Page 23 of Love is a Game

Sadie turned to glare at him. “You wish,” she said, and then her mouth went dry.

She looked him up and down in disbelief. Every time she had gone to the library, Andrew was wearing some ragged old hoodie and shorts, but now he stood beside the table in dark jeans and a tight Henley shirt that confirmed Julie’s assessment; he obviously did spend a lot of time at the gym. When she finally peeled her eyes away from his torso, she realized it wasn’t just his clothes that were different. He was clean shaven. She swallowed.

Seemingly oblivious to her shock, Tyson gestured to Sadie’s bench. “Have a seat, man.”

Andrew’s friendly smile turned into a smirk, which was somehow even more attractive. “Sure, I’d love to,” he said, not breaking eye contact with her.

Sadie narrowed her eyes at her brother-in-law as she scooted over to make room for him. Tyson didn’t notice.

“Gave up on the beard, huh?” he asked.

“Yeah, you know after a few weeks it just gets too itchy, and I throw in the towel.”

Andrew slid into the bench and settled right next to her, close enough that his thigh was touching hers. He spread his elbows on the table so that one of them was in front of her, boxing her into the corner of the booth. The sudden tingle she felt in her leg where it touched his was infuriating.

Traitorous limb.

She had to regain her composure. So the skinny, nerdy kid she had always hated had grown into something of a knockout. That didn’t change anything.

Except that the room suddenly felt ten degrees hotter.

“Do you mind?” she asked, pushing his arm out of her way. She needed to take a breath without inhaling the smell of him.

He turned to her with an innocent expression. “Oh, I’m sorry; was I invading your space? That must be very frustrating for you.”

She rolled her eyes at the innuendo. “If you don’t want me in your space, then you should let me take some of the boxes home with me,” she told him. “Keeping everything at the library was your idea, not mine. Now scoot over.”

He did so but barely. When she turned to glower at him, her eyes were drawn to the contours of his muscular neck, perfectly illuminated by the light coming through the window. Whatever she’d been ready to say to him was forgotten as heat crept up her face. She pulled herself closer to the corner of the booth and crossed her arms. It was just a neck, she told herself, nothing she hadn’t seen before.

“How is the hotel project going?” Tyson asked.

She and Andrew began to speak at the same time and then caught themselves. She cleared her throat, silencing him, and said, “It would go a lot faster if Andrew would just get out of my way.”

“If I am the only thing standing between the Cypress and a total corporate takeover, then you’d better believe I’m going to get in your way.”

She let out a low growl of frustration. “Why does it matter so much to you anyway?”

He blinked at her, his jaw tightening, before looking away. “It just does.”

“You know, this kind of feels like a high school reunion,” Julie chirped gleefully, cutting through the tension.

“Yeah,” Sadie deadpanned, “which is why I didn’t go to mine.”

Andrew looked at her, surprise written across his face. “You didn’t?”

“No, I was working down in Oregon. Didn’t seem like it was worth coming back for. I thought you would have been there though.”

He shook his head. “Well, I was just about to . . .” He hesitated as if considering his words. “I was pretty busy right then. Couldn’t make it. It’s a shame too; I heard Mr. Ibsen gave quite the show.”

Tyson let out a loud laugh. “The drunken karaoke! I heard about that. Someone from the station had to escort him home that night.”

“Oh gosh, Mr. Ibsen.” Julie giggled. “He was always singing.”

“And always drunk,” Sadie added.

Everyone laughed, even Andrew. He seemed to realize at the same time she did that they were dangerously close to getting along. He cleared his throat and they both inched away from each other.

Sadie could see her sister watching them, an amused smile on her face. Julie didn’t miss a thing, but there was nothing to see, was there? Sadie tried to act natural but it was suddenly hard to remember how.