And unlike any interaction with Theo, I had even successfully flirted enough with Miles the last time we were together to land a kiss.
Sure, it had just been a quick peck at midnight on New Year’s, but it had happened. And he’d been a willing participant.
“What time does the get-together start?” I asked, trying to look casual.
“Seven-thirty,” Lucy said.
I looked at the time on my phone and laughed. “Oh, so like right now.”
“Yeah…” Lucy said, a guilty expression in her eyes. “We were just dropping off leftovers before heading over.”
“Well…” I glanced down at myself, not sure I was even presentable enough to face other adults, let alone Miles Hawthorne, after a full day of chasing after Charlotte.
I sniffed my armpit as discreetly as possible. Still fine. Mostly.
“We can wait if you want to freshen up,” Lucy offered, seeming to read my mind.
“Let me just change my clothes real quick and brush my teeth,” I said, hopping up from the couch. “Then I’ll be ready to go.”
“Are you joining Ky on any of his tour dates this summer?” Miles asked me thirty minutes later, his ridiculously hypnotizing brown eyes sliding over to meet mine.
We were sitting on the patio furniture in Romeo and Lia’s gorgeous backyard, Miles’s stepsister, Alessi, and their other friend Bash sitting across from us.
The party had been pretty relaxed so far. Lots of familiar faces—people I mostly knew through my brother since he’d gone to high school with a bunch of the guys and stayed in touch.
I was five and a half years younger than Ky, so I hadn’t hung out with his friends much growing up. I had always been at gymnastics practice when they’d come to our house, or I was out playing in the backyard with friends.
But once I started college, Ky finally decided I was mature enough to be seen with him, which meant I’d gotten to know his circle a little better. And then last summer, when I joined him on the European leg of his tour, I’d gotten especially close to Alessi, who had been touring as his opening act at the time.
“I’m hoping to go to a few of his shows,” I said, meeting Miles’s gaze—which was hard considering how ridiculously beautiful and magnetic the man was. “But probably only the ones in New England this summer, since I’m hoping to have a more full-time job soon.”
“You don’t want to be a professional groupie for your brother anymore?” Alessi asked, a twinkle in her eyes.
“I mean, itwaspretty fun last summer,” I said, remembering all the shenanigans Alessi and I had gotten up to during our downtime. “But no, I think it’s probably time for me to get an actual grownup job.”
“Eh…” Alessi waved a hand as she leaned in closer to Bash’s side. “Grownup jobs are overrated.”
“So true,” Bash said from beside her.
“Says the guy who’s spent the last several years in medical school,” Miles shot back at Bash.
“School doesn’t count,” Bash said. “Since I’m still pretending adulthood hasn’t started.”
And when the dark-haired future doctor set his arm comfortably around Alessi’s shoulders, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were a couple again.
At the New Year’s Eve party my brother had thrown at his Hamptons’ house this past winter, I’d learned that Alessi and Bash had dated about six years ago—back when she was a freshman at Eden Falls University and he was just starting medical school at NYU.
Was it possible that the kiss I’d seen them share in the hot tub that night had reignited the spark that had been simmering between them for the past several years, turning it into more of a flame?
And if so, dare I hope that there had been actual magic in the air that night, since Owen and Lucy were another couple who had hit things off that evening only to start dating a few months later?
If two couples had gotten together after sharing New Year’s kisses, maybe my delusions of someday dating Miles Hawthorne weren’t actually too far off?
“What kind of job are you looking to get?” Miles asked, hopefully unable to read my delusional thoughts.
“I’ve been looking for something related to exercise science since that’s what my degree is in,” I said. “But honestly, I’m still figuring it out.”
Which was code for: if I didn’t land a job soon, I might need to think outside of the box even more.