My gaze wandered toward the bar again. Shaw was dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a white T-shirt, which he managed to make look ridiculously sexy. The material stretched taut across his sculpted shoulders and chest, and the jeans hung low on his hips.
I met his eyes and quickly looked away. I hadn’t come here to see him, hadn’t even known he would be here. He rarely came out anymore. I let myself take one more quick peek just to see if he was still watching me. He wasn’t. Good. He dominated my thoughts ninety-nine percent of the time. I needed this downtime with my friends.
“Oh, shut it, Chloe,” Courtney said. “If he is ready to start seeing someone, you already know my stance on this. You guys would be perfect together.”
“Stop, please,” I begged her. I couldn’t stomach listening to another of her long speeches about how Shaw and I would make the perfect couple, or the cutest babies, or any of her other nonsense.
Even if I agreed with her, it wasn’t healthy to get my hopes up about something that could never be. He was my friend. And he was still grieving. And in twenty-plus years of knowing each other, he’d never expressed any romantic feelings for me.
Fucking was different. That was just something we did. Opening your heart, making a commitment to someone—that was something you chose. And Shaw seemed a long way off from choosing anything that would tie him down again.
“He’s just taking his time. He has no interest in dating right now,” I said, hoping to put this conversation to death once and for all.
“How do you know that?” Lynne asked. “Have you guys talked about it?”
“Well, no, but . . .” I paused. I couldn’t say how I knew so much about his love life without revealing I was part of it. “He’s just not ready.”
I signaled our waitress. I needed a hell of a lot more tequila if I was to make it through my so-called friends’ prying questions.
“And what about you?” Courtney asked, picking up the scent of desperation hanging on me like a dog. “Why haven’t you seen anyone? You haven’t dated in forever, Chloe.”
“Yeah, we should fix that,” Lynne said, smiling the evil grin that I knew meant she was on the prowl.
“I’m good, you guys. Thanks for your concern, but honestly, between running the inn and being there for Shaw, I just haven’t found time.”
“Perfect.” Courtney grinned. “No time like the present. There are plenty of single men here tonight.”
“Not interested,” I bit out through clenched teeth.
“Is there something going on between you and Shaw?” Courtney asked, tapping her chin.
“Of course not,” I blurted. I proceeded to spend the next five minutes trying to change the subject, only to have it return to my love life time and again.
“If there’s nothing going on, why does Shaw look like he wants to eat you alive?” Lynne asked.
I glanced over again. Dammit. He was watching me with that intense, angst-filled stare of his. The one that said we’d be between my sheets later, sweaty and groaning.
Just then, our waitress approached. “Ladies, these shots are from the gentlemen at the bar.” She tipped her chin toward a group of twenty-somethings in the corner, and then sat down three bright blue shots on our table. “They’re called Hawaiian Leg-Spreaders.”
“Bottoms up, girls!” Lynne said, grabbing her glass and giving Courtney’s a clink.
I lifted the glass to my lips and when I looked up, it was right into the eyes of Shaw. He was standing directly across from our table, about thirty feet away, quietly sipping a beer and watching me. I got the impression that he knew the shots were from a group of guys, and he was watching to see what I’d do.
I tipped the liquor into my mouth and swallowed. If he thought I was going to refuse a drink from another man just because he and I happened to be sleeping together, he was wrong. In fact, the way he was watching me, like he was my appointed babysitter for the evening, was pissing me off.
I continued chatting with my friends but all under the intense scrutiny of Shaw, who was casually leaning at a table now a mere twenty feet away.
“Come on. We have to go thank those guys who bought us shots,” Lynne said, sliding from her bar stool a few minutes later, all five-foot-nothing of her. She straightened her halter top.
“Yeah, and maybe buy them a shot in return. Something dirty . . . like a Screaming Orgasm.” Courtney chuckled.
I could feel Shaw’s intense stare on me, and somehow knew if I crossed the room to talk to those men, he’d follow.
“You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up to you.”
“Come on, Chloe!” Courtney begged.
“I have to pee. Two minutes. I’ll be right there,” I promised. I needed to see what the hell was going on with Shaw.
I hopped down off my bar stool and started toward the restrooms. From the corner of my eye, I saw Shaw give chase but continued on my path, ignoring the looming presence I felt behind me.
He caught up to me in the deserted back hallway, and I spun around to face him.
“Why aren’t you over there preening yourself in front of those men like your friends are doing?” he asked, cornering me.
I swallowed and thrust my chin up, forcing my eyes to meet his. I was met with a dark, angry stare.
“Because I’m not here to meet men.” That was true. The reason? The man I’d always desired stood exactly two feet in front of me.