“Here you go.” The bartender placed my drink down.

Turning away from what was about to go down over there, I glanced up at the bartender as I knocked a strand of long black hair out of my face. “Thank you.”

He winked. “No problem.”

The bartender ambled off to help someone else, while I was left to wonder why he’d winked. Thinking I probably shouldn’t have let Kyler talk me into coming out tonight, I picked up my glass and took a larger than normal gulp. I forced myself to swallow the bit of alcohol, even as it burned my throat.

Just as I placed my drink down, I was hugged from behind. The vanilla-scented perfume and high-pitch squeal gave away the culprit.

“You’re here! I saw you from the other side of the bar and tried to get your attention,” Andrea said, spinning me around the bar stool. Her red curls were twisted in every which direction. My roommate looked like Little Orphan Annie all grown up…if Little Orphan Annie had a potential drinking problem. As evidenced by the beers she was double-fisting.

“How much have you had to drink?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “This beer’s for Tanner, you bitch.”

“Since when do you get beers for Tanner?”

Andrea shrugged. “He’s being nice tonight. So I’m being nice tonight.”

Tanner and Andrea were weird. They’d met last year and it was hate at first sight. Somehow they kept ending up in the same places, and I guessed they tripped and fell on each other’s lips or something. They’d made out a few times, fought a lot more, and now she was serving him drinks. I could never figure them out.

“How long have you guys been here?” I asked.

“About an hour.” She wiggled her way between me and some girl on the other stool. “Kyler’s Official Girl Parade has been in full force.”

I winced. “I can see.”

“Yeah, I noticed that you saw. That’s why you weren’t paying a bit of attention to me.” She took a swig of beer. “You coming to the table?”

To the table where Blondie was practically dry humping Kyler? Sign me up. “I’ll be over in a little bit.”

She pouted. “You need to hurry your little ass up and come to the table. Kyler will run the girl off if you’re over there, and then I don’t have to worry about catching herpes.”

“Herpes isn’t airborne,” I told her.

“Yeah, you say that now, but then it mixes with chlamydia and genital warts then you have a super-strain of herpes.” Her nose wrinkled. “You breathe it in, and then bam! You’ll need antiviral therapy for life.”

Andrea was planning on going to med school after college, and I thought she needed to take a few of her classes over again if she believed that was possible. But I knew what the real problem was, and it wasn’t the gift that kept giving.

Where there was one girl after Kyler, there were at least two or three more girls hanging on the outskirts. I looked over my shoulder. Yep. Two girls. Andrea didn’t want me over there to make sure Kyler behaved. She was just as good at hiding her feelings as I was.

She didn’t want one of those other girls to fall into Tanner’s lap, which looked close to happening. One of the girls was chatting it up with the tattooed, buzz-cut police officer’s son. Tanner appeared only half-interested, saying something to Kyler. Blondie wasn’t happy with the lack of attention. She twisted around, scooped up a piece of ice out of a drink on the table and popped it in her mouth. With her other hand, she tugged Kyler’s head toward hers as she bent her head down.

“Oh, look at that.” Andrea sighed. “I think I saw that once in an 80s movie. Do you think that girl has any sense of shame?”

My stomach dipped like I was poised atop a rollercoaster. It wasn’t about not having shame. It was all about going for what you wanted. Part of me envied Blondie—a really huge Kyler-sized part of me. “I seriously hope their mouths aren’t touching, because now all I’m thinking about is herpes.”

Andrea pushed off the bar. “Uh…”

Their lips were touching.

Damn it.

A second later Kyler leaned back, his jaw working as he chewed what I assumed was the piece of ice Blondie had so openly shared.

“Ugh,” I murmured, turning back around. Andrea winced, because she knew…she was the only person who knew. “I’ll be over in a little while. Going to finish my drink first.”

“Okay.” She smiled, but sadness crept into her eyes. “Sydney…”

Now I felt like a lame turd. “It’s all right, really. I’ll be right over.”

“After you finish your drink?” When I nodded, she sighed. “You never finish a drink, but I’ll be waiting. Don’t take forever.” She started to turn and then whipped back to me, nearly losing a bottle of beer. “Actually, take your time.”

“Huh?”

Her smile spread. “Look who just came in.”

I craned my neck to follow her gaze. “Oh.”

“‘Oh’ is right.” Andrea bent down and kissed my cheek. “Forget about Kyler the man-slut. You’re better than that. But him?” She nodded at the door. “That’s a keeper who’s more than willing to end your celibacy.”

Heat swamped my cheeks. Before I could argue the use of the word “celibacy,” Andrea had skipped off and I was left staring at Paul Robertson.

Paul was new to our group; I’d met him in my Cognitive Processes lab. He…he was good-looking. He was nice and funny. He was perfect, really, but…

He stopped just at the edge of the dance floor, tugging off his skull cap. Scanning the bar, he smoothed a hand over his blond hair. His eyes met mine and a quick grin spread across his face. Giving me a little wave, he easily navigated the group of people huddled around round tables.

Paul would be perfect for me right now, and for that very reason alone, I needed to stop thinking about the unattainable and start thinking about what was right in front of my face.

Taking a deep breath, I mustered up what I hoped was a sexy smile. There was no better time than tonight.

Kyler

I was already starting to get a headache. By the way the chick was squirming in my lap like she was ready to get it on right now, this was going to be a long night. I crunched down on the piece of ice, half-tempted to spit it out.

But that would be sort of rude.

I should have been in the mood to celebrate, except I wasn’t. One more semester of college left, and then what? Join the family business and shit? God, that was the last thing I wanted. Well, not necessarily the last thing. Trying to explain to my mom why I didn’t foresee a career in bar restoration in my future was probably the last thing I wanted to do. It was never something I wanted to do, but almost four years of college later, and I was about to walk out with a degree in business bullshit.

Reaching around the girl, I grabbed the neck of the beer bottle. Across from me, Tanner raised his brows. I smirked as he turned back to whatever the brunette chick was saying to him. Something about getting a wax yesterday and she was outside the mandatory twenty-four hour waiting period. Seriously? That was pretty much the last thing either of us wanted to hear.

Knowing there was an all-clear on getting down did have its bennies, but Tanner didn’t look too into it.

“Kyler,” the blonde crooned in my ear as she wiggled her ass. “You don’t seem happy to see me. I’m happy to see you again.”

And apparently I wasn’t too into it, either. Taking a long drink, I knew I had to proceed with wise caution. Supposedly I knew this girl—like knew her, knew her—but I couldn’t place her face or her ass, which was all kinds of messed up. How could I not know her when I’d most definitely slept with her at some point?

Fuck.

Sometimes I was sick with myself.

She leaned in, pressing her breasts right up under my chin. Okay. I wasn’t that sick with myself. “Honey,” I said, fingering the bottle. “I’m going to need to breathe at some point.”