Page 102 of The Last Goodbye

Cannon finished chewing, a big-ass grin on his face. “Jovi made me download the Kindle app on my phone, and she recommended some books to read while I’m recovering. She’s a big fan of enemies-to-lovers romance, so that’s what I’m reading now.”

“You’re getting romance recommendations from my sister?” I gaped at him.

“Damn straight, brother. In case you forgot, Jovi minored in English literature. She’s quite versed in the written word.” He smirked.

More laughter filled the space around us.

“Yeah, dude. I’m quite aware of what English literature is, because I bought my sister the clothbound Jane Austen collection for graduation,” I said proudly, and everyone at the table stared at me with surprise. “What? I know what she likes. I spent hours finding her the collection. It’s got vintage watercolor illustrations.”

“Are you reading Jane Austen?” Cutler asked as he glanced at Cannon.

“No. I prefer contemporary romance.” He took a bite of his garlic bread and shrugged. “And I love me a bull rider romance. In fact, I’m reading one right now.”

More laughter.

“What was the original question?” Brody laughed. “What the fuck are we even talking about?”

“Enemies to lovers.” Cannon looked between me and Briar. “Is that what’s happening here?”

I glanced over at Briar, giving her the floor to answer however she wanted to.

Because I didn’t have a fucking clue what was happening here. I liked her. She liked me. We were waiting for everything to blow up in our faces.

How do you put that into words?

“I think that’s a fair assessment, Cannon,” Briar said with a wink. “That’s exactly what’s happening here.”

The table roared with laughter, and Cannon let out the world’s loudest whistle.

Because she was right.

That’s exactly what’s happening here.

We spent the next few hours playing some trivia game while we drank and laughed our asses off.

Briar impressed the shit out of everyone (including me) with her knowledge of endless random trivia. The woman knew something about everything.

“I took a semester off to be with my mother toward the end of her illness, and we would watch hours of Jeopardy! and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” she said as she brought her glass of wine to her lips.

“Damn. Smart and beautiful. You’re a lucky man, Bass.” Cannon wiggled his eyebrows. “Don’t fuck it up.”

I snorted. “Well, the plan is that I will fuck it up before it’s time for her to head back to her real life.”

“We both will. I’m sure of it.” She bumped her shoulder into mine. “In fact, I’m already annoyed with you.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re irritating the hell out of me, too, Magpie,” I said.

She set her glass back down on the table, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“What is this? You’re pretending to be annoyed with one another? Who the fuck does that?” Phoenix asked, making no attempt to hide how ridiculous he thought the whole idea was.

“Don’t be so judgy, Nix.” Tatum shot him a warning look, and he rolled his eyes. “Whatever works for them is just fine.”

“How long do you have until you leave?” Brody asked.

“About ten weeks,” Briar said with a sigh. “So we’ve got plenty of time to get under each other’s skin.”

“Will you be back to oversee the new hotel?” Cutler asked.