The Love Wager by Lynn Painter

            “She’s your sister—what do you think?”

            Jack looked at the girls through the window. “Maybe I should go out there.”

            “Do you care, though?” Colin tipped back his bottle, drained the last of it, then said, “I mean, if she’s just a friend, who cares if nosy Liv pokes around?”

            “Y’know what?” Jack stared at Colin for a second. “You’re right. It doesn’t matter.”

            “She’s cute, though.”

            “Huh?”

            “Your bartender. Not too hard on the eyes, right?”

            Jack looked at Hallie, chatting with Olivia out on the balcony.

            No, she was not.

            He’d barely noticed her looks the first time he’d met her at the jewelry store, probably because she’d been such a smartass while showing him rings, but now he found that fact pretty tough to believe.

            Her green eyes, that lush mouth, the way she fell into easy laughter—TB was fucking hot. The image of her in those squirrel panties popped into his head, and he quickly pushed it away. That ridiculous undergarment shouldn’t have been sexy, but it sure as fuck had been on her.

            Dammit.

            It felt important that he forget—or at least try to forget—their sexual details and history. He liked their partnership (friendship?), and he didn’t want to get confused by attraction.

            Again.





Hallie


            “So.” Olivia sat down on a deck chair, propped her foot on the small matching table, and said, “Jack told me you’re, like, perma-wingmen to each other, is that right?”

            “That’s actually a perfect description.” Hallie sat down on the other patio chair, relaxing a little since it was clear she wasn’t trying to grill her or something. “We’re both trying to find someone through the app, so we commiserate.”

            “But the two of you . . . aren’t . . . like, interested in each other at all?”

            “God, no.” Hallie shook her head and said, “We’re absolutely platonic.”

            “And you’ve actually discussed that you aren’t into each other?”

            “Wait, are you thinking he’s into me or something?” Hallie asked. “Because he’s totally not.”

            “No, no, not at all,” she said. “Can I be honest with you?”

            “Of course.”

            “Jack’s kind of a hot mess right now. He’s always breezed through life, enjoying flirty-fun relationships with women like an overgrown child. But last year—”

            Olivia leaned her head toward the door, making sure no one was coming out.

            “Last year, his life was kind of upended. First, Colin and I fell in love and moved in together, so he kind of lost his best friend. Then our uncle Mack, his favorite relative and totally his hero, passed away suddenly.”

            Hallie remembered Jack mentioning that his uncle Mack was with them at the baseball’s corresponding game. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

            “It’s okay. But for Jack, it was like everything in his life changed overnight. And then when Mack died and the only people who came to his funeral were people in our family, it really screwed with Jack’s head.”

            “No friends?”

            “None.” Olivia crossed her arms over her chest and said, “It was so unbelievable that this guy who was the life of every party and a total ladies’ man would die alone. Not a single friend or girlfriend—and he’d had so many—was close enough to him to feel compelled to show up for his burial. Like, what the hell, right?”

            “Oof,” Hallie said.

            “Total oof,” Olivia agreed. “It was right about that time that Jack started dating Vanessa.”

            “Ah.”