It felt like I’d been punched in the stomach, and my throat was burning, as I watched Dillon walk out of the bar guiding a gorgeous brunette with his hand on the small of her back.

I always fooled myself into thinking it would get better, but it never failed to hurt anytime I saw Dillon with another woman. It didn’t matter if I was with someone else, or if I knew he was going to be somewhere with a date, it freaking killed each and every time.

“Would you like another, Laurel?” Shane, the bartender, asked. And not even the sexy cadence of his Australian accent eased the pain in my gut.

“Uh, yeah,” I began, tearing my eyes away from the now closed door to look at the devilishly handsome Aussie. His dirty-blonde hair had grown out quite a bit, making him look like the quintessential surfer. “How about another margarita and a shot of Patron on the side?”

“You got it,” Shane said with a wink.

Why can’t I forget about Dillon and go for Shane? I asked myself, leaning across the bar to get a better view of his ass. But, although it was magnificent, there was nothing there. No zip, zing, or tingle when I looked at Shane.

Sometimes his accent gave me a tingle, but it was nothing like the electric current I felt whenever I was around the boy who’d been in my dreams since elementary school.

“Whatchya gettin’?” Jasmine asked as she shoved in next to me.

Jasmine was my girl, my bestie, the person I told everything, even what an ass Travis had been. She’d tried to get me to leave him years ago, but I wouldn’t listen, always thinking I knew him better. But, I couldn’t tell her about my feelings for Dillon.

Once, when we were in high school, Karla Jenkins, a girl we’d been friends with for over a year, had come to Jasmine’s house and we’d found her kissing Dillon on the back porch. Jazzy had lost her mind and cut Karla out of her life. She’d said a friend should know better than to go after her brother, and had felt like Karla used her just to get close to Dillon.

I’d known then that I’d take the secret of my feelings for Dillon to the grave.

Jasmine was the most important person in my life, and there’s no way I’d do anything that could possibly make me lose her.

Luckily, it was a moot point, since Dillon didn’t even like me as a friend, let alone want to lock lips, or anything else, with me. So, my secret crush had remained just that, and I’d spent the years grateful to be Jasmine’s person, even as I longed for Dillon to look at me differently.

“Margarita with a Patron chaser,” I replied.

“Oh, that sounds good,” Jasmine said, then leaned against the bar and shouted, “Make that two,” at Shane, who shot a sexy grin at her.

“And what were you looking at?” Jasmine whispered, causing me to panic.

Thinking she’d seen me glaring daggers at Dillon and the brunette, I stuttered, but then she grinned, lifted an eyebrow, and tilted her head toward Shane.

“Oh,” I breathed, relieved. “I was checking out Shane’s ass.”

“How’d you like it?” Shane asked loudly, causing me to blush.

“Turn around,” Jazzy ordered, and when he complied, she announced, “Bite-able.”

“We can schedule a taste test whenever you’d like, beautiful.”

“Gah, he’s such a flirt,” Jasmine said, swinging her head toward me and wrinkling her nose.

“He’s totally into you, you should go for it,” I said, repeating this for probably the zillionth time.

Jasmine shook her head, as usual, and replied, “He’s too much of a player. Plus, he knows how hot he is, and what his accent does to us … I need someone who’s willing to put in a little work. It comes too easy for Shane.”

I sighed, wishing she could see the way he looked at her when she wasn’t paying attention. Then maybe Jasmine would realize that where she was concerned, he might be willing to put in the work.

“Here you go,” Shane said as he placed our drinks in front of us. His tone was still friendly, but I noticed that he was no longer grinning, and I worried that he’d heard what Jasmine said.

He was such a nice guy, I hated for him to have his feelings hurt.

“Thanks, Shane,” I said softly, and his lips lifted a fraction before he walked off to help someone else.

“To us, the hottest singles in Cherry Springs,” Jasmine said, raising her shot glass.

“To us,” I mimicked, then we both downed our shots.

The burn of tequila down my throat reminded me of the burn left by Dillon, so as soon as I slammed my shot glass on the bar, I said, “Another.”

“Really?” Jazzy asked, and when I nodded, said, “Gonna be one of those nights, huh?”

Shane put two more Patron shots in front of us, gave me what looked like a concerned look, which I promptly ignored, and walked away.

“To freedom,” I toasted. “Freedom to be who we want, live the way we want…”

“And, have sex with who we want,” Jasmine added with a laugh, then we kicked back the second shot.

“Another?” I asked, wanting to drown out all the reasons why I couldn’t have sex with who I wanted.

“Nah, let’s take our margaritas by the pool table and break some hearts.”

Thinking that sounded like a fantastic idea, and vowing that starting right then I’d put my feelings for Dillon in the past and move on to someone who actually wanted me, I said, “Let’s do it.”