“That’ll teach you to date so close to home.”
“Griff never dates anybody all out,” Lucas pointed out. “He just breaks hearts all around town.”
“Guys, I’m sitting right here.” Griff took a sip of beer and glanced at Jack. “And leave Autumn alone. She’s too nice for you.”
Jack’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh yeah. How nice?”
Lucas leaned back in his chair, glancing with amusement at the two of them. “Ember says she’s pretty. And that she has great shoes, whatever that means.”
“What kind of shoes?” Jackson leaned in. “I need details here.”
Lucas’s phone rang and he grimaced as he glanced at the screen. “Gimme a sec. It’s Ember. I gotta take this.”
Jackson looked at him with amusement. “You only just left her. What the hell could you two have to talk about?”
Lucas shrugged and took the call. “Hey, baby.” There was a pause. “Are you sure? I’m at the bar.” Another pause. “Okay.” He sighed, glancing at Jackson and Griff. “I need to sing to Arthur.”
Griff coughed out a laugh.
“Hey. Any more of that and we’re doing a duet,” Lucas warned him.
Griff held his hands up. “I did my duties the other night. This one’s all on you.”
“Well, I’m not doing it with an audience. I’m heading outside.” Lucas sighed and exited through the door, leaving Jackson and Griff.
It wasn’t often that the three of them got together. With Lucas’s family and Jack’s thriving business, the two of them were hard to pin down. And on the occasional time that they did manage to meet, they were often joined by their friend Breck, as well as Nate and Aiden, partners of Ember’s friends.
Griff never minded who joined them. But it was nice catching up with his two oldest friends.
Even if one of them was singing “Baby Shark” in the floodlights outside the bar right now.
“Seriously, though. This Autumn. She’s single, right?” Jackson asked as the door closed behind Lucas.
Griff shrugged. “I’ve got no idea. I didn’t ask about her marital status when she was telling me about raising my rent.”
Jackson laughed. “Did she have a ring on her finger?”
“What am I? Some kind of stalker?” Griff shook his head. “She’s from New York, she’s pretty, smart, and successful. That’s all I got, except she’s too smart to date a loser like you.” He grinned at Jackson’s outraged expression.
“Takes one to know one.”
“Yup.” Griff took another mouthful of beer.
“So what else do you know?”
“About Autumn?”
“Yeah?”
“Stop asking. I know nothing.” Apart from the fact he couldn’t stop thinking about those heels. Nor about the way his skin heated up when she slid her delicate hand into his.
Or the way he’d spent last night thinking about her after seeing her on the pier, and how most of those thoughts carried an R rating.
“Well tomorrow’s the perfect chance to find out,” Jackson told him. “A whole day at sea with the woman who has sexy shoes. I’m almost jealous.”
Griff sighed loudly. “I told her not to wear the shoes.”
* * *