“Why not? I’m really good—”
“Beer me, Carter.” Nick Scott paused at the kitchen entry, his hand open, ready to catch the bottle his cousin tossed him. His fingers closed around it with a casual ease as he tipped his chin toward Regan. “Hey Regan—you okay? Sounded like you were going to choke up a lung.”
“Great,” she laughed softly. “Hope I didn’t scare anyone.”
With a quick grin, he twisted the cap off the bottle, flicked it back at Carter, and disappeared into the crowded living room. When Regan turned around, Carter was watching her, his gaze warm, if a little uncertain.
“What?”
His right shoulder lifted slowly. “Just never seen eyes as pretty as yours. They’re—”
Regan’s snort stopped whatever else he was about to say.
“Oh, puh-lease. My eyes?” She took a sip of her beer and sighed as a growing wave of disappointment washed over her. What did he think, that she was one of those barely-of-age bimbos who fell for crap like that? “Save your cheesy little lines for someone else, Carter. They won’t work on me.”
Without a glance back, she took her bottle and started toward the living room. Most of the guests were regulars around Nick and Jayne’s place, but it didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out why Jayne had maneuvered Maya over by Bachelor Number One, or why the only empty seat in the room was next to Bachelor Number Two.
No thank you.
Regan stayed where she was, leaning against the door frame, listening to Nick and his friend, Brett, rib each other. It was impossible to concentrate on what they were saying, though, because all she could hear was Carter’s quiet footsteps coming up behind her.
“It wasn’t a line,” he murmured. “But I bet I’ve got one or two that’d work on you.” His voice was barely a breath against the curve of her ear, and though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was smirking at her. “Is it hot in here or is it just you?”
“Seriously?” She wouldn’t smile. She wouldn’t. Okay, maybe she would. “The ‘pretty eyes’ one was better than that.”
“Gimme a second, I’m just warming up. How about this one: if you were a transformer, you’d be a hot-obot and your name would be Optimus Fine.”
“Oh my—” Regan snorted, laughed right out loud, and eyed him over her shoulder. “You’re just embarrassing yourself.”
“Come on, that’s a good one!” His shoulder brushed against her back as he leaned closer, so close she could feel the heat from his skin against her neck as he twirled the ends of her hair around his finger. “What if I told you, straight up, that I just really want to kiss you right now?”
“Oh.” Better. The long rippling shiver caught her by surprise as it raced down the length of her spine, then back up again when he rubbed her hair between his fingers.
“That’s some kinda red.” His voice was so low she had to strain to hear him. “Looks good down.”
It took two tries to get her tongue to work. “Thank you, I know a good stylist.”
“Yeah?” A slow inhale behind her, then he chuckled quietly. “The last one I had told me I looked like shit.”
“I never said that!” Regan choked as she turned to look at him, but he kept his gaze fixed on her hair, or rather, the way he’d wound it around his finger.
“Regan!” Jayne’s voice took a second to settle in Regan’s ear, and when she finally looked over, Jayne was flagging her from the other side of the room, motioning toward the empty spot beside Number Two. The strain in her voice and the tightness of her jaw was weird enough, but her ice-blue glare shot straight past Regan to Carter, who appeared completely oblivious.
Regan had no interest in being set up with either of the bachelors, but she couldn’t just ignore Jayne. She needed an excuse, and by the looks of it, so did Maya.
With a bright smile, Regan neither nodded nor shook her head. Instead, she pointed toward the long oak table covered in food.
“I’m just going to grab something to eat. Maya, can I get you anything?”
“I’ll come with you.” Maya met her halfway across the room and together they moved around the table with the speed of cooled molasses, picking up a little of this, a little of that.
“So, you and Carter.” Maya kept her head down, pretending to focus on the fondue, but Regan saw her friend’s gaze wander Carter’s way. “How long’s that been going on?”
“There is no ‘me and Carter.’ ” Regan muttered, moving closer to Maya. “This is the first time I’ve seen him since Jayne’s wedding.”
“Well, call me crazy,” Maya whispered. “But it looks to me like he wants to see more of you. And I mean that literally and figuratively.”
Regan couldn’t stop the soft snort that escaped. “Even if I was looking to hook up with someone, which I’m not, I think we can all agree he’s probably not the best choice.”
“Why not?” Maya stood straight up and stared back at her. “He’s hot!”
“Shh! How about the fact he’s Jayne’s cousin and that’d be just…weird.”
“Cousin-in-law.”
“Same thing. And how about the fact I need to focus on finding a job and not on trying to keep some guy happy?”
Maya waved her hand dismissively. “Focus shmokus. I’m not talking about a commitment—God knows the word alone is enough to give you a coronary—all I’m talking about is a distraction. And Carter would be perfect.”
“You can’t be serious.” She nudged Maya a little farther down the table. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s hot and all, but…Carter?”
“Uh, yeah!” Maya’s voice was little more than a tight growl. “You’ll have a good time, he’ll have a good time, you’ll both have some amazing sex, and then you’ll both move on, no harm, no foul. It’s not like he’ll care; he’ll just go find someone else. It’s what he does.”
Well, that was true. “Yeah, but—”
“But nothing. If anyone deserves a little distraction, it’s you, and at least with Carter, you know what you’re getting; he’s not going to hang all over you like Todd did, he’s not going to expect a lifetime commitment, and it’ll be good for him, too, because when it ends, he won’t have to deal with some whining sniveling bimbo who thought she’d get a ring out of him.” Maya cast a quick glance at Carter, then raised her brow at Regan. “Sounds like a win-win to me.”
Maybe Maya was right; maybe a distraction was exactly what Regan needed to help take her mind off losing her salon and facing the fact that unless she won LottoMax in the near future, her mom’s time at Hillcrest was coming to a rapid end.
Then again, maybe they’d both just had too much to drink. Shaking the idea from her mind, Regan elbowed Maya and tipped her head toward the living room.
“What about you and Bachelor Number One?” she whispered. “Anything?”
“Meh.” Maya popped a cherry tomato into her mouth, then proceeded to try and talk around it. “He’s okay. Better than Number Two.”
“Maya. Just because your bastard cheating ex is a teacher, and a proven dickhead, doesn’t mean all teachers are dickheads.”
“Yeah, well, you know what they say about one bad apple.” Maya added another tomato to her plate and grinned. “See what I did there? Teachers, apples.”
“Hilarious,” Regan groaned. “Too bad Ellie’s not here, Jayne could’ve tried to hook her up with one of them.”
“Better one of them than Brett.”
“Ha! Not even Jayne would try to hook Ellie up with a cop, especially the one whose signature is on about ninety-five percent of her speeding tickets.”
“I don’t know,” Maya said, setting a spring roll on her plate. “Jayne’s pretty determined to get us all married off now that she’s become the poster child for happy endings.”
“I know,” Regan groaned. “Maybe we should hop on a plane and go join Ellie; she’d protect us.”
“I’d love to, but I don’t even have a passport.”
“Really? Mine has a grand total o
f one stamp in it.”
“Where did you go?” Maya’s eyes widened. “Venice? Scotland? Ohmygod, I’ve always wanted to—”
“Seattle.”
“Seattle?” Maya couldn’t have looked less impressed.
“The continental U.S. doesn’t count.” Carter’s voice startled Regan, tickling against her ear, but at least she was able to stop the shiver before it racked her entire spine again. “That’s like saying you’re going out for dinner when all you’re really doing is going next door for a barbecue.”
He flashed a quick smile at Maya then immediately focused back on Regan, who took another step away from him and tried her damndest to appear unaffected as she lifted a mini–shrimp quiche in Maya’s direction.
“Want one?”
Maya stared back at her with disbelief before a slow smirk worked its way over her mouth. Lifting her brow, she shook her head slowly. “Uh, no thanks. I’d like to live to see tomorrow if you don’t mind.”
Even before Maya finished, Regan realized what she’d done. One bite of that shrimp and Maya would’ve gone into anaphylactic shock.
“Oh my God,” she choked. “I didn’t…I mean…”
“Yeah, whatever Reg.” Maya snickered, lifted a napkin from the pile and rounded the corner of the table. “I’m going to go talk to Bachelor Number One; at least he’s not trying to kill me.”
She headed back toward her seat, leaving Regan alone with Carter again, his voice far too close to her neck.
“What d’you say we get the hell out of here?”
“Yeah,” she snorted. “Wouldn’t that thrill Jayne if we ditched her party when she’s trying so hard to hook me up with Bachelor Number Two?”
“That guy?” When Carter openly stared at Leon, Regan elbowed him hard until he sputtered. “Oh, come on—him? That’s the best she could come up with?”
Regan hid her laugh behind her napkin and veered into the kitchen where Nick’s sister was sitting at the table munching a pile of nachos. Katie was always fun to talk to, so long as Ben wasn’t…damn.
Katie’s husband turned from the window, his phone pressed against his ear, and gave Regan the same look she was no doubt giving him. Whatever. She liked Katie, so if it meant putting up with Ben once in a while, so be it.
“Regan—good to see you! I was just talking about you yesterday with the other moms at Baby and Me.”
“All good I hope.”
“Of course—you should have seen their faces when I told them about you and Griffin Carr.”
“That actor guy?” Carter spun a chair around next to her, straddled it, and set his bottle on the table.
“Duh,” Katie grunted. “Regan styled his hair last month when he was in town filming.”
“Yup, that’s me, stylist to the stars.” With an eye roll, Regan took a sip of her beer, then changed the subject. “How’s the baby?”
“More beautiful every day.” Chip in one hand, Katie used the other to flip her phone around, and there on the screen was five-month-old Sophia, dark hair standing straight up off her head, and her chubby cheeks dimpled in the sweetest toothless smile Regan had ever seen.
“You’re right, she’s gorgeous! Look at those cheeks…and that nose! But what’s with the hair?” Regan grinned as she handed the phone back. “Is it some kind of Scott trait or something?”
“Hey—I resemble that remark.” Carter leaned in a little, his head making the slightest of motions toward the living room. “Number Two’s looking lonely out there.”
When Katie raised a brow in question, Regan winced a little. “Leon.”
“He seems like a nice guy,” Katie said, her gaze moving past Regan to where Leon sat at the far end of the living room. “Didn’t Jayne say the school promoted him to athletic director or something?”
“Yes, she did,” Regan muttered. “About nineteen times now.”
Why did Carter smile at that? “Sounds like the jock’s gonna be out of luck come midnight.”
“You got that right.” Oops. She probably shouldn’t have said that; made it sound like Leon was an ugly troll or something, which he definitely wasn’t. He was just…not for Regan.
“Well, that’s good then.” Carter bobbed his head in a slow nod as he sipped his beer.
“Why’s that good?” Katie slid her nacho plate to the left a little as Ben tucked his phone away and took the chair beside her.
Carter fixed his gaze on Regan as his grin grew wider, sexier. “Because I’d hate to get my ass kicked by Linebacker Leon when I kiss Red here at midnight.”
Katie choked on her chip, but Regan just shook her head and laughed.
“What makes you think I’m going to let you kiss me?”
He nipped the last mozzarella stick from her plate, bit off a chunk, then chased it with a long swig of his beer. “Because it’s New Year’s Eve, we’re both here alone, and going by the last guy I saw you with, I’m bettin’ it’s been a while since you were good and kissed.”
“Carter!” Katie’s scolding might have been more threatening if she hadn’t still been choking behind her napkin.
The thing was, Carter might be obnoxious, and he might be cocky as hell, but he wasn’t wrong, and even as Regan laughed, Maya’s voice echoed in her brain. If anyone deserves a little distraction, it’s you.
After a while, she wiped her mouth on a napkin and lifted her right shoulder. “Even if that were true—and I’m not saying it is—what makes you think you’re the man for the job?”
“You shittin’ me?” The half smile was back. “After what happened down at your shop?”
Katie’s hand froze halfway to her mouth, letting a couple of olives tumble from the chip. “What happened?”
“She couldn’t keep her hands off me.”
“I what?” Regan choked. “I cut your hair, Carter; it involves a little touching.”
“Not like that.” He winked at Katie and grinned cheekily. “And you should’ve seen her over there getting some food a minute ago. She tried to kill Maya just so we could be alone.”
“Oh my God,” Regan laughed. “In your dreams maybe.”
“No maybe about it.” He thumbed to the spot where they’d been standing when he touched her hair. “And what about over there? You telling me you react like that every time some guy talks to you?”
His grin was too cocky, too confident. Too right.
Damn it. Pulling her plate out of Carter’s reach, Regan tried to give him a look of utter indifference, but her mouth kept twitching against a smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ohmygod.” Katie let her chip fall to the table. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” Regan tipped a warning look at Carter, who simply shrugged and stared straight back at her.
“Me and you, Red.” He took another sip of his beer, his dark eyes never leaving hers. “Midnight.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Oh, come on. Give me one good reason why not.”
“I’ll give you three.” She took a sip of her drink, then held up her index finger. “The first is because it would be bad form given Jayne’s efforts tonight with Leon.”
“She doesn’t have to know.”
Her grin caught her by surprise, but she carried on, lifting her second finger up as well. “The second is that we hardly know each other, so I’m not about to start locking lips or any other body parts with you. And the third—”
“Whoa whoa whoa. Hold on.” He held up his free hand and stared straight back at her with eyes that both sparkled and mocked. “Nice to know you’ve thought about it, too, but all I’m talking about is a kiss. Lips only; no other body parts involved. Not yet, anyway.”
He popped the rest of the deep-fried cheese stick in his mouth and looked up at the clock.
“We’re running out of time, so if you want to get to know me better before I kiss you, let’s get to it.” He barely took the time to breathe before carrying on. “Favorite color?”
Regan
shrugged indifferently. “Green.”
“Mine’s red.” He waggled his brow as his gaze moved over her hair. “Family?”
“Really giving it the old college try here, aren’t ya?” Regan sat back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. “Okay. Mom lives out in the valley.”
“No brothers or sisters?” He didn’t let her finish shaking her head before he was on to his next question. “Favorite hockey team?”
“I only watch during the Stanley Cup.”
“Ooooh.” His wince was almost convincing. “Wrong answer.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Nick strode into the room with an empty wineglass in one hand, two empty beer bottles in the other, and headed straight for the makeshift bar they’d set up on the counter.
Katie laughed. “Carter’s hitting on Regan.”
Nick’s hand stilled against a bottle of Grey Goose, his hesitant gaze moving from Katie to Carter and finally to Regan, who still sat with her arms crossed. With a slow chuckle, he tipped the vodka into the martini shaker.
“Looks like he’s striking out. Guess there really is a first for everything.”
“First for what?” Jayne asked, setting a couple dirty plates in the sink. When no one made to answer her, she turned straight to Nick. “What?”
“Nothing important.” He shot Regan a quick wink over his wife’s head. “Just talking about Carter’s batting average.”
“Baseball? You should talk to Leon.” Jayne held out her glass for Nick to fill, then turned to Regan. “Did I tell you they made him the athletic director at the school?”
“Yeah, you might have mentioned it once or twice.”
“Come on, Reg, I bet you’d really like him if you gave him a chance.”
“I’m sure he’s great, but…” Regan lowered her voice and leaned closer to her friend. “I don’t think so.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Jayne couldn’t have looked more offended if Regan had insulted her directly. “He’s smart, attractive, has a great job…”
“Sure, but come on, Jayne, look at him.” As it turned out, Jayne and Regan were the only ones in the kitchen who didn’t crane their necks to get another look. “The khakis, the golf shirt, the loafers—ugh, I bet he drives a minivan, doesn’t he?”
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