Deep slashes appeared between Rhett’s brows. “You have two assistants?”

Before I could reply, Heath jumped in. “Yeah. In case you didn’t know, my little sister is kind of a badass these days.” He gave Rhett a quick rundown of my accomplishments over the last few years, stunning me by how much he knew about my adult life, considering he hadn’t played much of a role in it.

Rhett’s expression was unreadable.

Oh, great. Now I was the geeky girl who also happened to be a workaholic.

At that moment, I would have given anything, even my prized Funko Pop! collection, to know what was going through Rhett’s head.

5

Rhett

Little Ariel grew up, not that I needed a news flash to tell me that. I saw it with my own two eyes just fine. Who the hell was I kidding? I’d seen it the last time she’d come home and knocked me on my ass just by stepping out of a car in her dad’s driveway.

Everyone knew about her crush in high school, including me. Then and now, there wasn’t jack shit I could do about it. There were lines you didn’t cross in life, and your best friend’s little sister was one of them. Those lines put her completely off-limits.

Back then she was a brainiac with a case of social anxiety who carried a stack of books that probably weighed more than she did, but not anymore. Now she was a frigging CEO who could no doubt buy and sell me. That made her just as untouchable, in my book. If I’d been out of her league as a popular high school jock, she was out of mine as a loaded businesswoman. Apparently, that was my type lately. Valentina Noble had been one too. Learned my lesson there, and was happy as hell she and Rix had made it work.

There was no question now, though—high-class women like that weren’t for me.

But watching Ari toss back two fingers of whiskey like she was an old hand and blurt out something about a dick and balls somehow made her seem more attainable. Or maybe it was knowing that she’d carried a torch for me for years. By the way she rolled her eyes at her brother when he referred to anything from the past, I had to assume she’d gotten over all of it, including me. She’d moved on.

Probably for the best. I’d honed plenty of pretending Ariel doesn’t exist skills over the years. An eighteen-year-old had no business thinking about his buddy’s fifteen-year-old sister the way I had. So I’d cut it off. Put on blinders where she was concerned. Heath would have ended me with his dad’s service pistol, and I would have handed him the bullets to do the job.

Tonight, those blinders slipped. I couldn’t stop noticing just how sexy she was. The dress she’d worn to the funeral still hugged her curves, but that wasn’t the sexiest thing about her. No, it was how real she was.

She didn’t put on a show. Didn’t preen. And surely didn’t have a clue how gorgeous she was.

Ari had wandered into the bar ignoring the attention that followed her every step, including mine. That was a refreshing change for me, and damn if it wasn’t sexier than everything else combined. Well . . . maybe not. There was that wild mane of red hair that she tamed into loose waves, the legs that I didn’t remember being quite so long, and that big brain of hers I’d always found fascinating.

A quick glance around the bar told me that the eyes that had followed her hadn’t looked away yet. Plenty of them watched as she accepted a glass from the waitress and poured herself another two fingers from the bottle. She held it by the neck and read the back of the label while she lifted the tumbler to her lips. As long as I’d known her, the girl read everything she could get her hands on. Some things never changed.

Apparently satisfied with her study of the label, she returned the bottle to the table and scanned the room before looking from me to her brother. “Who wants to play pool first? Table’s free.”

I groaned inwardly. I wasn’t sure I could keep my eyes to myself if I had to watch her stretch and position herself with a pool cue.

“Rhett’ll take you on. I’ll play the winner.” Heath’s words were proof that my best friend had some of the worst ideas.

Didn’t he know I was doing my best to keep my hands off his sister?

“Nah, you go on—”

Ari stiffened. “Fine. If you don’t want to play me, I’m sure there’s someone in this bar who will.”

She rose from the bar stool and smoothed her dress down her thighs. I swore it looked longer at the cemetery than it did right now, inching up her toned legs. The shoulders and chest were sheer black lace, as sophisticated as could be, but the lace took on a sexier edge in the dim light of the bar. I’d lay money on her being the classiest thing this place had ever seen. And damn, what those heels did for her . . .

I ripped my gaze away from her ass to focus on her face.

Her lips flattened in obstinate challenge before she strutted toward the pool table. And yeah, I used the word strutted because there was no other way to describe how she walked in those stilettos now that her attitude was flaring.

Heads turned to follow her progress, and two guys jumped off their stools to follow her.

Oh, hell no. Not a chance, assholes.

I pushed off my seat and stalked toward her. Ari’s back was to me when I stopped behind her at the cue rack. She spun around, unaware of my presence, and smacked into my chest, a pool stick trapped between us. She sucked in a breath, jerking her head up.

“Sorry. Didn’t realize you were so close.”

Years ago, she never would have lost track of where I was if we were in the same room. The realization was a blow to my ego, although not unexpected. I no longer made the cut on her priority list, and that stung.

Rather than move and give her space, I reached around her to snag a cue off the rack, letting my arm brush her shoulder.

Ah . . . there it is. Her facial expression remained static, but her involuntary shiver gave her away. Maybe I’m not off the list completely.

I didn’t know why it mattered, but after the last few brutal days, I needed something good to distract me from the shit show that was my life. And there was no doubt in my mind that Ariel Sampson was everything good.

Her spine straightened and she bobbed around me, avoiding contact in favor of racking the balls and lining them up.

“Do you want to break?” she asked.

“Ladies first.”

Ari rolled her eyes and reached for the chalk. With her stick prepped, she leaned over the edge of the table, her ass jutting out and the hem of her dress riding up her thigh.