Nick interrupted me with a groan. “I can’t believe you’re friends with that girl. She’s so weird.”

“Don’t be mean. Anyway, you haven’t seen her in years. She’s changed a lot since college.”

“I’ll believe that once I see it. What’s this ‘thing’ that happened?”

“I went to trivia with her tonight—”

Nick laughed. “Is that why you’re always at trivia night? I’ve seen you post about it and wondered if you’d been taken hostage.” His voice turned slightly mocking. “It seemed a little off-brand for Audrey Miller.”

“You’re right, okay?” I said, pinching him playfully. “But I’ve been going for Cat. She has this crush on some guy on her trivia team, but … well, tonight he tried to kiss me.”

Nick’s golden eyebrows arched. “Did you kiss him back?”

“Of course not.”

“But what? Cat thinks you did?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t think that Cat even knows he tried to kiss me.”

“So what’s the problem?”

I wrapped a lock of hair around my finger, pulling it tighter and tighter as I considered how to articulate what was bothering me. As the tip of my finger turned red, I said, “I guess the problem is that I don’t know why he tried to kiss me. Like, why did he think I would reciprocate? Did he think I had been flirting with him? Had I been flirting with him? Am I the kind of woman who flirts with her friend’s crush?”

“You think too much,” Nick said, gently unwinding the hair from my finger and twisting it around his instead. “He tried to kiss you because you’re hot. Full stop.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said, tugging lightly on my hair. “But I don’t like the idea of other guys trying to put their filthy mouths on you.”

I laughed and pushed him away. “Oh, come off it, Nicky. I don’t belong to you.”

He growled low in his throat and rolled on top of me, pinning my hands down to the bed. “Tonight you do.”

“YOU’VE POSTED about this coffee shop so many times I feel like I’ve been here myself,” Nick joked as we joined the queue at Columbia Brews. “Are they paying you for all that publicity? Should I alert the FCC?”

“You know, that’s not a half-bad idea. If I could work out a partnership with them, then maybe I wouldn’t have to spend half my paycheck just to sustain my caffeine addiction.”

“Have you considered investing in a coffeemaker?” he asked wryly.

“Considered and rejected. Come on, how aspirational is brewing your own coffee? I’ve got to think of my followers!” I teased.

He chuckled and shook his head. “You’re a real piece of work, Aud.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door swing open and a tall man stride in. My laughter caught in my throat. Even with his face partially concealed by a Nationals baseball cap, I recognized Connor.

Clutching Nick’s arm, I hissed, “Don’t look now, but the guy I was telling you about last night just came in.”