Just One Night(72)

Knowing that he wasn’t good enough for Riley McKenna was painful enough

without having to hear his best friend say it to his face.

Skippy came trotting over, carefully positioning the stuffed rabbit in his mouth

over Sam’s work boot before beginning to squeak the toy wildly.

“Mom says you haven’t been at dinner lately,” Liam said.

Sam listened for any hidden accusations but heard only idle curiosity, likely fueled

by Erin’s demand that Liam “bring Sam back around.”

“Been pretty busy here,” Sam said, gesturing at the casks. “Finally getting to the

point that I’m producing a steady supply.”

Liam broke into a wide smile. “Fuck yeah. So, ready to sell, then?”

Sam looked away. “I said I had a steady supply. I didn’t say it was good.”

“You’re drinking the same shit as me, right? It’s fantastic, and you know it.”

He did. But if he was wrong …

Just one more thing to add to his list of f**kups.

“I’m still figuring out what to do.”

Liam shrugged in a suit-yourself gesture. “You got any food? That’s the shitty part

of you being way up here. No decent food places nearby.”

Sam picked up Skippy’s toy and sent it sailing across the room, watching Skippy’s

awkward puppy run as he chased it down. “Clearly you haven’t tried the Mexican

place a couple blocks up.”

“Nope. Walked by it though. Will definitely hit it up if I ever have an E. coli craving.”

“Frozen pizza?” Sam asked, heading toward the back living area and silently

hoping none of Riley’s skimpy undergarments were around. He’d had the

foresight to call and tell her he was busy tonight the second he’d heard from Liam,

but he was out of practice with disguising the presence of a woman in his

bedroom.

Not since high school had he had to worry about someone spotting a rogue pair

of panties where they shouldn’t be. Not that his mother would have cared much.

Or even noticed.

And normally Sam wouldn’t have given a shit if Liam found out he’d been getting

some. But there was no way Sam could let his best friend spot his sister’s bra by

accident, even if Liam wouldn’t know it was his sister’s.

For all of their sakes, he really hoped that shit was out of sight.

Skippy misgauged his stopping distance and careened into the back of his calf

before happily bouncing back up and prancing in front of them.

The little guy loved pizza.

“I guess I should be more careful about leaving you on your own,” Liam said as

he settled at the small table and watched Sam dig out a frozen pizza.

“How’s that?”

“Well, I was gone for what … two weeks? I come back and you’ve got yourself a

girlfriend and a freaking dog?”

Sam froze in the process of heating the oven. Had Liam talked to Riley? And

even if he had, surely she had the good sense not to mention their little fling?

They’d agreed not to tell her family until they knew where it was going. Erin

McKenna would be knitting baby booties before their first-month anniversary, and

Liam …

Well, Liam would kill him.

“Who says I have a girlfriend?” Sam kept his voice easy.

“It’s written all over your whipped face.”

Sam relaxed slightly. It had just been a lucky guess. “You’re delusional.”

“Am I?” Liam asked, going to the shelf that doubled as a liquor cabinet and

rummaging around until he found a bottle to his liking. “For starters, you’ve smiled

about eight times more than usual. Next up, we have the puppy, which, like I’ve

said, doesn’t surprise me, but the breed of dog does. It’s one of those fancy ones,

not a mutt from the pound …”

Sam remained stubbornly silent as he refilled his own drink.

“And then there’s the more tangible proof …,” Liam continued.

“I can’t wait to hear. Are my eyes more sparkly? Have I been doing something

different with my hair?”

“Nope.”

Sam had known Liam long enough to recognize that silent laugh. He turned to

see what hilarity he was missing.

His heart jumped into his throat.

Oh shit!

He’d done a quick scan of his bed when he and Liam had entered and deemed it

free of any obvious female presence.

There was just one tiny detail he hadn’t considered.

Skippy.

The very cute, very proud puppy had swapped his squeaky toy for one very frilly,

probably very expensive red bra, and was attempting to maneuver it across the

floor before proudly depositing it at Sam’s feet.

Sam exhaled through his nose. If the bra didn’t belong to the sister of the man