She wears a pink sundress and strappy sandals. Her hair falls loosely over her tanned shoulders.
She must be with her sister.
Brooke’s eyes catch mine and she smiles warmly—a colleague smile, but that’s cool. “Hey, Adams,” Brooke says, using my last name like most people in the organization do. “Good to see you.”
“And you too,” I say, going along with thejust friendsbit.
I mean, we arefriends-ish.
The last few weeks of dirty texting aside.
Brooke gestures to the woman next to her. “This is my sister. Cara.”
“And you two must be the guys planning clown pranks,” Cara says with anI-caught-youexpression.
Patrick adopts a serious look as he eyes Brooke’s sister. “For the record, I am vehemently opposed to clown pranks. And to clowns.”
Cara nods sagely. “I get that.”
“Well, clearly this was meant to be,” he says with a smile now.
Cara laughs, then she gestures to the theater. “Are you two clowns heading to seeFake Play?”
Patrick nods. “We are.” Then, with a lingering glance Cara’s way, he says, “Would you like to sit together? That way, if there are clowns or anything in the flick, we can support each other through it.”
She sets a hand on her chest. “That’d be great.” Cara turns to Brooke, raising her eyebrows in question. “Does that work for you?”
“Works for me,” Brooke says.
Patrick goes to the counter, picks up the cost of the air-popped popcorn Brooke was buying as well as one for himself, and then hands her the bucket. Patrick and Cara chit-chat the whole time.
Brooke and I are quiet, but our eyebrow arches and knowing looks are their own language, sayingwell, those two hit it off quickly.
As we enter the movie theater, I drop back, letting Patrick and Cara walk in front of us. “That was fast,” I say, nodding to them.
“It was. Tell me he’s a good guy,” she says, her tone deadly serious, her jaw tight.
I hold up my hand as if taking an oath. “He’s like a brother. I trust him with my life.”
“I willhurtanyone who hurts my sister. I don’t care if those two just met. If he does her wrong…”
I squeeze her shoulder in reassurance. “I swear. Also, he’s petrified of clowns, so he definitely needs the protection.”
She seems to relax under my touch and from my words. I lean into Brooke, drawing a quick inhale of her sexy, sunshine scent. “By the way, you look amazing,” I whisper, low, just for her. No harm in a little compliment.
“So do you,” she whispers.
“What were the chances we’d run into each other here?” I ask as we head down the aisle.
“Pretty good, technically. Considering we talked about this being our favorite movie, and it’s only playing tonight.”
“Okay, then. So those are damn good odds,” I say with a smile. “But I swear, I wasn’t stalking you. It was…serendipity.”
Her smile is magical. “Let’s go with that.”
Patrick stops at a middle row and heads in first.Cara follows, then Brooke, then me. What a fantastic impromptu seating chart.
Brooke offers me some of her popcorn. “I know you like food. Want to share?”