Page 37 of Bad Boy Crush
“Elli spent the rest of the afternoon with her, said Lou was pissed off at Hunter.”
That perked Ant’s ears.
“She wasn’t pissed off at you when you kissed her.” Brady‘s eyebrows rose over the frames of his sunglasses.
“Neither time.”
“You kissed her again? What the fuck, man? You’re holding out on me.”
“I’m so sorry, Hutch. Didn’t know we were due for a gab sesh.” Ant moved to the captain’s chair and eased down into it. “I don’t want her to go out with Hunter, but it’s not like she asked my opinion.”
“Look, you were right to step aside when she was married to Liam…”
“Careful.”
Brady didn’t heed his warning. “But Hunter isn’t involved with Lou. Liam was. You were late to the game the first time around. In this case, you were first. That matters.”
A speedboat skipped over the waves in the distance. They watched it for a while before Brady said, “I shouldn’t tell you this. But I’m going to before you do something stupid. Something else stupid. You kissed Lou. Twice, apparently. She told Elli and May you were the better kisser.”
Ant pulled his shoulders back. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I suggest you give her the chance to tell you that herself. Unless you’re planning on drinking a warm beer for breakfast and giving Hunter another shot.”
“That’s not gonna happen.” Ant pushed the button and started the pontoon’s engine.
“That’s what I like to hear. See you at Salty.”
“I’ll be there.” After he paid Lou a visit.
* * *
Lou finished typing her journal entry and sat back in her chair. What had started as her bitching about her cheating ex-husband had arrived at an unlikely place. She’d detailed kissing not one but two men in two days’ time.
“Love triangle,” she snorted as she read the words on the screen. She’d used the term facetiously, since she was in no way entertaining anything with Hunter. She had gone on to write that she hadn’t expected Ant to kiss her and described him as crawling out of the woodwork—which was apt, given his profession.
“‘They say you find someone when you’re not looking,’” she read aloud. “‘Do I want to be found?’”
“Great question.” One she didn’t have an answer to yet.
She backed up the file and wandered to the bedroom to shower and get ready for the day. Twenty minutes later she was in a white T-shirt dress that hugged her curves, a pair of Converse tennis shoes, and a yellow and pink plaid shirt tied around her waist to thwart any crisp, cold A/C.
In the living room, she grabbed her cell phone as her doorbell rang. Through the frosted glass, she made out the outline of a broad build and a hat. Her heart thrummed as she reached for the doorknob.
Ant stood on her porch, his hair damp like he was freshly showered. He was wearing a pale blue short-sleeved shirt, cargo shorts, and a knee-weakening grin.
“I want to take you out on a date. Today. Right now, in fact. Unless Hunter beat me to it. You know, the guy you kissed yesterday, the day after I kissed you twice.”
“He kissed me.”
“And you didn’t want him to.”
“Not at all.” She smiled back.
“Do you want me to beat him up? Run him out of town?”
She leaned her weight on the hand resting on the doorknob. Ant offering to avenge her made her gooey. “Not necessary.”
“I heard I’m better, anyway.” He wasn’t wrong. Both of his kisses had lit her on fire. Hunter’s had ignited her temper.