Sweet Little Lies Read online

  exception of Archer. Finn didn’t know what was up, but the two of them studiously avoided each other whenever possible. Everyone but Elle was in shorts and tees, looking bedraggled, a little sweaty and a whole lot dusty. Elle hadn’t gone on the hike. She didn’t do dirt. Or excursion. Dressed to kill as always, she wore a royal blue sleeveless sheath and coolly slapped Spence’s hand away from her fries.

  He grinned in apology but the minute Elle’s back was turned, he stole another. Only Spence could do that and live.

  Haley was there too, an intern at the optometrist’s shop on the ground floor of the building. But Finn’s gaze went directly to the last person sitting there, just as dusty as everyone but Elle.

  Pru.

  “Got suckered into the hike up Twin Peaks, huh?” he asked.

  She smiled the smile of someone who was very proud of herself.

  He grinned back. “Number four?” he guessed.

  Her smile widened. “Three.”

  Whoa. Finn turned to Spence, who shrugged. “On the way there, I calculated out who and what everyone’s going to pick in the draft,” Spence said. “All I needed was the fourth pick, so I didn’t see any reason to go crazy out there.”

  “You did that on the way there,” Finn repeated, a little awed.

  “Actually, I worked it out in my head before we even left.”

  Elle looked at Spence. “Remember when you told me to tell you when you were acting like that kid that no one would want to be friends with?”

  Spence just grinned and stole another fry.

  “She looks so delicate,” Willa said and jabbed a thumb in Pru’s direction. “Totally thought I could take her.” She shook her head. “She wiped the trail with me.”

  “You do a lot of hiking?” Finn asked Pru.

  “Not lately.” She lifted a shoulder and sipped at what looked like a plain soda. “I haven’t had time,” she said demurely. “I’m out of shape.”

  Archer laughed. “Don’t believe that for a second. This girl can move when she’s got inspiration, and apparently she takes her fantasy football seriously. You should’ve seen those long legs in action.”

  Oh, Finn had. In his sexual fantasies.

  “Why didn’t you go?” she asked. “Didn’t want to show off your long legs?”

  Archer choked on beer. “I like her,” he announced.

  Finn didn’t take his eyes off Pru. Hers were lit with amusement, which went well with the streak of dirt across her jaw. There was another over her torso, specifically her left breast. “I have great legs,” he said.

  “Uh huh.”

  “I do. Tell her,” he said to the room.

  Spence shrugged noncommittally. “Archer’s are better.”

  Archer grinned. “Damn straight.”

  Elle let out a rare smile. “I like her too,” she said to Archer.

  “It’s not about my legs,” Finn said to Pru. Shit, and now he sounded defensive.

  “Maybe you should prove it,” she said casually and Archer choked again.

  Willa bounced up and down in her seat, clapping. “It’s like Christmas!”

  “We’re keeping her, right?” Spence asked.

  “Hey,” Sean said, bringing them another pitcher of beer. “If a lady wanted to see my legs, I’d show her. Just sayin’.”

  Asshole.

  Pru turned expectantly back to Finn and he had to laugh. “What, right here?” he asked in disbelief.

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “Because . . .” Jesus. How had he lost control of this conversation? “I am not dropping trou right here,” he said stiffly, and great, because now he sounded like he had a stick up his ass.

  “Maybe he hasn’t shaved,” Willa said. “That’d keep me from dropping trou. I only shaved from my knees down. My thighs are as hairy as a lumberjack’s chest, which is why I’m wearing capris and not short shorts. You are all welcome.”

  Elle nodded like this made perfect sense.

  “Gonna have to prove it to the lady,” Archer said ever so helpfully to Finn. “Drop ’em.”

  He was an asshole too.

  Willa grinned and tapped her hands on the bar in rhythm and began to chant. “Drop ’em, drop ’em . . .”

  The others joined in. Shit. They were all assholes.

  Pru leaned in over the bar and gave him a come here gesture. He shifted close and met her halfway, stilling when she put her mouth to his ear.

  “No one but me can see behind the bar,” she whispered.

  It took a moment to compute her words because at first all he could concentrate on was the feel of her lips on his ear. When she exhaled, her warm breath caressed his skin and he had to remind himself that he was in a crowded bar, surrounded by his idiot friends.

  She smiled enticingly.

  “Not happening,” he said on a laugh. At least not here, with an audience. He wondered if she’d still be playing with him if they were alone in his bed. Or if that was too far away, his office . . .

  Her hair fell into his face and a stubborn silky strand stuck to the stubble on his jaw. He didn’t care. She might be streaked with dirt but she smelled amazing.

  He was mid-sniff when she whispered, “Fun Whisperer, remember?”

  “Maybe I’m commando,” he whispered back and was gratified by her quick intake of breath and the darkening of her eyes. “Either way,” he said, “I don’t drop trou on the first date.”

  She bit her lower lip and let her gaze drop over him, probably trying to figure out if he was telling the truth about going commando.

  Then her phone buzzed and she flashed him a grin as she stepped aside to answer it.

  Sean came close and nudged him as they both watched Pru talk into her cell. “That’s the woman for you.”

  “No,” Finn said. “She’s not. You know I don’t date women in the building.”

  “Which would be a great rule if you ever left the building.”

  “I leave the building.” To get to and from work, but still. He resented the implication that his life wasn’t enough as is.

  Elle shoved her glass under Sean’s nose. She didn’t like beer on tap. “Earn your keep, bar wench.”

  Sean rolled his eyes but took the glass. “What do you want, your highness? Something pink with an umbrella in it, I suppose?”

  “Do I look like a college coed to you?” she asked. “I’ll take a martini.”

  He grinned and shifted away to make it for her. Willa came around to Finn’s side of the bar. She was tiny, barely came up to his shoulder, but she was like a mother cat when riled. He knew better than to go toe to toe with her, especially when she was giving him The Look. But he wasn’t in the mood. “No,” he said.

  “You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

  “You’re going to say I’m being a stupid guy,” Finn said. “But newsflash, I am a guy and sometimes we’re stupid. Deal with it.”

  “I wasn’t going to say that.” She paused when he slid her a look and she sighed. “Okay, fine, I was. But you are being stupid.”

  “Shock,” he said.

  She put her hand on his arm until he blew out a breath and looked at her again.

  “I’m worried about you,” she said softly. “You’ve got yourself on lockdown. I know this place has taken off and you’re so busy, but it’s like Sean is the one having all the fun with it and you’re just . . . letting him. What about you, Finn? When is it going to be about you?”

  He turned and watched Sean work his magic charisma on a gaggle of young twenties at the other end of the bar. He’d never gotten to be just a kid. The least Finn could do was let him be twenty-two. “He deserves it.”

  “And you don’t? You’re working like crazy and just going through the motions.”

  True or not, he didn’t want to hear it. “You want anything to eat?”

  She sighed, getting the message, which was part of why he loved her so much. “No, thanks, I’ve gotta go. Gotta get up early tomorrow for a wedding. I�