Elise Phillips scanned the bar and grill as the door closed, leaving the June warmth behind her.

An arm toward the back of the room shot up, waving. Next, she saw her college friend’s light-brown hair, and then Rachel Garwood’s pixie face lit up as she beckoned her to the table.

When Elise approached, Rachel stood and squealed, her hazel eyes shining, as she held out her arms for a hug. Rachel had to step on her tippy-toes while Elise had to bend down. Elise was five-seven, but Rachel was only five-two.

“I’m so happy you’re here,” Rachel said. “I can’t believe you get to come out with us whenever you want now.”

About a month ago, Elise had moved back to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where she’d gone to high school and college. She’d found out her father was sick, and she wanted to be close to him just in case he didn’t have much time left. Even though Rachel had also been born and raised in the Twin Cities, they hadn’t met until they became roommates at the University of Minnesota.

“Me either,” she said as she stepped back from her friend.

“So, how’s the house-hunt going?” Rachel asked as she took her seat.

Elise sighed as she hung her purse on the edge of the chair next to Rachel and sat next to her. “Okay. I’m so glad my old house sold; that’s a relief. I really like the realtor you referred, but so far, I haven’t found something I really like and want to buy.”

“I’m so glad you like Cara. She’s great. And I know what you mean. Sean probably would have been happy with the ten other houses we saw, but I didn’t have that I-could-live-here feeling.” Rachel had just bought a home with her fiancé, Sean, about six months earlier. “I’m sure you’ll find one you like sooner rather than later.”

“I hope so. I can only live with my parents for so long before they drive me completely nuts. I’m twenty-nine, but sometimes, I think they forget that I’ve been living on my own for over a decade.”

“Ah, they’re sweet.”

Elise snorted. “You don’t have to live with them.”

Her mother had always been protective, but her hovering had gotten worse ever since her father was diagnosed with colon cancer.

“Well, let’s agree to disagree. I’m just happy you’re home.”

So was she. Elise had enjoyed living in Denver since finishing graduate school, but it felt good to be home. And, while she would miss it, she didn’t regret coming back once she learned her father was sick.

Elise gestured to the four open seats at the table. “Who else is coming?”

“Do you remember Shelly and Joe Howard?”

“Hmm.” Elise couldn’t quite remember them off the top of her head. “Oh. Did I meet them one year at your Christmas party? Shelly teaches with you, and her boyfriend is Joe. Both redheads?”

“Yes, that’s them. Although they’re husband and wife now. Shelly is actually pregnant. They are going to have the cutest little ginger baby.”

Elise chuckled. “That’s so great for them,” she said, meaning it even though she felt slightly let down.

When Rachel had asked her to have dinner and drinks, Elise had assumed it was going to be a girls’ thing. While she remembered liking Shelly and Joe, they were a couple, which meant one of the six seats belonged to Sean. So, either it was a couples’ get-together and Rachel was setting her up with someone or she was going to be the dreaded fifth wheel. Neither option sounded appealing.

“So, Shelly, Joe, and Sean are coming. Is the sixth seat someone you’re trying to hook me up with?” she asked just as Rachel said, “Oh, look. There are Shelly and Joe now.”

Her friend stood and waved to catch the newcomers’ attention.

Despite the two of them speaking at the same time, Rachel had heard her question. She sat back down and cocked her head. “I wouldn’t do that to you. I know how much you hate being set up on blind dates.”

Fifth wheel, it was then. Elise didn’t know whether to be relieved that she wouldn’t have to fake interest in someone—because she really didn’t have the energy for that tonight—or disappointed that she was going to be the poor single girl.

Turned out neither because Rachel then said, “No, the last seat is for Luke Long. Do you remember him?”

Elise’s answer was a groan of irritation. Oh, she remembered him all right. So did every other member of the student body—at least, those with ovaries. Girls’ IQs dropped when Luke was around. It almost made her embarrassed to be a member of the female sex.

Thankfully, Shelly and Joe walked up, so Rachel didn’t hear her response because Elise knew Sean and Luke had been good friends in college. Greetings were made, and Elise was reintroduced to the couple considering it had been a few years since she last saw them. They talked about Shelly’s ever-expanding belly. She was huge, but she still had seven weeks to go. Shelly was barely over five feet while Joe was a former football player and closer to six feet tall, and they joked about how she was going to have an enormous baby. Thankfully, the group’s joking had Elise almost forgetting all about the previous conversation.

When the door opened, she was sure she could feel a breeze all the way at the back of the room as Sean and Luke walked in. The two of them contrasted each other. Sean was blond and blue-eyed and only about five-eight while Luke was over six feet with thick dark brown hair and chocolate-brown eyes. Sean was showing Luke something on his phone, and Luke threw his head back and laughed, catching all the attention in the room. Elise swore she saw drool on a couple of ladies’ chins.

Barf.

To be fair, Luke wasn’t a horrible person, and she hadn’t seen him in years, since college, so he’d probably matured…hopefully. But, back in school, he’d been quite the man-slut. While he hadn’t been truly arrogant—she’d known some conceited assholes, and Luke had never been like that—he was gorgeous, and he knew it. Girls had practically thrown themselves at him, and he’d had no shame, sleeping his way through the female student body and leaving a trail of broken hearts.

Elise hadn’t been a saint. She’d had a few one-night stands and even a couple of exclusive friends with benefits, but she’d like to think she’d had some discretion. She certainly hadn’t slept with every guy who had hit on her.

Luke looked at one of the girls—probably ten years his junior—who was staring wide-eyed at him, and he winked at her.

Elise rolled her eyes. She might have given him too much credit on the maturing thing.

Luke and Sean reached their table, and she realized that she had watched them walk through the whole restaurant. God, she was such a hypocrite. Her only defense was that she didn’t have her tongue hanging out, and she’d never been dumb enough to hop into bed with Luke.

Sean leaned down and kissed Rachel before taking the seat across from her in the middle chair. Shelly and Joe were already sitting on opposite sides of the table, so all the girls were on one side, which only left the seat directly on the other side of Elise open.

Great. This was supposed to be a relaxing night out with friends. She really didn’t feel like being near King Flirt all evening.

It wasn’t that she thought she was some irresistible beauty. In fact, he probably didn’t even remember her. It was just that the Luke she remembered flirted with everyone who had a vagina.

Case in point, Luke walked over to Shelly and kissed her on the cheek. “Hey, gorgeous. How’s my baby doing?”

Everybody laughed, even Joe. Elise snorted.

“You wish, Luke,” Joe said.

Then, Luke kissed Rachel on the cheek. “Hey, beautiful. When are you going to leave that loser over there and marry me instead?”

“Never,” Rachel told him with a grin on her face. “But I’ll keep you in mind for when he kicks the bucket.”

“Hey!” Sean exclaimed. But he was laughing, too. “I’m never dying, woman. You’re stuck with me forever.”

Luke went around to his side of the table and sat down across from Elise.

Sean pointed to her as Elise held out her hand to shake. “Luke, I don’t know if you remember—”

“Elise Phillips,” Luke said as he met her eyes. Taking her hand, he kissed the back of it, his trademark cocky smile on his face. “Of course I remember her. How could I forget?”

Like she said, flirt.

Luke Long watched as Elise rolled her eyes, cupping the back of her hand where he’d kissed it, and he chuckled. He remembered that, back in college, it had always been easy to get a rise out of her, and it seemed things hadn’t changed very much.

He knew she thought he was a dog, but it wasn’t his fault that he liked sex and that women liked him. It wasn’t as if he forced ladies to sleep with him. In fact, he usually waited for them to proposition him, and Elise probably wouldn’t believe it, but he had said no a time or two.

But she had never been one of those girls. She’d never hit on him, and out of respect for his friendship with Sean, he’d never hit on her. Even though he knew she found him attractive. He’d seen the way she stared at him when he walked in the door today although she tried to hide it.

He always thought that one of the reasons she looked down on him so much was because there was unmistakable chemistry between them, and she hated it. While most girls had liked him back in college because he was a jock who played hockey, that hadn’t seemed to impress Elise. This had only made him want to goad her more. Maybe it was the ten-year-old boy in him.

He could acknowledge that he might go a little overboard on the flirting, but flirting was fun, and he might as well drive Elise nuts since he couldn’t sleep with her. Because, unlike her, he could admit he had wanted to—and apparently, still did.

She was pretty but not exceptionally beautiful, yet there was something about her. She was taller than most women, which he always liked since he was tall himself, and she was thin but not skinny. She had curves in all the right places, and she’d even filled out significantly more since college. She wasn’t too big or too small. Like in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, she was just right. She had long dark blonde hair and large green doe-eyes. And big red lips that the guys in college had labeled DSL—dick-sucking lips.

He snickered, just thinking about it, and Elise narrowed her eyes at him.

Ha.

If she knew what he had been reminiscing about, she’d probably deck him. It was a good thing he wasn’t going to tell her.

No, he wasn’t going to say anything, and he’d do his best not to torture her tonight. He knew from Sean that she’d recently found out about her father’s cancer, and she was busy moving and starting a new job. While Luke liked to provoke her, he’d like to think he wasn’t a total asshole.

Yep, tonight was going to be nothing more than just a bunch of friends hanging out.