“Wait a second. You’ve had Nick over? Nick Nick?”

Audrey tossed her hair and flashed me a devilish smirk. “That’s the one. He lives here, you know.”

“So do half a million other people,” I said with a frown. I had never understood Audrey’s attraction to Nick. He was good-looking, sure, but he had never been any more interesting or engaging than any other beer-bonging, pot-smoking frat boy. Audrey could have done so much better.

“Relax, Cat,” Audrey said as the waiter placed fresh drinks in front of us. She seized hers and lifted it. “Anyway, let’s not talk about Nick and my lack of love life. Let’s talk about yours instead.”

“There’s not much to say about my lack of love life.”

“Oh no?” she asked with a smirk. “What about Connor?”

My cheeks burned. “I’ve already told you. Connor’s just a friend.”

She laughed triumphantly. “Cat, you have the worst poker face! Every time you talk about him your eyes go heart-shaped. So what’s the story?”

The story was that I had been helplessly enamored of Connor since first semester of law school. I’d just concluded an argument in torts class when this tall, handsome man in the back of the room raised his hand and began, “But to play devil’s advocate …” I met his warm hazel eyes across the room, and all reason left me. I stopped listening to his counterargument and started planning out the next few decades of our lives.

But as long as I had been nurturing that crush, I’d never admitted it aloud, and so I automatically said, “There’s no story.”

“Like hell there isn’t. Come on, Cat. If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?”

I looked into Audrey’s open face and realized she was right. She was my best friend. Finally, I had someone I could confide in again.

“We kissed once,” I admitted, a flush warming my chest as I remembered the soft pads of his fingers caressing my jawline, the wet warmth of his mouth.

“Just once? What happened after that?”

“We sobered up. It was at a party celebrating our law school graduation. We’d both had too much to drink and … it just happened. But then we were consumed with bar studying, and then Connor moved to Idaho for a clerkship.”

“Okay, but now you’re both here. Working in the same office, even. And you’re obviously still into him.”

“We’re just friends, Audrey.”

“Yeah, currently,” she said with a giggle. “But did I tell you what he said about you?”

“What?” I asked, heartbeat suddenly pounding in my ears. “No. When did you talk to Connor?”

“I ran into him the other day on the street. We got to talking, and he said he thinks you’re great.”

I sagged, pulse still racing. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“It was the way he said it,” she said confidently. “Trust me. So what are you going to do about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Cat! He clearly wants you. And you clearly want him.” She laughed and shook her head. “Hon, you are so lucky that we’re best friends.”