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“Hey, Parker.”
Turning, he came face to face with one of the guys from his crew. His good mood quickly dwindled. Although he normally wouldn’t care, Drew wasn’t ready to share Beth with the guys. They’d want to know everything about her, and well, he was still trying to figure her out himself. “Hi, Baily.”
Baily looked around as if searching for something. “You meeting someone?”
Before Drew could answer, the little girl standing next to Baily spoke up to get her father’s attention. “Daddy, are we going to go see the princesses now?”
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Drew opened his car door. “I don’t want to make you miss your movie. I’ll catch you later.”
“You coming by Romeo’s house tomorrow to help with the pool?”
Crap. He’d completely forgotten about that. “Got something in the afternoon, but I’ll be there for a few hours. You?”
Baily, of course, didn’t let it go. “Got a hot date?”
Drew decided to make a joke of it. He winked at Baily, and slid in behind the wheel of his car. “Something like that.”
The next morning, Drew contemplated the wisdom of showing up to Romeo’s at all. Sure, he said last week that he’d help, but that was before Beth had agreed to spend any kind of time with him outside the club. He had no doubt that by the time he got there his ‘hot date’ would be the main topic of conversation. Drew had to figure out what he was going to tell his crew about the woman he wasn’t actually dating.
Pulling up in front of the two-story house, he could see that Baily and Irwin were already there. Taking a deep breath, he turned off the engine, and made his way into the backyard where he knew they’d be waiting.
The teasing began as soon as they saw him.
“Hey, hey. He made it,” Baily said.
“Up late last night?” Romeo asked wiggling his eyebrows up and down suggestively.
Drew ignored their comments, and reached for one of the blueberry muffins laid out on a table set up along the back of the house. “You said eight thirty, didn’t you?”
The guys chuckled, but settled down some when Sophia stepped into the backyard carrying a pitcher. “Thought you boys might like some juice to go with your breakfast. I’ve got some coffee brewing as well. I’ll bring it out when it’s ready.”
Romeo took the pitcher from her and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, baby.”
She smiled and disappeared back inside the house.
After stuffing their faces with muffins, coffee, and the apple juice Sophia had provided, the four of them got to work. By the time lunch rolled around, they had the ground cleared and leveled with sand, and the pool lying in parts on the lawn. Overall, it was a very productive morning.
At noon, Romeo fired up the grill and cooked some burgers and brats. They lazed on the back patio eating and shooting the bull. It was then that the subject of his upcoming afternoon activities resurfaced.
“You going to tell us what’s so important that you’re abandoning us this afternoon?” Irwin asked.
Kyle Irwin was the quietest guy on his crew. He usually kept his head down and went along with whatever was going on. For him to be speaking up, Drew knew what the main topic of conversation had been before he arrived that morning.
He shrugged. “I just have plans, that’s all.”
“Girl plans?” Baily asked.
“Not exactly.”
There were a lot of suggestive noises followed by Romeo lifting his beer in salute. “Well, don’t let us get in the way of you getting some pussy.”
While Drew knew he shouldn’t let the guys get to him—especially since it was nothing he hadn’t dished out before himself on occasion—it irritated him all the same. Beth wasn’t some random hookup. “It’s not like that. We’re friends.”
“You’re blowing us off to go hang out with a girl you’re not banging? Something wrong there, man,” Baily said.
Drew let it go and finished off his burger. He tossed his trash in the garbage bag Sophia brought out earlier that morning, and headed into the house to use the bathroom. On his way back out, he ran into Sophia. She had her arms full with two more pitchers. The sun was beating down on them, and they’d been downing water almost as fast as she could bring it out to them. “Here, let me help you.”
She smiled, and handed him one of the pitchers. “Thanks.”
