Not just kissed her but kissed her when there wasn’t a damn soul around. At least at the beach, he could blame it on trying to keep their cover as a couple going, and even in the kitchen after the spider incident, he could blame it on adrenaline or something like that.

Now he was standing behind the bar at Cassidy’s and shaking his head, side-eyeing his cell phone on its top.

Should he call her? Text her? Say “my bad, I was still thinking about your lips and wanted another taste”? Send a string of emojis and a big ol’ “whoops”?

Or maybe he could just leave it alone.

It wasn’t that big of a deal. In fact, it was kind of like they had been rehearsing.

Brady shook his head again and grumbled at himself. What the hell, Knox?

The main door to the bar opened, and two men came in. Brady decided not to decide on what to do about Sloane and pocketed his phone, ready to get lost in thoughts about the bar instead. Not thoughts about how warm Sloane’s lips had been.

Derrick Kennerly, a local who had recently moved back to Arbor Bay, came to the bar with Dewey Royce in tow. Brady was friendly with Dewey but hadn’t seen Derrick in a while. He greeted both with a nod as they took over the barstools across from him.

“Well if it isn’t our very own Casanova in the flesh!” Dewey exclaimed, throwing his hands wide. Most would think he was making fun of Brady, but Dewey was some kind of hyper at any given moment. He no more meant to mock someone than Brady meant to randomly kiss someone. “You know, I was at the grocery store today and ended up hearing the cashier and Mrs. Buckley talking about you and Sloane. Then I looked at your Facebook and saw you changed your status to In a Relationship with her. I guess I was living under a rock because I didn’t even realize y’all knew each other.”

Brady didn’t have to ask Dewey what he drank. He went ahead and started pouring a light ale from the tap.

“Now, don’t you come in here looking for gossip, Dewey. You know the only thing I like serving is alcohol.”

Dewey laughed at that. He took his drink with a hand up in defense.

“I’m just happy for you is all. I know Sloane is a good one, and that prickly attitude of yours could always use some good.” Again, Dewey didn’t ever mean anything he said to offend, so Brady took the comment with a smile.

Derrick, on the other hand, seemed a little too aggressive when he spoke.