In Bed with Mr. Wrong by Katee Robert

necking while driving and then they committed
     public property damage. Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find my brother and
     Bri, who claim to hate each other.”
    “We do .” She looked like she was ready to climb over his lap and clock Drew. “Don’t you
     dare go spreading this story around.”
    “I don’t have to. I figure by now Nora has called half the town.”
    “Of course she has.” Some things never changed. Ryan leaned back against the headrest
     and closed his eyes. Even then, there was no missing his brother’s laughter.
    “Damn, Ryan. Only back four days and already taking out the only stoplight and mailbox in town in one fell swoop. That’s got to be a new record, even for you.”
    “Fuck off.”

Chapter Five
    “So I know you’ve made your stance on Ryan really, really clear, despite some seriously
     compelling evidence…”
    Bri held the phone away from her ear and groaned. Ever since the party, Avery had
     been making jokes about the first mountain lion sighting in a century and updating
     her on the stoplight and mailbox repair. As if she needed any help walking down memory
     lane to how thoughts of Ryan had taken over her life. But yesterday she’d sat Avery
     down and reiterated that she had absolutely no interest in Ryan. She thought she’d
     gotten through to her friend.
    She should have known better.
    It didn’t help that she’d fielded not one but five comments from well-meaning people asking if she and the younger Flannery boy were
     an item. It was enough for her to vow to avoid him at all costs—including ducking
     out the back of the library when she’d seen his Suburban at the diner across the street
     the other day.
    “Avery, we talked about this. The date was horrible, and that’s not even getting into
     the fiasco at your birthday party.” Lie, lie, lie. But what was she supposed to say? That he’d blown her mind seven ways to Sunday on
     her porch swing? As if that wasn’t bad enough, she couldn’t stop thinking about how
     he would have done it all over again if they’d just parked in some dark alley instead
     of trying to drive. People never crashed when giving each other orgasms while driving
     in her novels. And he’d had her most of the way there, using only his fingers.
    She’d lost far too much sleep wondering what he would have done if he’d had both hands
     free.
    But apparently Avery didn’t care about her wavering mental health. “Yeah, yeah. That’s
     beside the point. I wouldn’t even be bringing him up, but it’s kind of an emergency.”
    She moved around her living room and pulled out the little statue she’d bought for
     Mr. Smith this morning. It was a mermaid sitting on a rock, combing her hair. Since
     another betta wasn’t an option, she’d wanted to get him a companion so he wouldn’t
     worry about her spending so much time at the library. It couldn’t be easy being here
     all day by himself.
    He circled it a few times and then continued swimming around happily, his brightly
     colored blue-and-red tail swishing. “What the heck does ‘kind of an emergency’ mean?
     Is Drew okay?” Last time Avery had been this cagey, Drew had almost been stranded
     overnight on an extreme skiing trip. A storm swept in and he lost contact. He’d ended
     up having to signal the rescue helicopter with the flash from his cell phone camera.
    “Everyone’s fine. Mostly. He and Ryan were driving out to go hiking or something manly
     like that and they got that damn sheriff’s truck stuck. I told him it needed more weight in the bed, but does he ever listen to me? Nope.”
    Her heart dropped. Why, oh why, did Ryan have to be with him? She swallowed hard.
     “I’m not sure why you’re calling me instead of a tow truck.”
    “Well, you know Drew. He is sheriff, hear him roar. The guys will never let him live
     it down if he has to call for help over something this stupid.”
    She restacked the books at the end of the table that she’d been