Sloane blamed the shots.

It was the only reason she could think of to explain how she wound up on stage with Rick and the other guys dancing among their bare chests and grinding hips.

They were her old friends. Buddies. It was no big deal. Not sexual at all.

And God, it was fun. She had a buzz, but she wasn’t loaded and it felt so damn good just to dance and to laugh and to let go.

When was the last time she had let go?

It was a total relief to just move her hips to the pulsing pop music and not worry about anything.

She hadn’t intended to drink anymore but Brandon had egged her on. Besides, she never did this. Tom hadn’t liked to go out to clubs or bars and she only occasionally had a glass of wine. Being here, at Tap That, where she’d spent hours and hours as a kid when her father was the sole owner, was like coming home to a place where she was more confident. On surer footing.

It was tantalizing.

A glance over to the bar showed her father was actually grinning in approval. He had given her a shot willingly and had kissed her cheek and said he was glad she was having fun on her birthday. He’d been worried about her, that was obvious. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was give her father more to worry about. She knew he was stressed out about Sullivan. And her, because she had said very little about the end of her marriage other than insist she was fine. Her dad was too young to have such a weariness on his face. The man wasn’t even fifty yet and he had the weight of the world on him.

But, thanks to old friends, encouragement from Rick, and a little tequila, Sloane was having a great time. She genuinely was.

Jesse took her hand and spun her around. Given how uncoordinated he was, they ended up colliding into each other and Sloane laughed.

The only person who didn’t seem to be amused with the evening was Sullivan. He was standing next to Lilly, arms crossed over his chest, a sour look on his face. He kept sipping off a glass of whisky, though Sloane couldn’t gauge how much he’d consumed over the night. He didn’t appear drunk, but he didn’t appear even remotely pleased by anything that was happening.

In their youth, Sullivan had always been a jovial guy, full of practical jokes and annoying brotherly traits. Stubborn, yes. Bossy, too, especially given he was younger. But not sour. This was new. Since he’d lost Kendra. It was like he’d forgotten how to have fun. Understandable that he might be quiet, but not so… cold.

He didn’t even react when Lilly lifted her mic and turned it on to give a hearty, “Happy Birthday to a Tap That family member, Sloane O’Toole! Enjoy your big 3-0, beautiful!”

Sloane blew Lilly a kiss and mouthed “thank you” to her.

She realized that if she had stayed in Minneapolis it wouldn’t have gone down this way. She didn’t have a lot of close friends in the city, having spent more of her time with animals at the shelter she volunteered at than humans. Most of their circle of friends had been Tom’s age, at least ten years older, with kids. She hadn’t bonded with a whole lot of those women and her only real friend had been her next-door neighbor.

This was not what she would consider an ideal birthday, but the amusing reality was that aside from Becca and Emily, Little Dickie was the bright spot. He was the same as he’d been in school in that he was nice, attentive, easy-going. But unlike then Rick was not sheepish now. He was fully in control and a mischievous, wicked flirt. He was dancing behind her and Sloane almost jumped out of her skin when he pinched her at her waist, just high enough as to not be dirty, but still intimately. She turned and opened her eyes wide in question.

“What are you doing?” she yelled over the music.

“A pinch to grow an inch,” he said.

“I don’t need any help, thanks. I’m almost six feet tall.”

Rick’s eyebrows rose. “Six feet of sexy.”

Sloane rolled her eyes, even as she felt a spark deep inside her inner thighs. “I can’t believe those lines work for you.”

“You’d be surprised what works.”

She probably wouldn’t be. Rick was hot. There was no denying it. That smile was dirty and dangerous. She could see how women would be perfectly aware they were just going to be a notch on his bedpost and they would go for it anyway. Rick seemed built for casual sex. Confident, muscular. Well-endowed from what she heard and could see in his briefs.

But Sloane had been with Tom most of her adult life. She was sorely lacking in the casual sex department.

Rick might not be the man to start with. He was way out of her league in that regard.

Which was hugely ironic.

Then again, maybe he was the perfect man to start with. It wouldn’t get messy or be awkward. She knew Rick and she trusted him. Word around town was he made the ladies happy. Plus, though she would never, ever admit it to him, she had enjoyed kissing him all those years ago. So much that she had gotten flustered wondering what was so different because usually Nick didn’t make her feel so… warm in various places. She had gone to bed that night desperately curious to understand why Dickie’s lips had done things to her Nick’s never had.

So why not kiss him now?

Fresh start.

New beginning at thirty.

Let her past and present collide.

Give Rick his kiss part two and see what happened.

It was that thought that had her jumping down off the stage and heading straight to the table where Becca, Josh, and Emily were. Slipping into her chair, she took a sip of her cocktail. “Give me Rick’s number.” One of them had to have it.

“What? Why?” Becca looked horrified.

Emily grinned and pulled out her phone. “Go for it, Sloane. Time to get back on the horse.”

“This might not be a good idea,” Becca protested. “Are you really ready to handle a notorious manwhore?”

Sloane was determined to try. Wasn’t that the point? “Please. I can handle Little Dickie. I had him wrapped around my finger in high school.”

Life was too short. Kendra’s death had shown her that. She’d spent a decade sleepwalking her way through her life… and for what purpose? She was done. Grab the bull by the horns and all of that.

Emily shared Rick’s contact information with her. She clicked on it and typed him a new text message.

Fine, prove it. Kiss me again and let’s see what happens.

Then she hit send before she could change her mind.

“Girl, you’re playing with fire,” Becca said, when Sloane showed her the text.

Without bothering to respond, she grabbed Becca by the arm. “Let’s dance.” She wasn’t going to go back up on stage, but there was a dance floor in front of the stage and other women had started dancing and having fun up there. She wanted a piece of that.

An hour later she was sweaty and laughing, most of her buzz worn off. Rick hadn’t replied to her text but to be fair, he was only in his mechanic’s jumpsuit, half unzipped. She couldn’t imagine that bulge in his pants was his phone. She hoped not anyway.

When Emily suggested it might be time to leave, Sloane was ironically resistant.

She’d just started to have cut loose and suddenly everyone wanted to abandon ship?

“You go ahead,” she yelled over the music to Emily, who looked like she was exhausted. “It’s still early.”

“It’s actually one in the morning.”

Perfect. No longer her birthday. She had endured it. Moved past it. There was nothing to fear now. She was thirty and divorced and had moved back home.

“I’m not ready to go. Don’t worry about it, Em. You and Becca can leave. I’ll be fine. My father and my brother are here, remember?”

That seemed to reassure both of them. “Text me when you get home,” Becca said. “And happy birthday again.”

There were hugs and Sloane got a little gushy and teary-eyed. “I love you guys. Thank you for making my birthday special.”

Emily laughed. “Wow. You are drunk.”

“Nope. Not so. Not true. Hardly at all.” Okay, maybe a little, but the dancing and two glasses of water had definitely helped.

They waved and fought their way through the still packed dance floor. The charity event had clearly been a huge success. Sullivan and her dad were planning to donate all drink sales plus the cover tickets to breast cancer research. Kendra would have thought the whole night highly entertaining and that made Sloane happy.

The night was ending way better than it had started.

It could end even better if Rick would answer her text.

Pushing her hair back off her forehead she went over to the bar and asked Sullivan for a water. “Where’s Dad? I need a ride home.”

He eyed her. “You’ll have to wait until after we close up.”

“No problem, I can wait. I’m ready to close this place down.”

Sullivan managed to crack a smile. “Okay, then. I’m glad you’re having a good birthday, sis. But do me a favor.”

“What’s that?”

He shook his head. “Don’t have sex with Rick. It’s not a good move for you.”

She was annoyed. Mostly because she really wanted to have sex with Rick and that her brother knew that fact was irritating. Also, because he thought he had the right to an opinion over her love life. “Who I have sex with is none of your business whatsoever.”

“It’s my business because I care about you, and Rick is one of my oldest friends. He’s been with a lot of women. And you just lost Tom.”

That made her snort. “I didn’t lose Tom. That makes it sound like I misplaced him at Walmart. We got divorced.”

“Which makes you not in a good head space right now.”

“My head is fine. The divorce was a good thing. Trust me.” Because Tom had cheated on her and they had both married for the wrong reasons.

“You shouldn’t be hooking up right now.”

“Oh, really? Because I hear you are hooking up left, right, and center.” Sloane was pissed. How dare he? Emily and Becca had given her the scoop. Sullivan’s way of grieving might be the most classically male way—by dipping his wick wherever, whenever in some messed up quest to forget his reality.

Sullivan threw down the rag he’s been holding. “That’s none of your business.”

Had he really just said that? Sloane felt like her head might explode. Siblings were so annoying. “Precisely! Have I said one freaking word to you about it? No. So stay out of my bed and I’ll stay out of yours.” She was annoyed that he couldn’t just be chill on her birthday. “And forget about me waiting for Dad. I’ll take a car service, Sullivan Double Standards O’Toole.”

“Sloane.”

With that she whirled around and found her face to face with Rick. “Did you want to share a ride?” he asked. He was back in his jumpsuit and it was fully zipped up now. He looked like he was ready to leave.

Her insides fluttered, just a little bit. Damn, he was sexy. Perfect plan. “Sure. Thanks, Rick. Are you leaving now?”

“Yep. Just need to close out my tab. Sullivan, what’s the damage?”

“It’s on the house,” Sullivan said. “For being willing to make such a giant ass out of yourself for Lilly’s crazy idea.”

“Thanks, bro. I actually had fun, not going to lie.” He gave Sloane a smile. “If it wasn’t for tonight I wouldn’t know my moves have moves.”

That made her laugh. “You are unbelievable. I’m going to grab my purse. I left it on the table.”

“Don’t touch my sister,” Sullivan told Rick, without even waiting for her to be out of earshot. “Seriously, dude. Don’t even think about it.”

“Sullivan!” Sloane wanted to climb over the bar and arm wrestle him. That had solved everything when they were kids. “Stop it!”

“Your sister is a big girl,” Rick said mildly. “I think it’s up to her who touches her or doesn’t.”

Sullivan made a move like he was coming out from behind the bar.

“Knock it off!” she said, mildly alarmed. “No one is touching anyone!”

Well. She hoped there might be touching, but she didn’t know truthfully where Rick stood on that subject, and Sullivan’s opinion didn’t matter.

She saw Lilly approaching the bar and was grateful for the distraction from her brother’s sudden need to defend her virtue. He was about a decade too late on that. Besides, she had a feeling it was more of a selfish thing than concern for her. He didn’t want her hooking up with his friend. If it was some random guy she suspected he wouldn’t care nearly as much. “Lilly, you need a ride? Rick and I are sharing an Uber.”

“Lilly doesn’t need a ride,” Sullivan said. “I always drive her home.”

Geez Louise, Sullivan was being a jerk tonight.

“Lilly doesn’t need you to speak for her.” Sloane would give him a pass due to the circumstances of the night, but that didn’t mean she was going to let him bully Lilly.

“Actually, yes, I’d love to go with you guys. I’m beat.” She gave Sloane a rueful look. “Herding these guys was no easy task.”

“Hey. I take exception at that,” Rick said, though he didn’t sound even remotely offended.

“I’ll take you home, Lilly,” Sullivan said, his tone hard.

Sloane sighed. Either Sullivan was drunk, just better at hiding it than she was, or he was in a really bad place. She was going to text their father that he needed to drive Sullivan home. Or maybe, she needed to go home with him. Maybe he needed to talk, to vent, to yell. “Sullivan, relax. Do you want me to wait and hang out with you? We can talk about… stuff. Or whatever.”

Damn, that sounded awkward. But they were not a feelings family. They avoided emotion like the plague, always had since her mother had died. They joked, they picked on each other, they exploded. Then pretended it hadn’t happened. It was their dad’s coping mechanism and they had picked it up right along with him.

She wasn’t surprised when Sullivan snorted. “Do I look like I want to talk? Do you want to talk?”

She thought about her reaction when he had tried to bring up Tom and winced. Yeah. O’Tooles didn’t do feelings.

“I thought so.” He turned to Lilly. “Do you want a ride or not?”

Lilly’s cheeks were flushed. “No thanks. I appreciate it, but I’m tired.”

“Whatever then.” He stomped off.

Like actually stomped off. “What the hell was that?” Sloane murmured. She’d seen him the last few days and while grumpy as hell he hadn’t been this aggressive. Though she knew this night had to have kicked up some bad feelings.

Lilly looked embarrassed. “I shouldn’t have pushed this charity event. I think it was too much, too soon.”

“I don’t know,” Rick said. “He could have said no to the whole thing and he didn’t. He’ll be okay. He just needs to be a dick sometimes when he’s upset.”

That made Sloane roll her eyes hard. “Nice excuse aka justification.”

Rick just shrugged. “I am a sympathetic guy, what can I say?”

Sloane eyed Rick, curious and a little amused. She could see shades of Little Dickie still in him. The nice guy. The easy temperament.

“Okay, who’s calling a car? I think the party is over.” She was ready to leave whatever the hell that had been with her brother behind at the bar. He had every reason to be a buzzkill and he was certainly taking advantage of that but it was the wee hours of her birthday. She wanted to forget, not worry about Sullivan.

“On it,” Rick said, pulling out his phone.

Sloane realized instantly there was no way he either hadn’t seen her text earlier or wasn’t seeing it now. It would be right on his screen, screaming out to him that she wanted to kiss him. But he just glanced at his phone before swiping the screen and opening the app.

“We’re waiting for a black Toyota Camry.”

They went outside to wait and Sloane studiously ignored both Rick’s bike and the man himself. She would have to call her insurance the next day, despite what he had said earlier. But the real cause for her awkwardness was he was not saying a damn word about her text. Had she forgotten how to read signals from single guys? No. That was stupid. He had asked her to hang out. Teased her about a sleepover. The kiss.

She refused to regret her impulsive action.

Lilly jumped into the front passenger seat, which left Sloane climbing into the back seat with Rick. He smiled at her and reached over and gave her knee a squeeze. She didn’t know how to interpret that. That was a promising sign, right? She’d been out of the flirting game for a long time.

As far as she was concerned the ball was in Rick’s court because she’d thrown it out there. She kind of hated that though. She’d always gone after what she had wanted and now she was being so tentative. Ugh.

Ignoring Rick while she tried to find her mojo, she asked Lilly, “Where do you live? I’m in the apartments on Main over the pet grooming salon and the auto shop.” Which reminded her. That had to be Rick’s shop. How many auto body shops were there in Beaver Bend? It was directly underneath her, in the same building. He would be working there while she would be working at the pet salon right next door. The thought made her more excited than it should. Honestly, she hadn’t been this excited since Netflix started dropping full seasons of hit shows at once.

“Oh, God, I’m way out in the boonies,” Lilly said. “We should drop you and Rick off first then.”

“Where do you live?” she asked Rick.

“Really close to you.”

That meant she was likely to be running into him all over town on a regular basis. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. She was leaning toward good.

“How cool,” Lilly said. “You can borrow a cup of sugar whenever.” She rattled off her address to the driver.

“Lilly, we’ll ride out with you,” Rick said in a firm voice.

He gave Sloane a look that she interpreted to mean that he wasn’t cool with Lilly riding out into the country at night with a total stranger, hired car service or not. Sloane had to agree. “Exactly.”

Except that it was a long ride and Rick’s hand was back on her knee. Like a big torturous oddity that was both disconcerting and arousing. He had very large hands. The weight wasn’t light. It was solid, heavy. Manly. What could he do with those hands?

Sloane wanted desperately to squirm but at the same time wanted to be so damn cool that she gave the appearance of being completely unaffected. Nor did she want Lilly to have any sort of opinion about it, either positive or negative. Lilly was chatting away about the upcoming Fish Festival, a Beaver Bend tradition in late August. Sloane had always thought everything “small town” was so cheesy. Funny what a few years could do to change your perspective.

Rick was moving his thumb up and down in what was now a caress of her thigh, just above the knee in a way that made her all too aware of how long it had been since her thigh had been touched. Or anything north of her knees. Or any of her. Rick’s hand was callused from his career choice and it created a hot friction. Back and forth he stroked her in a way that made her want to moan out loud. She could hardly concentrate on Lilly’s conversation.

The second Lilly got out of the car and they watched her go into her ranch house, Sloane turned to Rick. He was driving her crazy and she couldn’t keep quiet another minute. “Are you scared of the dark?”

He looked genuinely confused. “What? No. Why?”

“Because you seem like you’re scared and need to hold on to something.” She looked pointedly at his hand on her leg.

Rick laughed and it was a low, seductive sound that made her shiver. “Trust me. I’m not touching you because I’m afraid. And I’m pretty damn sure you know that.” He leaned closer to her, his shoulder brushing hers. “Hey, Sloane?”

Her mouth went dry. She was very aware of the driver in the front seat, a seemingly nice man in his fifties who was studiously ignoring them. “Yes?”

Rick was eyeing her intently, his gaze dropping down to her lips.

His jaw was chiseled, his brow strong. His eyes, which she had never once made note of in high school, were an intriguing green. He leaned in even closer so that his breath tickled her cheek. Sloane shivered.

Rick murmured in her ear. “I’m going to prove it to you so long and sexy and hot that you won’t have any doubts.”

Wow. Her nipples instantly went hard and she pulled in a deep breath. She knew what he meant. “Oh, really?” she asked. “And when is this going to happen?” Her whole body felt warm, liquid, and it wasn’t the tequila. It was anticipation and desire.

“As soon as we get to your place.”

Yep. There it was. She cheered herself for sending that text. She wanted to kiss Little Dickie. The irony of that was not lost on her. She pulled back slightly so she could give him a smile. It had been a long time since she’d felt this sassy. It was welcoming an old friend back home. “Are we taking bets? Vegas odds?”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “What’s the fun in betting on a sure thing?”

Oh, he was smooth. She’d give him that.

He jerked his thumb behind him. “And look, we’re here.”

It almost felt prophetic. “Yes. We are.”