The sun was just going down by the time I pulled in. It seemed like half the town was there, but I only saw Aiden’s truck. When I walked into the crowd, looking for anyone I knew that I wanted to spend time with, I found Aiden and Desiree standing near Brett and Harleigh. They waved me over to where they were, standing just to the side of the giant bonfire and holding red Solo cups.
“Hey, glad you could make it,” Brett said.
“Figured I wasn’t doing anything else tonight. Deacon should be coming too.”
“What about Everett?” Desiree asked.
“He might stop by too,” I said. “From what they were saying when I texted them earlier, Deacon was trying to talk him into not watching sports tonight.”
“Who’s playing?” Brett asked, suddenly looking interested in what it was he could be missing.
“I haven’t the slightest,” I said. “Knowing Everett, it’s some weird sport I’ve never heard of.”
The group laughed, and Harleigh handed me a cup.
“Here you go,” she said.
“What’s in it?”
“Beer.”
“What kind of beer?” I asked.
Harleigh blinked a few times, her expression not changing.
“Beer,” she repeated.
“Fair enough.” I took a deep sip and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t the watery lager-swill that usually got handed out at events like this one.
“I’m going to go check out the food truck,” Brett said. “Anyone joining me?”
“I’ll go,” Aiden said.
There was a general murmur of agreement between them all.
“I’m good,” I said. “I just ate before I came.”
“Poor choices,” Brett said. “Aiden’s bonfires always have the pulled pork truck. The one that goes to the state fair. I live for that thing.”
“I’ll be fine,” I laughed. “Maybe later.”
With that, the group headed in that direction, and I turned to head back into the large group of people. Truthfully, I hadn’t eaten before I left, but I wanted to find Lauren. Now that everyone had seen me get there without her, it wouldn’t be so obvious to see us together. Besides, if I found her before they did, I could steal a kiss.
Just as I passed another table handing out drinks, I saw her coming in. She looked gorgeous, and my stomach tightened. I was going to have to tread very lightly not to let the secret out just by my actions. Keeping my hands off her was going to be a struggle. She caught my gaze as she walked in and smiled, her eyes lighting up. Mine did too.
I turned to the table and grabbed another beer and met her as she approached, handing it over to her. She took it gratefully and then looked around cautiously. Her eyes batted as she looked back up at me, and I felt like my knees were going weak.
“It’s shockingly not terrible,” she said. “I expected the cheap stuff.”
“Me too,” I said. “You look fantastic.”
“Thank you.” She grinned and grabbed the hem of her dress as she turned on her toes back and forth.
“Incredible. Absolutely incredible.”
“You don’t look too bad yourself,” she said. “Smell good too.” I grinned. “Do you think anyone knows yet?”
She nodded in the direction that I came from, and I turned. The group had returned to where I’d found them, and both Deacon and Everett had joined them. Everett looked over and waved, and I waved back.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Bringing you a beer isn’t necessarily anything out of the ordinary. I’ve brought you beer at other get-togethers.”
“True. And I don’t think anyone thinks anything just because I’m flirting with you.”
“You’re flirting with me?” I asked, grinning.
“Oh, you didn’t know?” she asked, a devious grin spreading across her face.
“Maybe you should flirt harder. So, I’ll get it.”
“If I flirted any harder,” she purred, stepping a little closer, “I’d just be standing here naked.”
“Hmm,” I said, the hair on the back of my neck standing up, “that sounds pretty good.”
“I bet it does. But thank you for the beer. I’m going to go mingle and not look so obvious.”
“Good idea. I’ll see you around.”
“You’ll see a lot of me later,” she said.
“There you go,” I said. “That’s the kind of harder flirting I understand.”
She giggled and walked away, and I watched her for a moment. She was so incredibly sexy that it nearly drove me to reach after her, pull her back, and kiss her right there, friends seeing us be damned. But I kept my hands to myself and instead headed to the food truck. Maybe one of their famous pulled pork sandwiches would be enough to distract me.
On my way there, I ran into a few other people from town that I knew, and I tried to mingle as best as I could. Occasionally, I would see Lauren from across the bonfire and would lose my train of thought, but it seemed like I did a good enough job acting normal. It was difficult, though.