He was nosey enough that he did, and I couldn’t help but feel his surprise. “What he want?”

I had walked right into that, hadn’t I? I fidgeted with my straw again. “Between us?”

He nodded.

“A threesome.”

Nothing on his features registered surprise.

“With his ex-wife,” I finished, giving him a smile and kind of raising a shoulder. I was over it. Now it just made me laugh.

Rip blinked, took a drink, and then took his time with his next question, making an almost stunned face. “Say that again.”

I finally did laugh. “He wanted us to have a threesome with his ex-wife. Apparently that’s something he did sometimes with other people, even after they divorced, but I had no idea until he asked.”

That big body leaned back in his chair, but that funny face didn’t go anywhere. “He broke up with you over it?”

I fiddled with the straw again, looking down into the Sprite before raising my gaze back to him. “I broke up with him over it. He said he was sorry and that he shouldn’t have asked, but it was too late. It hurt my feelings, and I couldn’t get over it. I mean, I don’t think I was being overly dramatic, but it’s a little weird that a man still has sex with his ex-wife. They had two daughters together. You know?

“He swore it wasn’t a big deal if we didn’t, that they were over for a reason and that it didn’t mean anything, it was just sex, he’d said. But back then, he’d been the only one I’d ever…” Crap. He didn’t need to know where the rest of that had been going. Did he? Nope. “He was really nice, and he treated me really well, and I know he cared about me, but in that question… he broke my trust, and I knew I would never be able to get over it. What, he’d bring up having a threesome with her again later on? Or get bored with me and then find someone else to suggest? I don’t think so. So I broke up with him, and that was that.”

That story stung a lot less this time than it had every other time in the past I had retold it.

He hadn’t broken my heart, but he had my trust.

I had been sad for about two days, and then I got over it. I didn’t let people take too much of my time away, and that’s what mourning and whimpering were. Time and energy wasted.

Maybe some people would be able to have a threesome… maybe I could have if we hadn’t been in a relationship and he hadn’t been the same man I had lost my virginity to… but I was pretty sure that there was something in me that wouldn’t let me ever be in that kind of relationship.

I’d had to share so much in my life. I thought that if I wanted to be selfish every once in a while, there was nothing wrong with that.

I shrugged again. “And right after him, I saw this one guy for a few weeks… kind of like a rebound, I guess… and that’s been it, except for a couple of dates here and there every few months, but none of them ever worked out.” I plastered a smile on. “But now that Lily is gone, everyone talked me into giving it another try. So I’m here, getting stood up. Yay.”

Rip’s nostrils flared again, and one of those thick fingers went to the rim of his glass, circling it while his eyes strayed to mine. “But why are you here, baby girl?”

Why was I here?

That wasn’t a loaded question.

I glanced at the group of men still trying to play darts. “I’m happy, but I know people who are even happier because of the people in their lives, you know? I’ve always liked seeing elderly couples walking around, holding hands and stuff; I want the same thing, or at least I want to try for it. I want a partner. I want someone I can rely on. Someone to snuggle with would be nice. I like snuggling.

“And if I have to meet a bunch of guys and sit at a bar getting stood up a few times until I find one who makes me feel… happier than I am by myself, then it’ll be worth it someday.” I smiled at him to make the conversation not seem as heavy as it felt for me.

But it was all the truth. I just… wanted somebody. Not just anyone, but someone special. A best friend and a lover. A partner. A life partner. I was fine being alone, but I didn’t want to be lonely, and there was a clear difference.

Rip watched me, and I mean, he really watched me right then. Whether he was trying to figure out if I’d lost my mind or if I was something to be pitied, I had no idea.

Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. “Anyway, I should probably get going.”

That big, beautiful man leaned forward in his chair, his eyes sweeping over my face and the hair that had gotten pretty wavy because of the humidity. I had almost forgotten I’d put a silver glitter clip into it that morning to keep it out of my face. “You’re gonna leave me here alone?”

“You really want me to keep you company?”

His response was a long, long look.

For some reason, it made me feel oddly vulnerable. He thought I was pathetic. I knew it. But pathetic or not, well, he was kind of hinting he wanted me to keep him company. “I can stay if you want.”

He didn’t say he wanted me to, but… he just kept right on looking at me.

So I took it as a yes. “Okay, I’ll stay.”

It was the right answer.

He took a sip of his drink. “Good.”

Well, it looked like I was staying a little longer now. With our conversation still nipping at the back of my head, I asked him again, “So, you’ve really never had a girlfriend? Not in forty-one years?”

“Nope.”

“Not even in high school?”

He shook his head.

“Not once?”

“Nope.” He gave me this face that almost seemed like a challenge. Like a dare. “I’ve got two numbers on my phone that don’t belong to somebody who’s got a dick. One’s the lady that cleans my place once a week…”

“Who’s the other?” I asked, trying to ignore the edge of jealousy waiting around the corner of his answer.

That got me another snicker. “You, who the hell else?”

“Me?” I leaned forward then. “Since when? You’ve never called my cell.”

“Since always. Just ’cause I don’t call you doesn’t mean I don’t have it.”

I couldn’t help raising my hands up to my heart and settling them there, this huge smile coming over my face. “Does this mean… Boss, are we friends? Outside of work, of course.”

His face went totally serious for a moment before he tossed his head back and laughed. “Get the fuck outta here, Luna. Christ.”

We were. We were so totally friends. He was my boss too, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends when we weren’t at the shop. Or during lunch. Or when my life tried to fall apart on me a little.

Me and Rip.

Friends.

I’d take it. I’d take it every day of the year, forever.

Chapter 19

“You’re dead,” I laughed at Miguel as we walked toward the booth.

“Why do you think I brought the car with me?” he asked.

“She’s going to kill you either way. I’m still surprised she didn’t do it on her birthday,” I confirmed, referring to his wife’s car at first. We had just spent the last ten minutes looking it over and setting up a plan for fixing it. Apparently, he’d backed his car into hers that morning, and he hadn’t had the guts to tell her, so he made up a lie and drove hers to work today so that we could repair it without her finding out.

The thing was, we both knew she was going to find out anyway. Now or later.

“I know, but if I buy her some flowers and some conchas from the bakery by our house, I think I can get her to take it easy on me,” he stated with a laugh.

I shook my head just as we stopped in front of the door to the booth, and he reached forward to open it for me. “I’ll call my guy right now since I have the code for the color, and he should have it. It’s a standard stock color. I might be able to go pick it up for you on my lunch break.”

I had been expecting to see Jason in the room when I walked in, but I wasn’t expecting to see the new guy too. Between the two of them, they were carrying a panel into the booth. Jason, to no surprise, pretended like he didn’t see us walk in.