“This makes me so happy,” Honor said. “Seeing you both—and Mom and Dad—so blissfully in love.”

  Erin laid her hand on Honor’s shoulder. “Your time will come, honey. The right guy is out there for you.”

  “Erin’s right,” Brenna said. “Sometimes it happens when you least expect it.”

  “Right. I’m in no hurry.”

  If they only knew . . .

  “We should set you up with someone,” Erin said.

  “Wait . . . what?”

  Brenna sported a happy grin. “That’s an excellent idea, Erin.”

  No. Terrible idea. “Thanks, but no. I’m pretty good at finding my own dates.”

  Brenna shot her a look. “Actually, you’re fairly terrible at it. You always find these losers who treat you horribly.”

  “Hey, that’s not—okay, it’s not entirely true. Some of them were okay.”

  Erin rolled her eyes. “None of them were okay. Trust us, Honor. Brenna and I will put our heads together and find someone for you.”

  Honor could only force a smile that probably looked more like a grimace. She could only hope they’d get busy and forget about finding some random guy for her to date.

  A few days later she’d totally forgotten about that conversation. On Thursday afternoon, Brenna texted her and told her a bunch of them were all meeting up at the Screaming Hawk that night for drinks and asked if she wanted to join them. Normally she’d say yes, but since that was Owen’s craft brewery, she paused before answering.

  She should say no. Then again, wouldn’t her saying no ring a bell of suspicion? It wasn’t like she had anything else going on. Besides, she’d be in a group and he’d be working. Easy enough for Owen and her to maintain a friendly distance without anyone noticing anything going on between them. She’d be on her best behavior and not touch him or smile at him or even glance his way. Or, at least she’d try.

  She texted Brenna back and told her she’d be there.

  Tuning out the whole idea of later, she took care of personal stuff during the day. Mom and Dad had some vague and noncommittal plans. Honor figured it was some kind of date, which was great for them. They’d gotten up early and left the house before breakfast. Louise and her husband, Marcus, had an appointment to go to, so they were gone as well, which meant Honor had the place to herself. She’d had breakfast outside, cleaned her room and done laundry and paid a few bills, and when she was finished with chores, she decided she’d do some personal pampering. She showered, then went and got a manicure and pedicure, and since her hair stylist had an available opening, she got a trim, which meant her hair was now freshly washed and blow-dried. By the time she got home she felt amazing. Now she just had to decide what to wear tonight.

  No big deal. Just a group of friends along with her sisters hanging out at the brew pub. She opened her closet and stared at her clothes.

  The day was already warm, and no doubt they’d want to hang out outside, so jeans were out, but a dress would be too fancy. She nibbled on her bottom lip as she tried to decide the best outfit to wear. Maybe capris would be good since it was getting warm out.

  “Honor? You up there?”

  She was relieved to hear Brenna’s voice. “Yes. In my room. Come on up.”

  “Hey. Oh, heyyy. Your hair looks incredible.”

  “Thanks. Carly had an opening today so I got a trim. And I got a mani-pedi, too.”

  Brenna gave her a once-over. “Sweet. You’re all set for tonight.”

  “Except I can’t figure out what to wear. What are you wearing?”

  “Oh. My navy and cream dress. But you should wear . . .” Brenna went into her closet and pulled out the powder-blue flowered sundress. “Wear this.”

  Honor wrinkled her nose. “Don’t you think it’s too fancy for the bar?”

  “Not at all. Wear sandals or kicks with it. That’ll totally tone it down.”

  “You have a point there. So who’s coming tonight?”

  “You, me and Finn, Erin and Jason, Mae, Clay and Alice and maybe some other people.”

  She stared at the dress, mentally trying to coordinate her outfit. “Okay.”

  “Great. Can I borrow your gold necklace? It goes with the outfit I’m wearing.”

  “Oh, sure. Go ahead.”

  Brenna went to Honor’s dresser and opened up her jewelry box, fishing out the necklace. “Thanks. I need to go get ready. Do you want to ride with Finn and me?”

  She thought about it, then shook her head. “Thanks, but no. I want to be able to leave when I want to, and there’s no point in you two having to go before you’re ready.”

  “Okay. We’ll see you there.”

  After Brenna left, she did her makeup, added earrings and put on her dress, then examined herself in the mirror.

  The dress fit her snugly in all the right places. She had to admit, it was a good choice—if she was going on a date, which she most certainly was not. Still, it was a pretty dress and she felt good in it, so why not?

  She went downstairs and turned off all the lights, then grabbed her keys and her clutch and headed out the front door, sliding into her car.

  On the way there she felt skitters of anticipation, and she knew they weren’t because she’d get to hang out with her sisters or friends. It was because she was going to get to see Owen.

  You have to stop thinking about him. He’s not yours.

  In her head she knew that. Her heart was thinking for itself. And that was the problem.

  What if she did move forward with an actual relationship with Owen? What would that even look like? He was her sister’s ex-fiancé. How would Erin react? She’d be upset, naturally, and right now upsetting Erin wasn’t a good idea.

  But how was she supposed to hide her growing attraction and feelings for Owen when they occupied the same space?

  This was getting so complicated. She needed to calm down and remember that Owen was working tonight; he’d be busy, and she could focus on her family and friends. Keep it light and simple and no one would be the wiser.

  Easy, right?

  By the time she arrived at the Screaming Hawk, the parking lot was full. Good for Owen, great for his business. She parked in the back, happy she had decided to wear her white canvas slip-on shoes. Not only did they look cute with the dress, they also made it much easier to walk across the gravel parking lot.

  The music was loud and so were all the voices inside as she opened the door. But the air conditioning felt cool and refreshing. She spotted Owen behind the bar dealing with a few customers, so she walked on by, hoping he wouldn’t notice her.

  No such luck. He might have been talking to other people, but his gaze tracked her as she walked past him. He waved, his smile warm and welcoming. She couldn’t help but smile back in return, ignoring that little extra kick her heart gave her.

  Bettie came bounding over, her tail flipping back and forth.

  “Bettie,” she said, crouching down to give her lots of pets. “I’m so happy to see you. Are you keeping Owen in line?”

  It didn’t seem that way because Bettie ran off to see to the other customers. It was easy to see that she was well loved here. Honor was so happy to see the dog living her best life, and she had Owen to thank for that.

  She recognized the large group at one of the tables, so she headed that way. It looked like everyone had already arrived.

  “Glad you could make it,” Erin said. “Also, Jason ordered a few pizzas from the place next door. Owen said it was okay and I’m starving.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Hey, you’re here,” Mae said. “This is my date, Raymond. Raymond, this is Honor Bellini.”

  She held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You, too.”

  Raymond was incredibly handsome, with long black locs and beautiful dark skin. He was incredibly tall and muscular, filling out his T-shirt quite nicely.

  There was another guy talking to Finn, though she didn’t know him. Tall, good looking, wearing jeans and a long-sleeve button-down.

  “Hot, isn’t he?” Brenna asked.

  “Yes, he’s nice-looking. Friend of Finn’s?”

  “Sort of. Come with me and I’ll introduce you.”

  Before she could say anything, Brenna had grabbed her by the hand and dragged her down to the other end of the table.

  “Andrew, this is my sister Honor, that I’ve been telling you about. Honor, this is Andrew Williams. He’s the co-owner of A Rose by Any Other.”

  The name sparked immediate recognition. “Oh, you work with Rose. Wait. Williams? Are you related?”

  He smiled broadly. “She’s my sister. Though she’s the one with all the flowery talent. I’m just the numbers guy.”

  “I see. It’s nice to meet you, Andrew.” She shook his hand.

  “What would you like to drink?” he asked.

  “Oh. I’d love a Vanilla Black please.”

  “Great. I’ll be right back.”

  “He seems awesome,” Erin said as she came over.

  “And you two look cute together,” Brenna added.

  She might have just arrived, but seeing everyone coupled up with the exception of Andrew and her, it didn’t take Honor long to figure out that this was a setup. She glared at her sisters. “You didn’t.”

  Erin slanted innocent eyes at her. “Didn’t what?”

  “Set me up on a blind date. Does he even know?”

  “Of course he does,” Brenna said. “I told him you weren’t going out with anyone, and I thought meeting him tonight in a large group would be fun. And nonthreatening.”

  She shifted her gaze over to the bar where Owen was pulling their beers. He chatted amiably with Andrew, but as soon as Andrew walked away, she could see the confusion on Owen’s face. She gave Owen what could only be described as her best apologetic grimace.

  “Here you go.” Andrew handed the beer to her, then lifted his. “To what I hope is a good evening for both of us.”

  She clinked her glass with his, then silently wished for the floor to swallow her up so she could disappear.

  CHAPTER

  fifteen

  OWEN TRIED HIS best to pay attention to his patrons, but that was hard to do when his focus kept shifting to the table where Honor was chatting it up with a guy he didn’t know. She smiled, though he couldn’t say she was flirting. But she was friendly enough.

  Dammit.

  His wife. Was on a date. With some random dude. At his pub.

  This was not okay. How dare the family do this to him?

  The family doesn’t know you two are married, jackass.

  Fair point, but still, it stung. If they wanted to fix Honor up with someone, couldn’t they see he was right here? Available. Decent enough to marry Erin, but not good enough for Honor?

  Oh, the Erin you left at the altar? Great track record there, bud. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want you to hook up with another Bellini sister.

  His annoyingly loud conscience was beginning to piss him off.

  Even Bettie liked the guy, who gave her lots of pets whenever she came over to the table. When Bettie came back behind the bar, he slanted her a look.

  “Traitor,” he mumbled.

  Bettie gave him a smile and a wag of her tail.

  The only one sending him sympathetic looks right now was Finn.

  “So, what do you think?”

  He looked up to find Jason leaning against the bar.

  “About what?”

  “About Honor and Andrew.”

  “Oh, that’s his name? I don’t know anything about him.”

  “I’ll take another pale ale, by the way. He co-owns a floral shop with his sister, who does flowers for some of the vineyard’s weddings. Brenna and Erin hooked him up with Honor.”

  “Ah. Well, isn’t that awesome.” Owen slid him the pint.

  Jason took the beer, then gave Owen a look. “Something we should know about Andrew?”

  “No, nothing. I don’t know him. I’m sure he’s great.”

  Jason took a sip, still studying Owen, then asked, “Something you wanna tell me?”

  “Nope.” You’d think after all the years of playing poker with these guys he’d have a better face by now. Fortunately, the door opened. “Hey, look, your pizzas are here.”

  “Oh, great. Thanks for letting us have pizza.”

  Jason’s attention now occupied elsewhere, thankfully, he grabbed the pizzas and took them to the table. And Owen could get back to work and hopefully focus on his job and not on how close Honor and Andrew were sitting together.

  At least it was busy here and he got slammed with serving customers, so he spent the next hour serving up beers with no time to stare a hole into the back of Andrew’s head. He had Virginia step behind the bar while he walked out to the warehouse to grab a keg of lager.

  He was in the far part of the warehouse when he heard breathing. He stilled, then slowly turned, exhaling when he saw Honor behind him.

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “I came to explain. I didn’t know there was going to be a setup here tonight. I was stunned.”

  That made him feel marginally better. “That’s never fun.”

  “No. Andrew is nice, but it’s not like I can tell him in front of everyone that I can’t go out with him because I’m currently married.”

  He wished she’d tell him exactly that. “Yeah, I understand.”

  “I just wanted you to know that I didn’t plan this. I would never do this in front of you.”

  She looked so upset that he knew he was going to have to defuse this. “Oh, so you’re dating behind my back?” He raised his eyebrows.

  She cocked her head to the side. “Owen, you know me better than that.”

  “I do. I’m sorry. I can tell you’re uncomfortable. Just relax and go with it. I’m fine.”

  “But are you? You looked . . . mad.”

  Mad? Nah, he wasn’t angry. He just wanted Andrew to conveniently fall down a hole and disappear forever. “Not gonna lie, I’m a little jealous.”

  That got a smile out of her. She moved closer. “Are you?”

  “Yeah. I don’t like seeing some strange guy sitting so close to my wife.”

  She laughed. “I’ll make sure he backs off. And honestly? Nothing is going to happen.”

  “You don’t like him?”

  “Actually, I do. He’s a really nice guy. But he’s not you.” She looked out through the doorway, then back at him, lifted up on her toes, grabbed his face and planted a hot, lingering kiss on his mouth. She pulled back, licked her lips and walked away, leaving him staring after her, dumbfounded.

  He’d wanted that kiss to last longer, but he knew she’d already been away from the table for a while. And he had to get back to work, too.

  But he’s not you.

  Okay, it was gonna take him a minute to digest what she’d said. He wasn’t one to linger on words, but those words had meant something to him.

  Deciding to get his head back into work and out of . . . his own head, he guessed, he hefted the keg and carried it back into the brewery, relieving Virginia so she could go back to doing her job. After he got things settled behind the bar, he took a quick glance over to the table, noticing that Honor was now seated at the other end of the table talking to Mae and her date, while Andrew was huddled up with Jason and Finn. It stayed that way for a long time, too, and while Honor and Andrew got together and talked throughout the night, there was no more close huddling between the two of them, but rather more group conversations. She always had either one of her sisters or one of the guys next to her whenever she was talking to Andrew.

  Had she done that on purpose? Based on the looks she occasionally threw his way, he’d say yes.

  He couldn’t help but feel smugly happy about that.

  CHAPTER

  sixteen

  WAS HE MEAN to you?”

  “I didn’t see him put his hands on you the whole night, so it couldn’t have been that.”

  “He seemed really nice, but then again, I was focused on my date so I didn’t notice much.”

  Honor faced her sisters and Mae—along with her mother, who hadn’t been with them the other night but still listened with an interested expression on her face. She wished they could focus on their meeting instead of putting all their attention on her so she’d be forced to lie to everyone again.

  “Andrew was very nice,” she said, then shrugged. “There just wasn’t a connection between us.”

  “Bullshit,” Brenna said. “Andrew is a catch, and he could have chemistry with a rock.”

  “I agree,” Erin said, studying her intently. “He’s smart, successful, good-looking and funny. So what’s the deal, Honor?”

  She shifted her gaze to her mother, who she hoped was back to studying the agenda for today’s meeting. Instead, her mother continued to look at her.

  “I don’t know. We hit it off more as friends. There wasn’t a spark.”

  Brenna opened her mouth to speak, then shut it.

  Erin started to say something, but Mom raised her hand.

  “I think that’s enough critiquing of Honor’s dating life, don’t you think? We all have a busy day ahead, so let’s get on with the meeting.”

  She sent a grateful smile to her mother, and they got through the agenda in record time without another mention of Andrew. After the meeting, Honor gathered up her laptop and notebook and started toward her office.

  “Honor,” her mom said. “A minute, please?”

  “Sure.” She followed her mother to her office, where her mom closed the door and motioned for her to sit in one of the cushioned chairs.

  Mom sat across from her.

  “What’s going on?” Mom asked.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”