“One more round of shots,” I said as I pulled a premium bottle of tequila down from the top shelf behind the bar. Ryan protested loudly, and I shot him a dark look over my shoulder. “Don’t be a party pooper. Come on. One more. Rosie, what do you say?”

Rosie, who had indulged enough in the alcohol that she was dancing by herself behind the barstools, nodded enthusiastically at my offer. “Everyone knows I’ll never say no to shots.”

The music was blaring. I felt fucking great. My body was light from the booze, and I was amongst great company. Zach was laughing his ass off at Rosie as she spun in drunken circles and then threw her arms out to her sides to regain her balance before spinning again. Ryan was laughing too, but his protective side had come out, and he was trying to stop the rest of us from drinking more.

“Zach, another shot?” I offered.

He nodded, only half looking at me. Rosie had all of his attention. “Do your worst, Jo.”

I poured three large shot glasses to the brim with tequila. “Come on, you guys. Gather around. Let’s do this right.”

All three of them clustered around the bar. I asked for their hands and rubbed a lime wedge on the backs of their hands. Zach arched an eyebrow and asked why I was lathering them in lime juice.

“Just be patient,” I said. Then I sprinkled salt on them, which stuck to the stickiness the lime left. “Tricks of the trade.” I grinned.

I passed out a fresh lime wedge to everyone, and when we were ready, we licked the backs of our hands and took the shot. Then, grimacing and wincing as the liquor made its way to our stomachs, we sucked on our limes.

“Holy Hell,” Ryan muttered. His lips puckered from the sourness, and his eyes squinted from the shot. “That one kicked me right in the balls.”

Rosie giggled and stacked the shot glasses. “It’s delicious!”

“You’re insane,” Ryan said flatly.

Then she took his hand and pulled him up on the dance floor. “Turn the lights down and get the dance floor going, Jo!” she hollered as she started dancing to the upbeat country song blasting through the speakers.

I did as she asked. I turned down the house lights and flicked on the dance floor lights. When I turned back to the bar, Zach was smiling at me.

“Yes?” I asked.

He tipped his head in Ryan and Rosie’s direction. “You were right about the little push.”

“I’m always right,” I stated.

“Would you like to join them up there, little Miss Humble?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” I beamed, rushing around the bar to grab his hand as he slid off his stool. We hopped up the steps to join my brother and best friend. Rosie draped her arms over our shoulders, and the four of us danced in a circle, smiling and laughing like fools, living in the moment.

Then we broke apart, and Zach led me through a lively swing dance routine. I threw my head back and laughed when he dipped me. He yanked me back up and sent me twirling away from him. My hair fanned out all around me, and he caught me by the tip of my fingers before I spun too far. Our arms were fully extended when he pulled me back to him, curling me into his side.

We danced that way for a little while, our hips swaying from side to side, my cheek pressed to his shoulder, as Rosie and Ryan tried to mimic us. It was pitiful, but neither Zach nor I said anything. Instead, we watched in mutual humor. Both of us were probably making a mental note to make fun of the two of them when we had a moment alone.

Zach put his finger under my chin and lifted my face to him. I smiled at him. God, he was perfect in every sense of the word. My heart felt so warm and full as I stared into his hazel eyes. He closed the gap between us and kissed me deeply. Our hips continued to sway, and I could hear Rosie gushing over our sweet moment.

It ended when the music picked up and Zach twirled me again. This time, he walked around me as I spun. He grabbed my lower back and dipped me again. Instinctively, I hooked my leg around his to hold myself up.

“You’re really getting the hang of this,” Zach called over the music.

“I’ve had a good teacher,” I yelled back.

We danced the next hour away, all four of us acting like idiots on the dance floor. I hadn’t had so much fun in ages. I was free. I was happy.

Rosie and Ryan looked as happy as I felt. Despite their terrible coordination on the dance floor and complete lack of rhythm, they were giving it everything they had. They were laughing constantly. The music was too loud for me to hear them, but I could see how overjoyed my brother was. I wondered how long he had been holding off from asking Rosie out.

I knew Rosie was equally thrilled. She’d had the hots for my brother ever since the first day she met him, which was her first day at work. She didn’t know at the time that he was my brother, and she talked about him like he was an appetizing piece of steak on a plate that she wanted to lather in peppercorn sauce and devour. After I told her he was my brother, she’d been horrified and apologized profusely for being inappropriate. I’d laughed my ass off because I thought the whole thing was hilarious.

Then I’d watched them walk on eggshells around each other for years. They would both date other people, and neither of them was ever single at the same time until about six months ago. Then they’d both stopped dating. I’d tried to push them together, but neither of them seemed willing to go all in.

Until now. Maybe since seeing how happy Zach and I were together, they decided they wanted the same thing. They sure as hell deserved it. They were my favorite people in the world—besides Sam, Zach, and my dad.

I could have watched the two of them dance for hours longer.

But after two o’clock in the morning rolled around, our energy started to die down. Zach went to the bar and poured all of us a tall glass of water. He called us over and made me and Rosie finish ours. He was less insistent with Ryan, who, always the health nut, finished his glass first. Zach turned off the music and the dance floor lights before turning on the house lights. Then he called us a cab.

“They’ll be here in twenty,” Zach said after he got off the phone.

Rosie stumbled behind the bar to grab a bag of chips. She tore it open and popped one into her mouth, then nodded toward the front door. “You guys feel like waiting outside? I could really do with some fresh air.”

I nodded. “Fresh air sounds amazing.”

Zach pushed another full glass of water into my hands. “Can you drink this first? I don’t want you to be dehydrated.”

I eyed him and smirked. “Yes, Mom.”

He then looked at Ryan, who nodded, and poured another glass for Rosie. She didn’t need to be told to drink. She drank it quickly and slammed it on the counter. “Okay, come on. Let’s go.”

I chugged mine and left it on the counter too. There would be a small clean up to be done in the afternoon when I came in to open, which was perfectly fine.

I had a dream of opening early for breakfast on weekends, so nights like this would still be possible, we would just have to make sure we cleaned up after ourselves.

I hop-skipped along beside Rosie to the front doors and unlocked them. We spilled out onto the porch that wrapped around the outside of the pub, and I fumbled to lock the doors up behind us. Zach hovered over my shoulder and chuckled at how useless I was. “Here,” he said, resting a hand on mine and taking the keys from me. “Let me help you with that.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled, my lips feeling a little numb. Damn all that tequila. I was going to have a fat head in the morning. Maybe. Hopefully, all the water would help. I hiccupped and then giggled. I leaned back into Zach, and he put his hands on my hips after dropping my keys into his pocket. He kissed my cheek, and I rested my head on his shoulder. “I think I’m a little drunk.”

“You think?” He laughed. His breath on the back of my neck had me feeling all kinds of ways. So, in drunken Jo fashion, I wiggled my ass against his crotch.

“Your brother is right here,” Zach breathed in my ear.

I giggled again. “Make me stop.”

He tightened his grip on my hips and bit my earlobe. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to press you up against this door and ravage you right in front of him. Do you want that?”

“No,” I gasped, giving in to another fit of giggles as he patted my ass.

“Good girl. Now come on. Let’s go sit with our friends until the cab shows up.”

“Uh, Zach?” It was Ryan’s voice. He sounded unsure. Worried.

Zach and I both turned around. Ryan and Rosie were standing at the top of the stairs with their backs to us. I noticed the way my brother was holding himself. He was tense. His hands were balled into fists at his sides. Rosie inched closer to him and wrapped her hands around his forearm.

Zach moved away from me, and I followed hot on his heels. He came to a stop at the top of the stairs beside Ryan, and I bumped into his shoulder.

I glanced up at him. His expression was hard. His jaw was tight. I followed the line of his angry stare down the steps to the parking lot where I saw the cause of all this sudden tension.

Brett was standing about twenty feet away from the bottom of the stairs. He was dressed like he always was, in pale blue jeans, dirty work boots, and a white shirt with stains all over the front of it. He had a leather jacket on, and his hands were in the pockets.

He was flanked on either side by four guys. My drunken mind came to a grinding halt as I tried to calculate those numbers in my head.

Three against two without us girls.

I swallowed. My knees were suddenly weak, and there was a ringing in my ears. Now I really loathed the tequila racing through my system.

“What the hell are you doing here, Brett?” Ryan was the first to speak.

Brett grinned up at us. At least, I think it was a grin. It was more of a wicked peeling of lips off teeth. “I’m here to even the score,” he growled. I’d forgotten how mean he could sound when he wanted to. He sounded like a snake—if snakes could speak.

“Go home,” I said, taking a step forward. Zach’s arm came out in front of me, and he pushed me a step back. I glanced up at him, but he didn’t look over at me. So I stayed where I was, peering around him at Brett and his goon squad down below. “There’s no score to settle. The fight was fair. One on one.”

“It’s not about fair.” Brett chuckled.

“Obviously,” Zach muttered. “You brought backup this time. Afraid of getting pounded into the pavement again, little boy?”

I blinked up at Zach. This was no way to resolve a problem. This was a way to light a fire under Brett’s ass and guarantee a fight.

Ryan, surprisingly, started chuckling. “I’m not surprised, Brett. You always were a pathetic piece of shit. I’ve been waiting a long time for you to do something stupid like this.”

“Can we not do this?” I hissed at them.

“They came all the way here for this, Jo,” Zach said, still not taking his eyes off the threat in front of him. “They’re here to fight, not to talk. You keep Rosie up here. We won’t let any of them up the steps.”

“I don’t think that’s a promise you can make,” I said, fear helping to sober me up.

Ryan pushed Rosie behind him, and she gave me a wide-eyed, terrified look. “Jo,” she said slowly. “I don’t like this.”

“Call the police,” I said.

“No,” Zach said firmly. “We can handle this, right, Ryan?”

“Hell yeah, we can.”

“No, I think we should—” I started to talk, but Zach cut me off.

“No cops. They’ll ruin the fun.”

“Fun?” Rosie blinked, looking from the men to me. “What about this is going to be fun?”

“All of it,” Zach growled.