“Will?” she asked, surprised, but her full smile said she wasn’t unhappy to see him.
Will leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “I’d say I’m surprise to see you here, but that’d be an outright lie.”
“Why? I never come here.” A cute line puckered between her brows.
“All the same.” Will laughed.
“I never understand the Evans’ sense of humor,” Taran said to him, and then her eyes scanned over. “Corey.” She frowned.
“Taran. You look exactly like a ball bunny should.” In another situation, he might appreciate that fact.
Will sighed, and Taran shook her head. “I’m just going to say thanks and pretend that was your form of a compliment.”
“It was,” Will assured her. “Where can I get beer?”
“It’s bottle service; hard liquor only,” Corey told him. Will should know that, but the look on Will’s face said he didn’t. “You can put it on my tab.”
“I can afford bottle service, you asshole. I just wanted a beer.” He frowned and turned back to Taran. “Someday, ten years from now, when we’re sitting around laughing about this, I want you to remind him of how much he owes me.”
Taran looked mystified, but Will turned to find a waitress.
“Is he always this cranky when the swim team does badly? Or is it the breakup with Genni?” Taran asked.
Corey stared down shocked. “How do you know about any of that?”
Will had told him about the split on the drive over, but that wasn’t shocking. It was just after a wedding, and Will and Genni always took a break after a wedding. Mostly because she wanted a wedding and Will didn’t.
Her mint-green eyes turned up to meet his, hitting him with that familiar punch in the gut. “Clayton. He called to thank me again for the article since it came out today. And he gave me an update on the entire family.”
“Why?” he asked her. Not that he minded.
“Unlike you, I think your family likes me,” she explained.
It warmed Corey’s heart that she called the Evanses his family because that was how he wanted it to be.
“They usually have good taste,” he agreed.
Taran looked like she had been insulted again.
“But we need to talk.”
The small line reappeared between her eyebrows, but she didn’t protest when Corey moved her closer to the wall and away from the group. She rested her back against the painted cinder blocks, and Corey placed his hand on the wall and leaned over her shoulder, close enough for her to hear him in the loud club.
“Are you going to lecture me again about leaving Tim alone? He explained you’re like his big brother showing him the ropes and what not, but I promise this article will be good for his career. You can have approval too if he wants that.”
Corey smiled. He couldn’t care less about the Tillerson thing now that he knew what it was. “No, honey.”
Her brows shot up at the endearment. But he ignored the question in her eyes. He had practiced this explanation multiple times in his head but there was this angst about it in his gut.
“Being famous, everyone always has ideas about who I am, or what I’m supposed to be like.” He saw her eyes flash with understanding. “I assumed even you did.”
She glanced away, unable to meet his eyes for a moment before she refocused. Her hand came up and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. But instead of giving anything she said, “It’s why ‘In Case You Didn’t Know’ works. I take those things everyone knows and show them something else.”
He’d never read anything she’d written so he couldn’t agree. Instead, he continued. “For me, that makes getting to know people hard. Diablo gives me a chance to talk to people without expectations of what I’m supposed to be. I just get to be myself and let someone get to know me.”
Taran’s lips parted in surprise before her brow furrowed. “Uh—wait.” She shook her head in confusion. “What?”
He smiled and reached out, tucking a silky piece of her dark hair back behind her ear. He wasn’t sure if she meant to lean into his hand, but when she did, he took full advantage. His palm grazed the skin of her neck and settled on her throbbing pulse. It was nice to see he wasn’t the only one nervous.