Chapter One
Trent
“Hey, Trent,” a deep voice said from beside me.
I turned on my stool and rolled my eyes. “Oh, hell, no,” I said, then turned back around and took a sip of my margarita.
I heard the guy sigh and say, “So what? I’m not even allowed to say ‘hi’ to you?”
“Nope,” I said without looking at him.
He sighed again. “Seriously? He’s moved on. He got married for fuck’s sake.”
I eyed the guy as secretly as possible, then took another sip of my margarita. The guy was hot as fuck, there was no denying that. It just so happened that he was also the douchey ex of my friend, so I didn’t want anything to do with him. Even if those strong arms, light brown hair, and those gorgeous blue eyes that always sparkled mischievously were like a beacon calling to me. I couldn’t act on it. No. Freaking. Way.
“You know,” Declan the douche said, “it’s not like I was trying to pick you up. I just saw you sitting here, so I thought I’d say hi. You don’t have to be a douche about it.”
I choked on the sip I was trying to swallow as I laughed at that. When I got my coughing under control, I laughed out, “You think I’m the douche?”
He lifted a brow and leaned against the bar as he glanced at me. “You’re the one that’s acting like you’re better than me, so yeah, I do.”
“I am not acting like I’m better than you.” I turned to face him. “I’m acting like you’re the guy that broke my friend’s heart.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, but didn’t deny it. Actually, the longer I examined him, the more upset he looked. For some reason, seeing big bad Declan looking upset made me let down my defenses a little and I found myself asking, “Hey, you okay?”
He looked at me and shot me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
I didn’t believe that for a second, but I didn’t know him well enough to call him out on it. I did, however, know just how to cheer someone up, so I drained my drink and took the beer out of his hand, placing it on the bar. Then I grabbed his hand, stood up and started pulling him with me as I said over my shoulder, “Come dance with me.”
“Really?” He looked doubtful, not that I could blame him after the way I’d treated him a minute ago.
“Yes, silly. Dance with me for a bit, then you can find someone to fuck, or whatever it is you’re doing here.” I stopped on the dance floor and faced him.
He lifted a brow again, but let me use his arm to twirl around. I started doing goofy dance moves and before I knew it, he was chuckling at me. Point, me.
The dance floor started filling up, and unfortunately, I could no longer spin away from him because there wasn’t enough room. I pouted for a second, then thought, fuck it, and threw my arms around Declan’s neck with a big smile on my face. He looked surprised at first, but then smiled softly at me and put his hands on my hips. Facing him this closely, I could smell his spicy cologne, and I indulged myself for just a moment by taking a deep breath. Once my lungs were filled, I snapped my eyes up to Declan’s and mentally cringed. He was smirking, just a little, so I was pretty damn sure he knew I’d just smelled him. Since I couldn’t deny it, I just shrugged a shoulder at him, which made him chuckle again. Two points, me.
Declan suddenly leaned forward, and for a second, I was afraid he was going to kiss me. But then he bent down farther and stuck his nose close to my neck so I could hear him take a deep breath before he whispered into my ear, “You smell good too.”
I smacked his shoulder and couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of me. “Shut up,” I said, still laughing. He leaned back and smiled at me with amusement. Point, Dec. I had to give him that one. Smartass.
I eyed him for a moment before finally saying, “What?”
“Would you want to go grab something to eat? I didn’t eat dinner before I came.”
I looked around the room at all the people in the crowded bar. I’d only come out tonight because I’d been bored, so I didn’t care too much if I left the place. Turning back to Declan, I stared at his blue eyes for a moment. Was it weird to go out to eat with my friend slash boss’s ex? I mean, they broke up a while ago and Levi was already married to someone else. I must’ve taken too long to answer because Declan sighed, ran a hand through his hair and said, “Forget it.”
“No.” I grabbed his forearm. “I was just thinking about it. Yes, let’s go get something to eat.”
“You sure?”
“Yes,” I said, then suddenly realized I was still holding his arm and let go. He shot me a little smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, and I was instantly a little saddened that my hesitation made his happiness slip away. I sighed at myself, then downed the rest of my water, set the bottle on top of the bar and grabbed his hand again. “Alright, come on new best friend, let’s get you some food.”
“New best friend?” he asked, some amusement back in his voice.
I looked over my shoulder at him and said, “I’m pretty sure that neither of us has one, so,” I shrugged, “I figured you could be mine… at least for tonight.”
“How do you know I don’t have one?” He let me pull him out of the club.
“Uh… you’re here by yourself.”
“So are you.”
“My point exactly.” I stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk. “Where do you want to eat?”
“Um… do you want to walk or drive?”
I had no clue how much he’d had to drink tonight, and while I felt like I’d danced off my margaritas from earlier, I didn’t really want to drive. “Let’s walk. You like that little pizza shop down the street or would you rather walk a couple blocks over to a nicer place?”
“I could go for some pizza, if that’s okay with you?”
“Perfect,” I agreed, dragging him down the street again. “What kind of pizza do you like? I like plain or barbeque chicken or buffalo chicken pizza. Mmm. Those are delicious. I wonder if this place has good buffalo chicken. You want to share a pizza or something?” When I looked up at him, since he was like four inches taller than me, I noticed that his eyebrows were raised, so I asked, “What?”
“Nothing.” I narrowed my eyes at him, and he shrugged, then said, “I like buffalo chicken if you want that kind.”
I rolled my eyes and led him into the pizza shop. When we were in line, I let go of his hand, even though it had been nice holding it. I mentally chastised myself for the thought, then asked him what else he wanted to get. Once we placed our order, we sat down at a table to wait for it.
Declan randomly asked, “Have you always had that nose ring?”
I unconsciously touched the little diamond in question. “I got it a few weeks ago.”
“I like it.”
“Thanks,” I said awkwardly. It was weird being in the relative quiet of the pizza shop. It was still noisy, but compared to the loud-ass club, it was almost too quiet.
Declan cleared his throat. “I’m surprised you didn’t have a wedding to photograph tonight.”
“I got the night off because there was only one wedding and Andy went as Levi’s assistant.” I cringed when I realized what I said, or rather, who I’d said it about.
“You can talk about Levi and Andy, Trent. It’s not like I don’t know they’re married. I was at their wedding, you know,” he said softly.
I blew out a breath and gave him a nod. “Okay, yeah. So Andy is probably coming to work at the shop, so I’m not sure if I’ll be doing as many weddings.”
He tilted his head. “Is that going to mess with you financially?”
I lifted my hands in a defeated gesture. “I don’t really have a say in that.”
“Why don’t you talk to Levi about it?”
“I will. I just haven’t gotten around to it. This is only the second weekend it’s happened, so I don’t even know if it’ll be an issue.”
“Still…” He offered a sympathetic nod, then just said, “So…” and trailed off.
“So…” I trailed off too, and looked around, at a loss of what to say. Then I looked at him and asked with a big smile, “Come here often?”
He snorted out a laugh—point, me—and shook his head. “No, usually when I go to the club I take my guy home to fuck, not out to eat.”
I rolled my eyes at that, then fluttered my eyelashes at him and asked in a mock-voice, “So that makes me your guy tonight?”
He stared at me with a deer-in-the-headlights look.
I chuckled and grabbed a napkin to start shredding. “Dude, seriously? I’m just messing with you. Did I not make my stance on you clear enough earlier?” I leaned forward a little, looking into his pretty blue eyes. “Not. Gonna. Happen.”
He blinked a few times, then said, “You know, you’re kind of an asshole.”
I snorted at that. “Takes one to know one.”
He shrugged. “True.”
We both chuckled a little, and thank fucking god, the girl behind the counter called our order number, so he got up to get it. If my eyes locked onto his muscular ass while he walked away, well, you couldn’t really blame a guy, could ya?
When he came back, we both dug in and were quiet for a few minutes while we ate. After I ate a whole slice of pizza, I asked, “You going to that party at the Maher’s tomorrow?”
He swallowed a bite—and no, I didn’t look at his Adam’s apple—then wiped his mouth. “I was invited, but I don’t know if I wanna go.”
“Why not? I think they’re cooking on the grill.” I grabbed another slice. This pizza place looked like a hole-in-the-wall, but damn did they have good pizza.
“I dunno… it’s weird.” He shrugged and set his crust down before grabbing another slice.
“Because of Levi?”
He shrugged one shoulder.
“You know he’d want you to come.”
“Yeah, but…” he trailed off.
“Oh come on. You gotta come since your best friend will be there,” I said with a ridiculous smile.
“I see Reese every day at work,” he said, then took another bite.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I was talking about me, you asshat. Your new and improved best friend.”
He laughed softly and held up a hand. “Sorry, I forgot. I’m not used to having a best friend.”
I fought back a smile at that and continued to glare. “I’ll forgive you this once, but… next time you’ll face the consequences.”
He laughed a little louder—point, me—and asked, “And what might they be?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I thought about that. “For the next offense, you’ll have to take me to a movie. But the one after that will be a movie and dinner.”
“Hmm… you’re going to punish me by making me spend more time with you? You’re so evil,” he said with that little smirk of his.
“Well, I still have the power to add to your punishment. Maybe I’ll make you buy me jewelry or something.”
“Oh wow, you’re truly the devil.”
I laughed. “Shut up.”
Between the two of us, we finished off the entire pizza, and when it was gone, I asked, “Do you want to go get some ice cream or something?”
His eyebrows flew up into his hairline again—apparently, I constantly surprised him—and he said, “You seriously want to eat more? How are you so small?”
“I am not small,” I argued, and maybe pouted just a little.
“Uh, yeah, you are. You’re thin and tiny. I could probably throw you over my shoulder and carry you around for hours without breaking a sweat.” He waved his hand at me.
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Is that a challenge?”
I glared at him and slowly said, “No.”
He tilted his head. “You know I could do it, don’t you?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and didn’t respond, which made him laugh again. Okay, maybe he got another point. Maybe. A maybe point. Point, Declan. Ugh. He could have it.
He sobered a little and asked, “Where do you want to go for ice cream?”
I sighed. “The Frozen Spoon is too far away, but that’s my favorite place. Do you know if there’s anything good around here?”
“Let’s just grab a cab or Uber to The Frozen Spoon, then we can get one back to our cars afterward.” He stood up.
“Really?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Sure.” He shot me a sweet smile. “I want to take my new best friend to his favorite place.”
Okay, definite point, Declan. Definite.
I nodded. “Sounds good to me.” I stood up and followed him out of the shop. “I could just drive, I’m sober.”
“I only had that half a beer before you took it from me, so I can drive if you’re comfortable.” He bumped my shoulder as we walked down the sidewalk.
I bumped his back. “That’s fine if you’re okay with bringing me back to my car afterward.”
“No problem,” he said, giving me another shoulder-bump.
The drive to The Frozen Spoon was a little awkward, but not too bad. We listened to the radio, and luckily, we weren’t super-far from the ice cream shop. When we walked into the shop, I asked, “What kind are you going to get?”
“Probably vanilla with hot fudge.”
“What?” I asked a little too loudly, drawing attention from a few other customers. I lowered my voice. “Dude, that’s so boring. Live a little.”
He frowned at me. “I like vanilla and hot fudge.”
“Ugh… you’re killing me.”
“Okay, what are you getting, then?”
“I’m gonna get Old Bay Caramel and get some sprinkles on it, the rainbow ones.” I pointed to the weirdest flavor I could find.
“That seriously sounds disgusting.” He wrinkled his nose and I sorta thought it was adorable, not that I’d ever tell him… or anyone… especially not Levi.
“Eh.” I lifted a shoulder. “May as well live a little, ya know?”
“Have you ever had that kind?”
“Nope.”
“And you think it sounds good?”
I thought about that, about how spicy Old Bay was, and how it didn’t seem like it could remotely taste good with ice cream and I shrugged. “Well, no, not really.”
“Then why the hell would you get it?” Declan asked.
“I like to try new things. Sometimes they surprise you.”
He eyed me for a moment, then looked at the ice cream flavors again. When it was his turn to order, my eyebrows lifted when he said, “Can I have two scoops of the peanut butter pretzel ice cream with hot fudge and rainbow sprinkles, please?” When he glanced over at me, he smirked and put his finger on my chin, pushing my open mouth closed. Then he winked and said, “You’re right, sometimes new things surprise you.” Then he turned around and moved down the line to pay.
I watched him for a moment before shaking myself and moving up to order. What he’d ordered sounded way better than the Old Bay ice cream, but I had to put my money where my mouth was, so to speak. So I ordered it, with rainbow sprinkles, because yum, then collected my ice cream cup and followed Declan to an open table. When I took a bite of my treat, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t horrible. It wasn’t great, but it was pretty good. Better than I’d thought it’d be.
Declan ate a bite of his and said, “Mmm… this is really good. Wanna try it?” He gestured to his cup, so I lifted a shoulder, then scooped a bite of his onto my spoon and ate it. I couldn’t help the little moan that escaped my mouth. When Declan said, “Mine’s better, isn’t it?” I realized I’d shut my eyes, and popped them open to glare at him. He chuckled and said, “Let me try yours.”
“Go ahead.” I gestured to mine.
He scooped some with his spoon and ate it, wrinkling his nose the entire time. After swallowing, he said, “Mine’s definitely better.”
I sighed and decided to admit defeat. “Okay, you’re right. You’re the winner of the ice cream challenge.”
He chuckled. “You don’t have to sound so dreary about it. I got two scoops so we can share.”
I stared at him in shock for a minute, then scooped another bite of his ice cream and said, “Thanks. You can have more of mine, too.”
“Yeah… I don’t think so.”
I grinned at that and stole another bite of his.
We hung out for another hour at The Frozen Spoon before he drove me back to my car. When he parked beside my car, I turned to him and said, “Thanks for a great night, new best friend. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”
He rolled his eyes, but smiled. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow at the party.”
I felt awkward for a minute, not knowing what to do. Should I hug him, give him a kiss on the cheek, fist-bump? I ended up settling for a weird wave that made him laugh at me, then I jumped out of his car and into mine.
He didn’t drive away until after I started my car and put it in drive. It was sweet that he’d waited to make sure I could get home okay.
When I laid down in bed later on, I reminded myself that tonight had not been a date. Not at all. Though, if it had been… it would’ve been the best damn date I’d had in a long-ass time. I sighed at that completely pathetic thought and tried to push Declan Parnell out of my mind.
If his sweet, smiling, blue eyes were the last thing I pictured before falling asleep, well, that wasn’t my fault.