One thing felt truer than true in that moment. Being around Sloane sure had made his life more interesting.

Still, Brady didn’t quite know what to say. After he’d gotten the call from Emma, he hadn’t waited a second to jump in his truck. The fact that Sloane was in some kind of trouble was enough. But he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that Emma calling Sloane his “girlfriend” hadn’t added some fuel to the fire.

If Sloane hadn’t called off their arrangement to her best friend, then was it really what she wanted? For them to call it quits?

But now, standing in the back parking lot of his nemesis’s bar, Brady wondered if maybe he’d skimmed over a pretty important detail.

Maybe Sloane had been about to “out” them while giving his competitor a major PR boost by doing it publicly on The Drinking Spot’s property.

But then why was she hanging out of a window?

“I was spying.” Sloane’s words came out quick and soft.

“Come again?”

She shifted her weight between his shoulders. Brady found a spot to stare at on his truck and listened as she explained.

“We were driving by, and I saw the sign and figured you were right. I hadn’t really done a lot for the bar yet, so I thought we could check the place out and see what I was up against, you know? But then the damn owner walked up and started instantly bragging about the place and how what he had in the back room was going to help put that ‘hick bar’ out on its butt. So I kind of had to go look after that. But then someone was walking around, and I got spooked and tried to run.” She let out a long, low breath. “I panicked, got my big butt stuck in a damn window, and told Emma to call you. Sorry.”

Brady didn’t know which piece of information he wanted to tackle first. The fact that Sloane had been trying to help his bar, Thomas was bragging about having something that was going to hurt it, or Sloane had her friend call Brady first to come help.

So, instead of tackling any one point, he decided he needed to clear the air first.

“I should be the one saying sorry.” Brady couldn’t help but grin. “You’re a lot of things, Sloane De Carlo, but pathetic isn’t one of them. Not by a long shot. I might have said it, but I didn’t mean a word. I’m sorry.”

Sloane’s wall of hair shifted against him again. Brady wished he could look at her.

“And I don’t think you’re pathetic, either,” she said. “I’m sorry I let Carol get under my skin and turned against you.”

Just like that, the anxiousness Brady had been feeling finally eased off.