“Alexis isn’t exactly fragile,” Mack said.
Noah bristled. “I know.” Just the opposite. Lexa was the strongest person he’d ever known. “I’m just saying she is going through some deep stuff now, and I’m not going to add to her burden by asking her why the hell she was staring at my nipples!”
The restaurant got instantly quiet, and twenty heads turned toward their table.
“He’s talking about his dog,” Mack said loudly with a lift of his hand. “Nothing to see here.”
Noah heard a growl rumble from his chest. “I’m going to hack into your phone and leak all your nudes on Facebook.”
Mack spread his hands wide. “Naked is my best angle, man.”
“Look,” Malcolm said, wadding up his napkin. “I think what Mack was attempting to say is that there’s a fine line between being sensitive to what Alexis is going through and treating her like she doesn’t know her own mind.”
“Doesn’t change a goddamned thing.”
“Of course it does.” Malcolm leaned forward. “Your relationship with her is built on unrequited feelings. That’s not fair to either of you. She deserves to know how you really feel about her, and you deserve to know if she feels the same.”
“I can’t risk our friendship like that.”
“And you’ll be happy to remain friends with her, only friends?”
“If that’s what it takes to be in her life, then yes.”
“And I suppose if she started dating someone else, you’d be fine with it?” Mack asked.
At his blistering silence, Mack snorted. “That’s what I thought.”
Noah gave in to a sudden burst of weariness. He set down his fork and ran his hands over his face. After a long, quiet moment, he looked up to find the guys watching him in matching expressions of patience and amusement.
“I don’t know what to do,” he admitted.
“Luckily, we do,” Mack said. “Be at my bar at three o’clock tomorrow.”
Noah’s stomach dropped. “What for?”
Mack grinned. “Initiation.”
Fuuuck.
CHAPTER TEN
A few hours later, Noah pulled into Alexis’s driveway again to pick her up for their meeting with Candi. He hadn’t been this nervous to pick up a woman since . . . ever. Something had changed last night, at least in his mind, and he was going to have a hard time keeping it cool today. Which is exactly what she needed from him.
She met him on the sidewalk wearing a long cardigan, a pair of leggings, and a small smile. “I saw you pull up,” she explained.
He held open her door and waited while she slid into the car before returning to the driver’s side. He exhaled the breath he’d been holding before sliding behind the wheel.
“Thanks for driving,” she said, not quite looking at him as she buckled her seat belt.
“You sure you want to do this?”
“I’m sure.”
She didn’t look sure, though. Her hands were a tangled mess in her lap, and her lips were a thin line. A raw, red nick in the corner meant she’d been gnawing on it with her teeth.
“You don’t have to—”
She cut him off with a look. He raised his hands in surrender.
The trip downtown was short and quiet. And when Noah parked in the ramp for the hotel where Candi was staying, they sat in the dark and the silence for a moment, just staring at the glowing red sign that read ELEVATOR. He finally looked over at her.
“Ready?” Noah got out and rounded the car to her side. He held out his hand as she slid out of the passenger seat and, as if they’d done it a hundred times before, she folded her fingers in his. His heart kicked the underside of his ribs with a painful thud as they walked hand in hand to the elevators. Only when they walked in did she pull her hand away to push the button for the lobby floor.
Noah shoved his hands deep in the pocket of his fleece. “Where are we meeting her?”
“The hotel bar.”
“She alone?”
“I think so.”
The elevator opened into a marble-floored hallway. Noah pressed his hand to the small of her back as they walked out. Her muscles twitched beneath his fingertips, but she didn’t try to move from his touch. His heart kicked again.
“Over there,” she said, pointing to a darkened corner where a hostess stood beneath a sign bearing the bar’s name.
Noah looked down at Alexis. “The Bluegrass Grill?”
Her eyes turned sarcastic. “It’s like they just gave up.”
“Do you think there will be banjos on the walls?”
“And drinks named after Waylon Jennings songs.”
Noah ushered her forward, hand still on her back. “First person to spot the Willie Nelson picture wins.”
The brief banter seemed to relax her, because her muscles softened beneath his fingertips.
The lobby bustled with bleary-eyed travelers dragging heavy suitcases and the remnants of last night’s bad decisions.
The hostess smiled as they approached. “How many?”
“We’re meeting someone at the bar,” Noah said.
The hostess directed them to the center of the restaurant, where a circular bar on a raised platform glowed a soft blue from the pendant lamps that hung from the ceiling. It was nearly deserted but for a handful of guys who were hunched quietly over beers, their eyes glued to a football game on the six televisions on the wall.
A woman sat alone several stools away, her face turned toward the entrance of the restaurant as if looking for someone.
“That’s her,” Alexis said, her feet slowing.
Noah slid his hand higher on her back until his fingers met the tight cords of her neck. He squeezed and lowered his mouth closer to her ear. “You okay?”
Her only response was to keep walking.
Candi spotted them, fumbled the glass of water in her hand, and then winced as it spilled on the counter. A bartender waved off her apologies and began to wipe it up as Candi slid from her barstool.
Alexis grew tense again beneath his hand.
“Hi,” Candi said, her voice shy and breathless.
“Thanks for meeting us here,” Alexis said.
Candi darted a nervous glance
