Things We Never Said (Hart's Boardwalk #3) - Samantha Young Page 0,4

I know you’re Irish.”

“I am. But I’m not feeding you a line.”

Flustered, I pushed my chair back from the table and grabbed my purse. I liked Gary. Things were going good! Like, great. And this guy scared me. I mean, I could be a pretty impulsive person, but I’d never wanted to launch myself across the table at a guy I didn’t know and screw him six ways until Sunday. Sex until Gary had been about answering the calls of my hormonally charged body and being disappointed every time.

This pull with Michael was so much more than that. Yes, it was sexually charged, but there was something here. Some connection I didn’t understand. It was freaking me out!

“I have to go.”

“Don’t.” He stood, coming across unsure, which seemed out of character for him. But how would I know? We didn’t know each other! “I’m sorry if I came on too strong. I’ve never …” He shrugged, looking very young all of a sudden.

And I realized he was younger than I’d first thought—he had said he was a rookie cop. I put him at maybe my age or Gary’s, who was two years older than me.

“Stay. Talk.” He gestured to the table and then gave me a coaxing smile. “Tell me your name.”

“I can’t.” I needed some distance from this guy, and I needed to see Gary so I could be reminded that what we had was pretty damn good.

But Michael’s crestfallen expression tugged at my heart.

“Look, I’ll be back here on Wednesday night and then on Saturday again. If you’re sincere, then show up. We’ll go from there.”

His relief was visible.

“I like that too.” I smiled at him, and his eyes zeroed in on the dimple in my left cheek. It was a gift from my dad.

“Like what?”

“No bullshit. You tell me what you feel without even saying it. And I like you’re relieved. I take it you’ll be here?”

“Dahlin’, you smile at me like that, giving me that gorgeous little dimple, I’ll do anything short of murdering someone for you. Maybe even then,” he teased.

I grinned harder, and his expression turned tender. My God. “Then I’ll see you soon.”

“At least tell me your name,” he called as I strolled away.

I turned, walking backward, “I tell you what. You show, I’ll tell you my name.”

“Tease.”

I flipped him off with a playful grin, and his laughter followed me as I left. I was giddy with the kind of anticipation a girl with a boyfriend definitely should not feel.

“You doin’ okay?” Ally asked me as I handed change over to a customer.

My shift at Wilde’s Place had started two hours ago, and I’d worked my way around the bar pretty fast. I already had bartending experience, so it was no big deal, and the customers there were a lot more down-to-earth and fun to talk to than those at the college bar.

“Everything is going great.” I threw her a smile.

“Your boyfriend gonna be here soon?”

The thought of Gary caused a prickle of guilt. I’d technically arranged some kind of date with another guy. It didn’t seem like it at the time but giving myself distance from Michael made me realize how shitty what I’d done was. I’d flirted with another guy, and I’d arranged to see him again at my job. Yet, I couldn’t forget those butterflies or how I still felt them when I thought about the stranger. I didn’t have those with Gary, as much as I cared about him.

But was Michael worth ruining what I had with Gary? My boyfriend had called me before my shift to tell me that Sully had a Saturday night free, so he was bringing him to Wilde’s Place to meet me. Sully was Gary’s best friend, but he was a cop and hadn’t had a lot of free time lately. He’d been with Boston PD for nearly two years so he was now only getting a regular shift pattern that would allow him to see his buddies more.

I was a little nervous about meeting him. Gary talked about him all the time. They’d grown up together, and while Gary screwed around a lot, Sully was always there to get him out of scrapes. From what I knew about my boyfriend, he’d definitely been the irresponsible one in that friendship. Until me, Gary had only been interested in casual sex, whereas he used to rib Sully for being a one-woman kind of guy. Sully had wanted to go to college to be a lawyer,