ANOTHER CHRISTMAS TEASER
Rowan sipped his ale, shook a handful of chili-lime peanuts into his hand—those were new, but good—and listened to Johnny Cash playing on the jukebox while he glanced around.
Everyone nearby was deep in conversation with whoever they were here with, but this was nice.
So maybe Rowan didn’t have anyone to talk to but hey, he was out in public, he was about to eat dinner, and he had a nice drink. Life could be much, much worse.
“Oh my God,” someone said in a rushed, breathless voice as he slid onto the stool beside Rowan. “Help.”
Alarmed, Rowan turned to see Keane Gallagher staring pleadingly at him. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Keane stared straight forward and spoke. “Okay, don’t look at the table behind you, but do you remember at the Team Thanksgiving thing where Erik talked about setting me up with his sister?”
“Uh, I think so,” Rowan said, like he hadn’t been absolutely crushed to have it confirmed that Keane was, most likely, straight.
“Well, I tried to tell Erik that I didn’t want to date his sister, but I was happy to meet up as friends or whatever.”
“Sure. Okay,” Rowan said slowly. “What’s the problem?”
“She’s—” He suddenly fell silent.
Rowan realized his salad had arrived and he took it from Kelsey—the server—thanked her, then turned to Keane again.
But Crawford had come up to see what Keane needed and was now busy fixing drinks for him.
Damn it. Rowan stuffed salad into his mouth and chewed while he waited impatiently for Crawford to leave so he could find out what else Keane had been about to say.
Erik’s sister was … something. Annoying? Ugly? Smelly? A nose picker? Homophobic? What was it? Why had Keane fled the table and begged for help?
Rowan snuck a glance over his shoulder. There was a table behind him and the only one nearby that was occupied by a woman sitting by herself.
She—Mollie, he presumed—was pretty, with long light brown hair and a heart-shaped face. Okay, so it probably wasn’t her looks that were the problem …
Keane leaned in, speaking quietly. “Come sit with us.”
“What?” Rowan belatedly realized his mouth was hanging open, and he had half-chewed lettuce and a cherry tomato on display. He snapped his jaw shut. Charming. He chewed, swallowed, and said, “You want me to crash your date?”
“It’s not a date!” Keane hissed. “I swear. I agreed to meet up as friends. But she won’t stop flirting with me.”
Rowan laughed. “Oh no! A pretty girl is hitting on you! The horror!”
Okay, so it could be awkward when women hit on him but that was because he was gay and had no interest in them as anything but friends and he always felt bad turning them down. But he didn’t get the feeling Keane was gay.
Keane huffed. “Okay, so normally I’d be into the flirting, but I don’t want to get involved with anyone right now and she’s been coming on really strong.”
“Like sexual harassment strong?” Rowan asked, suddenly more concerned.
“No. No! Not like that,” Keane said. “But she definitely thinks I’m up for something I’m not.”
“Can’t you just explain that?” Rowan asked, amused now. “I mean, it can’t be that hard to turn her down.”
“I’ve tried. Thanks!”
Rowan was confused for a second before he realized Crawford had slid two glasses over to him. One looked like … iced tea, maybe? And the other was a cocktail. Or maybe they were both cocktails. He wasn’t sure.
Keane leaned in, his breath warm against Rowan’s ear. “Please, Rowan. I could really use your help.”
Rowan sighed because the last thing he needed was to get in the middle of a quasi-date with the guy he couldn’t stop stealing glances at and the woman who wanted him, but he stood and grabbed his salad plate and beer anyway.
Apparently, he was just full of bad ideas.
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