Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Kate
“Penny, stop eating all the green ones. They’ll make you sick, not horny.”
Where did that urban legend even come from? Why on earth would green M&M’s make a person horny? And why did we, as thirteen-year-old girls, smile and giggle as we picked all the green ones out and ate them first? It’s not like we really even knew what “horny” meant at the time.
Penny giggles like we’re still thirteen and not grown-ass adults, sitting in her living room, gathering the chocolate and peanut goodies into small pouches of sheer organza for her wedding .
“Maybe we should’ve gone with the Jordan almonds,” she sighs, then laughs as I pretend to dry heave. “I know. I know. They’re gross. But now I’m horny as hell after all these green M&M’s.”
“Nuh-uh,” I say as she leans toward me and flutters her eyelashes. “I’m sorry, babe, but I only like you as a friend.”
“You love me,” she coos.
“Fine,” I concede. “I love you as a friend. But that’s all, so stop with the green ones or go find Logan.”
“Already found him, nabbed him, and I’m locking him down in six days ,” she cheers, sliding from her seat on the couch to the floor to grab another bag of chocolate candies.
“Shit, you’ve had him locked down for years, and you know it,” I say, stretching a leg out to poke her thigh with my bare toe. “Are you nervous about the wedding night?”
She rolls her eyes at my joke, making me chuckle, then shakes her head. “I’m afraid that ship sailed back in high school.”
I try my best to hide my unintentional reaction, but Penny knows me too well. We’ve been best friends for over twenty-three years, ever since the first day of preschool when she pushed Tommy Filcher down on the playground for stealing my graham crackers. I’ve never been able to hide anything from her. And she saw that miniscule flinch I just performed and knows exactly why.
“Sometimes, I wish I’d waited,” she says in a wistful tone instead of calling me out, directly.
“What?” I blurt, incredulous. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” she says with a small shrug. “I just think it’d be romantic.”
“But Logan was your first. That’s pretty romantic,” I say, tossing a few candies into my mouth.
“Yeah, but if I’d waited, he’d be my only . ”
“But then you wouldn’t realize how good you have it with Logan,” I counter. “Tommy Filcher?”
Penny pretends to gag, and laughter rumbles from my chest. Yes, that Tommy Filcher.
Penny ended things with Logan when he graduated high school, much to his disappointment. We still had another year, and he was headed off to Alabama for college. She didn’t want to hold him back, so despite his insistence they could make it work, she broke it off with him and sent him on his way. She ended up taking online business courses after graduation, and she’s been running the financial side of things for me at the Grill ever since I took ownership.
Logan ended up coming back here after college and opening Bush Monkey Isle’s first accounting firm. He and Penny picked right back up like they hadn’t spent four years apart, proving the love they had for each other as teenagers was the real deal.
But that doesn’t mean Penny didn’t date while he was gone. She dated a lot , but no one ever stuck. The worst one of the bunch being Tommy Filcher. Blech .
“And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” I go on when she stops miming the dry-heaves. “My lack of experience isn’t and never will be romantic. It’s just plain sad.”
She sits up and levels a hard gaze at me. “Being picky and not settling isn’t sad, Kate. It’s smart.”
“Or pathetic,” I counter.
“Kate Reid, look into my eyes.”
I twist around to sit cross-legged in front of her, carefully arranging the skirt of my dress so I don’t flash her. She mirrors my position. This is a thing we do when we’re serious. When either of us wants the other’s full attention. When we’re sharing something important, breaking good news or bad, or simply determined to pump each other up.
When one of us says “look into my eyes,” the other must comply and take her seriously.
“You are not sad, and you’re the farthest thing from pathetic. You are a catch. Smart, funny, gorgeous. A loyal friend. A truly kind soul. And whoever locks you down is going to be the luckiest man on the planet.”
“Second only to Logan,” I say without missing a beat.
“We’ll call it a tie,” she says, a smile breaking through her serious expression.
“I love you, Pen,” I say, leaning forward to hug her.
“I love you, Kate,” she replies, hugging me back with a familiar ferocity.
“Speaking of men,” I say, releasing her, “I have to tell you what happened last night at the Grill.”
“You met someone?” she asks, her eyes flaring wide.
“Not really. Kind of.”
“Tell me everything,” she says, pulling the bowl of M&M’s toward her like she’s grabbing popcorn for a show.
“So, I was sitting at the bar––”
“Watching Jeopardy! and eating chili-cheese fries,” she interjects, and I roll my eyes.
“No.”
“No?”
“My fries hadn’t arrived yet,” I say in a rush, and we both chuckle. “Anyway, I was sitting there, and this guy––a stranger––slides onto the stool next to me while calling out the answer to the clue Ken Jennings read. Of course, I called him out for being wrong. He didn’t phrase his answer as a question.”
“Of course,” she says, her smile widening. “Was he hot?”
“ So hot,” I say, my voice dropping an octave. “He looked like a Greek god in a fancy suit. Dark hair, bright blue eyes, wide shoulders. Just…yum.”
“Did he hit on you?” she asks, bouncing a little where she sits.
“Not exactly. But we did hit it off. The banter was chef’s kiss, if you know what I mean. He was starving, and since the kitchen was technically closed, I shared my fries with him.”
Penny freezes, her eyes widening and her mouth falling open. “You…shared…your…fries?”
“Shut up,” I bark with a laugh at her sarcasm, though she’s not far off the mark.
My fries are sacred.
“Okay,” she says, relaxing, “so, you shared your fries. Then what?”
I stiffen. “Then Kaylee Harper’s cousin from San Diego walked in looking for me.”
“What? Why?”
“Apparently, she told him I’d be thirsty for some casual sex.”
“What?” she shouts, her voice deepening with anger. “That bitch !”
“My thoughts, exactly,” I grit out, then deflate. “I told him his dick probably wasn’t big enough for me.”
Penny stares at me in wide-eyed silence for two beats, then falls over as laughter peals out of her. I wait for her to gather herself, and by the time she sits up, she’s wiping tears from her eyes.
“Classic Kate.”
“Yeah, well,” I say, not feeling her mirth, “he shot back by calling me a whale .”
That sobers her, and her cheeks turn bright pink as her body bristles with anger. I’m not usually self-conscious about my size. And I don’t let juvenile comments about it from assholes get to me. It is what it is. But Penny?
Penny goes from zero to violent, vicious mama-bear in one-point-two seconds when it comes to protecting me.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say before she can launch a search party to hunt Alex down and castrate him. When she looks at me doubtfully, I shake my head. “Really, Penny. This is actually the best part.”
“Go on,” she says after a few seconds of searching my expression to make sure I’m really okay.
“So, this guy, Tucker, jumps off his stool and tells Kaylee’s cousin he owes me two apologies. One for approaching me to ask for sex, and another for the insult. When Alex––that’s the creep’s name, Alex––smarted off again, Tucker grabbed him by the back of the neck, dragged him to the front door, and physically tossed him through it.”
“No shit?” she asks, her expression brightening.
“No shit,” I confirm. “It was so hot.”
“Then what happened?” she asks, her anger all but forgotten.
“He sat back down and looked at me, then his eyes dropped to my mouth,” I say, and she sucks in a breath through her teeth.
“Did he kiss you?”
I shake my head. “I thought he was going to. I freaked out over probable chili and beer breath, so I excused myself to use the bathroom so I could swish some mouthwash.”
“Smart move,” she says, then nods for me to go on.
“And when I came back out, he was gone.”
I fall backwards, stretching out on the floor with a sad sigh. Penny crawls over to stretch out beside me, linking the fingers of one hand through mine and squeezing.
“Maybe he took your sudden need to use the bathroom as a sign you weren’t interested?” she offers. “He might’ve left to save you any embarrassment.”
“Maybe,” I say, my tone doubtful. “Or maybe he used my absence as the perfect opportunity to escape without any awkwardness.”
“That doesn’t make sense. He stood up for you, didn’t he? Your average guy would’ve ignored the conversation between you and Asshole Alex, completely, under the guise of minding his own business. Tucker didn’t do that. He defended your honor. Swoon .”
“And then he realized I was reading more into it than I should and ran for the hills.”
“Stop it, Kate. Do you need to look into my eyes again?”
“No,” I say with a half-hearted chuckle. “I got the message.”
“Oh, shit. What time is it?” she blurts suddenly, releasing my hand and jumping to her feet and grabbing her phone from the couch. “Crap. Logan’s going to be here any second with J.T.”
“Ah,” I breathe, pushing myself to my own feet. “The infamous best man .”
“I wouldn’t say infamous ,” she argues. “He’s actually a really great guy, for the most part. He’s just…”
“Promiscuous?” I offer when her words trail off.
“Yes,” she breathes, drawing out the word for several seconds. “Promiscuous. Remember what I told you?”
“Yes, Mom ,” I say facetiously. “I’m allowed to be friends with him, but under no circumstances should I harbor any secret romantic fantasies about J.T. and me. He’s a player, and he’ll break my heart if I put it on the line. I’ve got it.”
“Good girl,” she says with a nod, and I freeze with wide eyes.
“Oh, wait. Should I double-check the locks on my chastity belt?” I ask, fiddling with the hem of my sundress.
“Ha, ha,” she says, enunciating the words sarcastically. “I’m serious, Kate. I like the guy, but he’s a total man-whore. He’s got more notches on his belt than Mariah Carey has shoes. He’s never going to settle down, either. Plus, he’s loaded, and women everywhere swarm to him. It’s kind of disgusting, and if he wasn’t such a good guy, otherwise, and an amazing friend to Logan…”
I hold up my palms. “Consider me adequately warned. Best man––bad. Hands off. Got it.”
She nods. “Good. Besides, if you were to decide to take your first walk on the wild side with him, and things were to get weird, it would make for a very uncomfortable wedding. Because obvi, I’d take your side, and Logan would take J.T.’s, and it would be a huge mess that’s wholly avoidable.”
“Message received,” I say, and Penny spins around as the front door clicks open.
I plaster on a smile as Logan walks in, followed by…
Oh, shit. No. No, no, no.
Logan sees me and smiles, saying, “Oh, good, Kate. You’re here. I’d love to introduce you to my best friend and best man, J.T. Gibbs.”
Recognition fills J.T.’s bright blue eyes, and I rush forward before he can speak.
“Nice to finally meet you, J.T. Welcome to Bush Monkey Isle. I’m Kate. Kate Reid.”
I hold out a hand for him to shake, and he stares at it for a moment before slowly reaching out to take it. I’m freaking out, and thank God Penny is behind me, because she’d put two and two together in a heartbeat.
J.T. is Tucker. Tucker is J.T.
And I’m royally screwed.
“Nice to meet you, Kate,” he says slowly. “I’m Tucker Gibbs.”
My eyes fall closed, my back teeth grinding together as Penny’s gasp echoes around us. I open my eyes in time to see Logan shoot a questioning glance at his bride-to-be, then I look over my shoulder and beg her with my eyes not to say anything.
She clears her throat, recovering quickly enough to say, “Tucker? Is that your middle name or something? I’ve only ever known you as J.T. ”
Nice work, Penny.
“Have I never told you this story?” Logan asks her, leading us into the dining room. “When I met J.T. in college, we already had a guy in our friend group named Tucker. We started calling this one “Junior Tucker,” since he was a junior and the rest of us were sophomores, and it stuck. Eventually, the nickname got shortened to J.T.”
“No,” Penny says with a nervous laugh, “you’ve never told me that.”
I keep my eyes locked on Penny, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling Tucker’s gaze burning into my skin. The more I ignore it, the hotter it feels.
Great. Just great.
The first guy I’ve felt really attracted to in years, maybe in my whole life, and he’s off-limits. I hold back a sigh.
It doesn’t matter, anyway. He’s obviously not interested if his little disappearing act last night was any indication. It’s fine.
Taking a deep breath, I look over at him cautiously, and he smiles. A gorgeous smile filled with secret knowledge and something else I can’t identify. Whatever it is, it’s making my heart flutter and my stomach hollow out.
Please stop smiling at me like that.
I really can’t take it.