Page 32 of Happily Ever Never

“It could be called that, too. My family called it guiltface. Now, what did you do?”

“I kissed someone,” I blurted.

She blinked as Tristan whistled between his teeth. Oh, myfriend knew exactly who I was talking about.

“You kissed who?”

“A girl I wasn’t supposed to.”

“Why weren’t you? Is she someone else’s? Is she of age? Talkto me.”

“She’s no one else’s. She’s single.Completely of age. But off-limits.”

“Why is she off-limits? Does someone else love her?”

I shook my head, running my hands through my hair andfeeling frustrated. “No, it’s nothing like that. I just said I wouldn’t go nearher. They told me she was off-limits, so I didn’t let that happen.”

I explained a little bit more about her, but not too much.Brandi didn’t need to know all about May. And, frankly, I was getting exhaustedtrying to explain this corner I found myself in.

Brandi blinked at me. “Okay. You aren’t a jerk dude who lets other people say who’s off-limits. She’s the one whodecides. Other dudes don’t get to piss around her andclaim her as their territory because they think they need to protect her.That’s not how this works.”

Tristan laughed. “You’re my favorite person now.”

“I’m everybody’s favorite person.” She turned to me. “Leo.Are you serious right now? Are you terrified of whatothers will think, or are you afraid of what you could do?”

“I have no idea what that means. And I don’t know theanswers.”

“Then think about it. But you’re clearly all worked up yetsmiling at the thought of this woman. You should see what happens. Fix it.Apologize. Make sure she knows that you’re not a jerk. That means you can’t bea jerk.”

“What if I screw up?” I asked, my voice low.

“With who I think you’re talkingabout, you won’t,” Leif said.

I froze, then looked at my boss. I hadn’t even realized he’dcome in. What the hell was wrong with me? “What?”

“With May? You’re not going to fuckit up.”

“May? That’s her name?” Brandi asked, a weird look on herface. Then she shook her head. “Seriously, though, just talk to her. All youneed to do is talk to her.”

“I agree.” Leif glared at me. “I see the way you two actaround each other. How you look at each other. Fix it, or I’ll fix you.”

I blinked. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, my voice agrowl. “What is going on right now?”

“What’s going on is that you need to figure out what you’rethinking. What you’re feeling. And talk to May,” Tristan put in.

“Talk to her,” Brandi whispered.

“And before? What I said about her being off-limits? I meanttreating her like your past women—not that you ever would,” he put in. “I meantsleeping with her and walking away. Because I don’t need broken hearts allaround us. But then I realized, thanks to Brooke and me, that it’s not myplace. I’m not that jerk either, Brandi,” he said, telling me Leif had beenlistening for a while.

“You weren’t a jerk,” I growled.

“I’m not. But I had no right to tell you not to date May. Tosay she was off-limits. I could have said, and what I should havesaid, was that you two are both good friends of mine, and I don’t want thingsawkward. But that’s selfish of me. You guys would probably be great with eachother. So, I’m just going to ignore what I said. Like you should ignore me.”

“Leif.”

“No, I have nothing to do with this. I meant at the moment, weeks ago. I didn’tmean for you not to date her. I was being a growly asshole.”

“You are a growly asshole,” I said with a laugh.