I stared at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a pair of tight ripped jeans, a cute black top, and a pair of fuck-me heels. My hair was stick straight and my lips were cherry red.

I knew it was insanely stupid to say yes to a date offer when I really wasn’t interested in the guy, but he was cute and I needed to get out of my own head. I met him at the coffee shop when I ran out to get coffee for everyone at the shop.

He was so nice and slightly charming, and even though I had been doing nothing but obsess over Parker, I decided to say yes.

When the doorbell rang, I tried to get there before my brother, but I’m pretty sure he had been pacing the living room waiting for him. I was twenty-two years old, but my brother still acted like I still needed a protector.

When I got to the door, Josh looked a little scared and a lot ready to get out of there. I pushed Mason into the house as I stepped out onto the front porch.

Josh didn’t hug me in hello or let his eyes roam over my body. Instead, he watched the front door as he led me to his car.

As we walked into the restaurant, he seemed to finally breathe in relief.

“I’m sorry about my brother.” I laughed. “He’s a bit overprotective.”

“Just a bit.” He chuckled.

The server took our drink order, and Josh finally looked at me, his eyes jumping from my face to my chest.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I smiled. It was a little late, but I kept that to myself.

“So Liv, what do you do?”

“I’m a receptionist at Forbidden Ink. Do you have any tattoos?”

I took a sip of my sweet tea and watched him shake his head.

“No way. I can’t have any tattoos at my job.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a lawyer. No one wants someone to represent them that looks like a convict themselves.”

He laughed, but I didn’t.

“You don’t like tattoos?”

“No.” He shook his head again with a smile on his face. “You don’t have any do you?”

“I do.”

He straightened up at that.

“Oh. I haven’t seen one.”

You probably never will either. “It’s hidden.”

“See that I can deal with. If you can put on clothes and still look presentable, I think they are fine.”

I thought about what Parker would think about his words as they flowed from his lips, and if I were half as courageous as Parker, I probably would have said his thoughts out loud. But I wasn’t.

I nodded my head as Josh continued to talk. I wasn’t sure what Parker wanted from me anyways. He tracked my every movement with his eyes as I worked around the shop, but we still hadn’t spoken a word about our kiss.

Our drunken, idiotic kiss.

He was getting married in two weeks. Two fucking weeks, and I was sitting on the sidelines obsessing over a kiss. He probably thought it was a mistake. He was probably just worried that I would say something to Emily, but I would never do that to him.

As much as we had hurt each other in the past, I wanted to see him happy. Even if that meant he was with someone else.

“Do you want children, Liv?”

“Whoa. That escalated quickly.” I laughed, but Josh didn’t. “Yeah. I want kids.” I just wanted them to have striking green eyes and Parker’s sense of humor.

“Me too. I think I want four.”

I was thinking two, but I didn’t say that to him. I just nodded my head.

Our food arrived at the table and I was thankful for the distraction.

We chatted as we ate. The topics were much less serious, and I finally started to relax.

Josh liked to hike which was something that I thought I might enjoy.

I told him how much I loved the lake, and he told me that he preferred the beach.

My phone vibrated in my lap, and I looked down at my text.

---

Staci: How’s the date going?

---

It’s going.

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Staci: Well that sounds tantalizing. We’re going out for drinks later. Bow out of the date earlier and come with!

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Okay. Let me see what I can do.

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Staci: 911 text me if you need help!

---

“Is everything okay?” Josh asked as he handed the server his card.

“Yeah. Sorry. It’s just my best friend.”

“Is this a 911 text?” He chuckled and guilt filled me.

“No. She actually wanted to know if we wanted to meet her and some of my other friends out for a drink. Would you be interested?”

“Sure.” He smiled, and I tried to make myself feel something. I knew it was insane to think the curve of someone’s lips could make you fall for them, but I had done it before. I stared at Josh’s smile, the edges of his lips perfectly symmetrical, and I longed for something a little less perfect. I craved the small dimple on Parker’s right cheek as his smile lifted higher on that side, and I felt anxious to feel his bottom lip that was just slightly fuller than the top one between my teeth.

But that smile didn’t belong to me, and I needed to do myself a favor and remember that.