She’d been pitied and reviled. Humored and ignored. But being believed, or at the very least given the space to have her own feelings and beliefs, well that was rare and it made her appreciate Royal even more.

“Thank you for that. If you have questions, ask them. I’ll answer them the best I can.”

He kissed her fingertips. “I think we need to finish our beer and food, blow out of here, grab something sweet and maybe smooch a while.”

“I’m totally on board with that plan.”

After they’d finished, the sheer volume in the room had risen as it had gotten past nine on a Friday night. People played pool in the back, servers shuttled through the room with pitchers of beer, and there was a lot of laughter, shit talking and curious looks her way.

A bunch of people came in and shouted his name. He tore his gaze away from her—a thing she liked a whole lot—and grinned, waving. “Hey!”

She recognized a few of the Chases in the throng of handsome men. Some other faces looked vaguely familiar, but they’d all grown up in the time she’d been away.

“You gonna play tonight?” they called out.

Royal looked back her way and she rolled her eyes. “Depends,” she said quietly with a smirk. “I won’t be insulted if you want to play pool either.”

“I was about to introduce you. I have no desire to play pool with my reprobate friends when I’m on a date with you. But I surely do like the sound of that depends.”

He tossed down money to pay the bill and slid out from the booth, holding a hand she took and let him haul her to her feet.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and they strolled over to his friends with her snugged up to his side. And she totally pretended to miss the way some of his friends’ eyes widened momentarily.

“Y’all, this is Caroline Mendoza. I think several of you may have known her at school, though most of us were older except for Trey and Jacob who were probably still in middle school when she was in high school.” He’d told most of them about her. Hell, he saw most of them at least three times any given week anyway.

He pointed. “That’s Nathan Murphy.” Nathan shot her a smile and a wave. Though Nathan was his ex’s older brother, he was one of Royal’s closest friends and he’d been the one to urge Royal to finally end things or settle for what Anne was willing to give him. “He’s a high school teacher.” He went down the line. “Trey Rosario and Jacob Murphy who also used to be my housemates. Marc Chase and his older brother Kyle.”

“Oh! Marc as in the walls talking?”

He burst out laughing and nodded. “Yes, one and the same.” He turned his attention to Marc. “She’s renting your old apartment.”

“Ah! Well it’s a great location. Safe, well lit. You’re the same Caroline who came to work with our father, right? Welcome home.” He shook her hand and gave her a handsome, genuine smile, and it made Royal glad to see.

The others followed suit, though Nathan gave him a brow rise when Caroline’s attention was elsewhere.

They all chatted a while before Royal stole her away, done with sharing her for the night. Of course that’s when Anne walked in with a passel of Chase and Murphy women. She saw him and came over to give him a big hug and kiss smack on the lips.

She was still one of his closest friends so it wasn’t like it meant anything romantic. But Caroline stiffened a little so he put his arm around her shoulders again. Anne, however, remained at his other side, her arm around his waist.

Not awkward at all. He rolled his eyes inwardly.

“Anne, this is the woman I told you about. Caroline Mendoza, this is Anne Murphy. Anne is one of my oldest and dearest friends.”

Anne raised her brow his way. “Um and we were seriously dating for six years. He must have forgotten that part.”

He tried not to goggle at Anne’s words. There was an edge to them, which wasn’t usual for her at all. But Caroline held her hand out to shake Anne’s. “I think we were in school around the same time. Your sister Beth was in my year.”

Anne looked slightly abashed when her rudeness was not reciprocated. Caroline was so confident and well mannered it made Anne’s words seem even more petty.

Anne nodded and looked back to Royal. “You guys hanging out here to play pool and drink beer?”

“Nope. We had dinner, and I am about to squire Caroline out for some pie and coffee. See y’all later.”

They waved but Royal held her close to his side as they headed back out.

“I’m sorry about that. She didn’t mean to sound rude.”

Caroline stifled her snort of disbelief. “Of course she did. Now you said pie and coffee?”

He struggled with his desire to follow up on what Caroline had said and wanting to push it away so they could enjoy their time together. Anne had never looked even mildly miffed when he’d gone out with other women. She’d moved on, dating around, and he most assuredly had. There’d been no post-break-up sex, as there had been all the times before. Their last break had been final and for real. Their shift into a very close friendship had been for the best, and it worked for them both.

Why she’d be snippy now he didn’t know.

He pushed it aside as they settled in at the Sands for two big slices of apple pie with ice cream and large mugs of milky coffee. There was an ease with Caroline he’d shared with very few people. Added to the chemistry building between them, and he was filled with all sorts of feel good by the time they wound up on the sidewalk again.