currently cracking up, he might have been able to see the humor in the situation.
As it was, the red bra might as well have been a red flag.
Danger. Danger.
Leaning down, Sam scooped up the light bit of fabric and glared down at the
puppy, who was doing that frantic tail wag that caused his entire body to
reverberate.
“No treat,” he said, jabbing a finger down at the dog.
“But looks like Daddy got a treat,” Liam said, his expression all gleeful innocence.
“So I had some female company,” Sam grumbled, marching to his dresser and
stuffing the bra inside with his undershirts. “You going to tell me that every pair of
panties in your bed equates to a girlfriend?”
“Nah,” Liam said, reaching down to scoop up Skippy and letting the dog lick his
face. “But I don’t think I’ve ever experienced what you’re experiencing.”
“And what’s that?” Sam asked warily.
His friend’s eyes met his over the puppy’s head, and they were both sympathetic
and curious. “Happiness.”
Sam’s chest tightened. His best friend was right, and the realization filled him with
terror.
For the first time since he and Riley had slept together, Sam let himself face the
inevitable: The deeper he and Riley got, the more it was going to hurt when it
ended.
And if there was one thing Sam was sure of, it was that all good things definitely
ended.
Chapter Twenty
“Wait. So your brother saw your bra?” Julie asked, spinning around in her office
desk chair like a restless third-grader.
“Yeah. But he didn’t know it was mine,” Riley said as she tossed the red pen on
top of Grace’s article, which she’d been reading.
“It weirds me out that you seem so dejected about that fact,” Emma said as she
took a bite of something that looked like birdseed.
Riley reached for the donut she’d stolen from the IT guys, noting the way Grace
eyed it lustfully before sighing and returning to her low-fat peach yogurt. Riley
didn’t feel even remotely guilty. Grace had a gorgeous man who’d professed his
love for her in front of news cameras.
All Riley had was a man who refused to come to family dinners and who couldn’t
even tell his best friend about the two of them.
She’d earned her good metabolism, damn it.
“It’s not that I want my brother to see my bra. Ever,” she said around a mouthful
of sugary fried dough. “But it pisses me off that Sam told him the bra belonged to
‘just some girl.’ ”
Julie winced.
“I am not just some girl. Am I?”
“Of course not,” Grace said, daintily licking her spoon clean. “But you’ve known
all along that Sam’s got a major hang-up over the whole sleeping-with-the-best-
friend’s-sister thing.”
“Which is stupid,” Riley said.
“It is. But it’s also classic. The same way a woman can never look at a man her
best friend once had a half-second crush on in eighth grade, a man doesn’t touch
his best friend’s little sisters.”
“It’s true,” Julie said practically. “It’s in a bunch of books and movies.”
“And if it’s in a movie, it must be true,” Emma said with an eye roll.
Riley held up a hand. “Okay, let’s just pretend for a second that Sam’s not being
an idiot. That his whole hang-up is justified. What do I do about it?”
“Well, you could distract him by getting him a dog he didn’t want. Oh, wait …”
“He did want the dog,” Riley protested. “I gave him plenty of time to take Skippy
back. He loves that dog.”
“True. I bet he didn’t tell Liam that Skippy’s toy belonged to ‘just some other dog,’
” Grace mused.
“Not. Helping,” Riley ground out.
“How about this,” Julie said, leaning back in her office chair and tugging her long
blond hair out of its ponytail as she thought about it. “See, Sam had his chance
to come clean face-to-face with Liam. He chickened out. Maybe what we need
here is a less confrontational approach. Like, say, if Liam just happened to see
you two together …”
“Yes,” Emma said, rubbing her hands together. “Because manipulation is so
much more adult than confrontation.”
Riley flicked a hand at Emma. “Save it. When you’re head-over-heels in love,
then you’ll get to talk about doing things on the up-and-up.”
All three of her friends immediately grew still and stared at her, their expressions
ranging from delighted (Julie) to dismayed (Emma).
“Love?” Grace said in a casual tone as she looked at her fingernails.