“Excuse me,” I said. “I just need to?—”
“Get a drink?” he asked.
“Talk to Mark.”
His eyes narrowed, and I had no idea why he even cared. “About what?”
There was something about his light tone that gave me pause. To anyone else, it would be him simply making conversation.
But I saw more. I always saw more.
“You already know, don’t you?”
His mouth partially opened at my observation, but then closed. “I know that you have nothing to worry about.”
“I do have something to worry about, unless you know something I don’t about an unpaid tab.”
Dean huffed out a laugh. “You’re quick.”
“I tend to be, and as much as I enjoyed our little conversation earlier, I do need to handle this. Unless ... something else happened.” There were many things that could have gone down. Mark could have decided to clear it out, or some poor idiot charmed by her smile and boobs had paid it for her.
“The tab’s paid,” he said.
Oh, no.No.“Please tell me you weren’t the one to do it.”
“Damn, Grace. Are you a mind reader or something?”
I had to be if I were going to keep Brooke in check.
“Listen, don’t do nice things for Brooke. Even if you think she’s hot, it’s not worth it.”
“First of all,” he said slowly, “I think she’s a little too whiny to be hot.”
Despite how tonight had gone, I laughed. I needed to hear that. “At least you’re not totally dumb.”
“And second, I didn’t do it to be nice to her. Mark was gonna call you, so I stopped him.”
“Wha—you paid it forme?”
“Yep. So go home and relax.”
My brain couldn’t comprehend this. People were always kind to me, but they never jumped in to save me. I always had to do that myself. “I can pay you back.”
“Pay me back by having a nice night, Grace.”
Damn. He’d done something nice for me and didn’t expect anything in return? How could a man like this get even hotter?
“I owe you one,” I replied. “Let’s go in and get a drink.”
I could tell he didn’t expect me to invite him in by the way his eyebrows rose, but Ididowe him. And even though I didn’t have the money, I was already willing to pay for my sister, so two $5 beers wouldn’t break the bank any more than Brooke’s bill would have.
And it wouldn’t be hard to look at him for a few hours. His vibe alone told me he was a fun guy, but there was something else I’d love to figure out. Maybe it was his confidence. Maybe it was how kind he couldreallybe.
It wouldn’t take me long to crack him open like an egg.
“I’d love to take you up on that,” he replied. “But I can’t.”
“Let me guess, you have to get up early for work?” He did a physical job. Maybe we could take a rain check.