“I gotta go before my cousin throttles me.” He looked at Zoey for a moment, and she could see he was still struggling with some strange internal battle. There was a vein throbbing on the side of his neck. His smile warmed, no longer a put-on. “Sorry if I was an ass before. Mary called me out on it, too. We’ll catch up over the weekend, okay?”

“Sure.” Her eyes followed him as he returned to the bar. She couldn’t wait to hear what put him in such a mood.

“Well, that explains a lot.”

Once again, she’d forgotten about Mason. She blinked at him. “What do you mean?”

“It’s pretty clear why you didn’t feel sparks with me. There are too many of them tied up between you and the bartender.” He chuckled. “And it was very definitely mutual.”

She almost choked on the laughter that bubbled up. “Me and Mike? No way. We’ve been pals since grade school, and we’ve never been more than just friends. Good friends, but that’s it.”

“Okay.” He took a sip of his brandy, clearly unconvinced. “He’s who you were texting before, right? The dude was giving me dagger-eyes, and his handshake nearly broke my fingers. That’s bro-code for back the hell off. And when you two had that little stare down?” His mouth slanted into a smile. “That was chemistry, Zoey.”

Was that possible? She sipped her drink and thought about it. Mike had seemed a little bit jealous. She could have misread him, though. He could have just been concerned for her, with it being her first real dinner date since the divorce. That was probably it. Kelly McKinnon dropped off their receipt, and Mason began to stand.

“Sorry, but you are way off base.” Zoey started to slide out of the booth, too. “We’re very strictly platonic.” She tried to sneak a glance back to the bar as they headed to the door. Mike was busy taking a drink order. Mason caught her looking and started to laugh.

“Whatever you say.” He walked her to her car and promised she’d be hearing from his employer about being interviewed to be on the approved commercial technician list. They agreed it had been a nice evening, but he suggested next time they met they should stick to coffee or lunch. He’d glanced at the pub. “Just to be safe.”

Wow. Was he talking about Mike again?

“Trust me—Mike and I would never spoil our friendship by getting...involved.”

Mason made no attempt at a good-night kiss, extending his hand with a smile instead.

“I know what I saw.” He turned to go, tossing his final comment over his shoulder. “There’s a good chance your platonic friend may be thinking differently about things.”

She refused to believe it. Mike would never. His mood tonight mirrored jealousy, but there’s no way it could be that for real.