She pointed to the hat he’d set down next to him. “Did I say a big package? I meant hat.”

He flushed, and Justine thought him just the cutest. He smiled. “The cutest, huh?”

“Crap. I said that out loud.” She had a bad habit of saying whatever popped into her mind aloud when drunk. That would not be good with Xavier. He couldn’t possibly know how much she liked him or was attracted to him. “Don’t want to scare you off.”

He looked smug. “No chance of that.” He glanced around and whispered to Katie.

She nodded in the direction Mitch had gone.

“Ah. The dark-haired guy with the pretty date in red?”

“That’s Dr. Douche.”

Justine sighed. “Katie, if you had a jar for every time you swore, you’d have a lot of nickels.”

Katie and Xavier just looked at her.

“What?”

Xavier shook his head. “I think you two need to lay off the beer and start downing water. Tomorrow probably won’t look so sunny at work. Oh, and I’m driving you both home unless you want to call for a ride.”

Katie pouted. “You’re not nearly as fun as you were when we watched Spartacus.”

“True.” Justine agreed.

“Well, someone has to take one for the team.” He looked up when Mitch and Mikayla stopped by their table. “Can we help you?”

Wow. Xavier sounded so polite.

Mitch frowned. “Who are you?”

“Her boyfriend,” Katie said before Justine could answer. “And he’s got a big package. I mean, hat.” Katie gave an exaggerated wink.

Justine slapped a hand over her face, but not before she saw Xavier’s shit-eating grin.

“I’m Mitch. Justine’s ex-boyfriend.” Mitch stared down at Xavier.

Xavier, always the mature, sensible guy, remained seated and courteous. “Ah, the doctor ex-boyfriend. Nice to meet you. I’m Xavier, Justine’s current boyfriend.”

Justine drank water, trying to sober up before she admitted to Mitch that Xavier was just pretending…and that her brief, fake boyfriend was better than Mitch had ever been.

“This is Mikayla, my girlfriend,” Mitch introduced while looking at Justine.

She watched the woman, not pleased to see Mikayla’s subtle interest in Xavier.

Xavier nodded. “Nice to meet you both. I’ve heard a lot about you, Mitch.” He said nothing more, just smiled.

Everyone stared at one another in silence before Mikayla prodded Mitch to break eye contact with Xavier. What Mitch thought he was doing with all the male posturing was anyone’s guess, but Xavier didn’t look impressed.

“See you at the wedding,” Mitch tossed out before leaving with Mikayla on his arm.

After they left, Xavier turned to Katie and said, “And that’s how you Mitch-slap Dr. Douche without saying a word.”

Katie laughed so hard she cried, which had Justine snorting and laughing as well.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t laughing an hour later as Xavier carried her into TCA’s elevator and they rode up to her floor. “Oh man. I feel dizzy.”

“What happened to you two? Katie texted that Mitch had arrived with some woman on his arm and that you needed backup. So I came.”