone afterward. Colin was already sleeping by the time we got home, he’d never made it by the Grille, so I didn’t get a chance to ask him about the visit to see Maddy’s parents. I really hoped it went well.
I knew he was already long gone when I made it downstairs, and I wasn’t sure when Maddy would get up, so I changed into a bikini and headed out to the deck to lay out. Colin’s house had a gorgeous view of the ocean. I settled down on a lounge chair and got ready to soak up some sun.
I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up Maddy was sitting in the chair next to me.