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Hannah’s eyes narrowed. That wasn’t true at all. He was the one who’d been pretty curt and rude to her from the start, and okay, yeah, she’d been checking her phone a lot, but he didn’t have to point it out.

Screw it, he could save the spinach in his teeth for later.

“No, sorry, I am a substitute teacher, and so I have to keep checking for available jobs,” she said.

He seemed to buy the excuse and turned back to Nicki’s date, Garret, talking about football. Hannah caught Nicki’s exasperated look, but Hannah had warned her she wasn’t in the mood for an impromptu dinner date with a guy who had hardly spoken to her except for a few awkward attempts at small talk earlier. Now it seemed he was just as irritated about having to be there as she was.

It wasn’t that Mark or Matt or whatever his name was wasn’t cute; he was, spinach teeth and all. He just wasn’t . . .

Hannah grabbed her purse and gave the table an apologetic smile. “I’ll be right back.”

She got up and wasn’t surprised when Nicki followed, hot on her heels.

“You better not be sneaking out of here,” her friend warned.

“I’m just going to the bathroom. Relax.”

“You’re being really antisocial toward Max.”

Aha, I knew it started with an M.

“I am not. We just don’t have a lot in common, and he’s a little bit . . . ” Rude? Obnoxious? “He just seems a little disappointed playing wingman.”

“Oh, shut up! He totally thinks you’re cute, but you’ve hardly said two words to him.”

Hannah pushed into the bathroom with a sigh. “I have said more than two words, but I am tired. I am cranky. I have been up since four, and all I wanted to do was go home and curl up in bed with a book.”

Hannah locked herself in the stall as Nicki kept talking. “That seems to be all you do lately! Read, work, and stay home. You’re not an eighty-year-old grandma, you know! You are a young, nubile chick who needs to get some action.”

Hannah pulled out her phone, leaning against the stall door as she scrolled through and stopped on Blake’s name. “Just because I don’t throw myself at every guy you send my way doesn’t mean I’m not looking for action. I’m just picky about it.”

She pressed down on the text message icon while Nicki kept ranting on the other side. Before she lost her nerve, she tapped out a message.

Hey, it’s Hannah. If you’re really interested in giving romance novels a try, here are three of my favorite authors. Let me know what you think.

Hannah listed the names and hit send.

“Geez, are you taking a crap in there? Come on!” Nicki said.

“Coming.” Hannah slipped her phone inside her purse and said a silent prayer that she hadn’t just made a terrible mistake.

SHIT, I’M DRUNK.

Blake had known that drinking seven beers was probably a mistake, but for some reason, he’d just kept tossing them back. Jane had also had too much to drink, as her voice got much higher the more intoxicated she became.

And it was actually grating on his nerves.

God, he hadn’t had this much to drink since the Alpha Dog Christmas party, and that had been a colossal mistake. Not only had he nearly screwed up Best’s relationship with his girlfriend, Dani, but he’d almost lost Best as a friend. Since then, he’d laid off having more than one beer, until tonight.

He’d had the second beer, hoping for enough of a buzz to chase away any reservations he’d had about talking to Jane, but it hadn’t helped, so he’d downed another. By his fifth, he knew it wasn’t about Jane; although he’d talked to her a bit, there had been no spark, no interest whatsoever.

Maybe thinking about Jenny so much today had increased his need to drink.

It could also be that I was hoping Hannah would text.

“Want another drink?” Jane asked, giggling.

Why was her voice so shrill? Hannah’s was low and husky, and it washed over him pleasantly, while this woman’s sounded more like a peacock’s cry.