Tucker felt a thousand years old as he watched Della and Bo depart, her panties burning a hole in his pocket. Even from behind, they looked like an amazing couple.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Drew demanded.

He glared at his old friend. “Oh, come on, man. They’re perfect together. You have to see that.”

Tucker had felt ill—physically ill—watching them chat and laugh at his bar. They were young and good-looking and fun. They were like couples from stock images that were used to sell everything from new cars to photo frames.

Bo Forbes was exactly the kind of guy Della had been looking for when they started out on this venture a few months ago. He was funny, kind, and interesting, he had a job with the potential to make a lot of money, respected his family, loved his granny, and had been recommended by someone Della trusted.

If Tucker could have drawn her perfect match, it would have been Bo Forbes.

“All I see is an idiot.”

“We were always temporary, Drew.”

“Dude. You’re in love with her.”

“No.” Tucker shook his head emphatically. “I’m not.”

But he was. He knew it as surely as he knew his life was never going to be the same again. He was lousily, depressingly, heartbreakingly in love with her.

Fuck.

Drew snorted. “If your superpower was the ability to shoot daggers from your eyes, Bo Forbes would have bled out all over this bar about a minute after you handed over his beer.”

Tucker rolled his eyes. “You always were the melodramatic one.” Except he was right. Bo’s flirt had been on from the get-go, and it had taken all Tucker’s power not to throw him out on his ass.

“Oh, for the love of…” Drew muttered under his breath. “So what? You’re just going to stand by and watch some other guy scoop her up? Without even telling her how you feel?”

“Yes. Because this is what she wanted. She wanted me to teach her the sex stuff so she could meet guys like Bo and flirt with them and date them. And guess what? Today is graduation day.”

He’d done his bit, and now it was time to step back and let her fly, because while they both may have lost sight of what they were doing, this was what she’d wanted. What she’d asked from him. What they’d agreed on.

It wasn’t her fault he’d gone and fallen in love, and he refused to be the guy who held her back. She’d already regretted what she’d missed out on when she was with Todd, and he didn’t want her to look back and regret her time with him because he’d put his feelings and needs above hers.

“Now order another damn drink or get the hell out of my bar.”