“Correction,” came a low voice from behind them. “I go all out for the night I’m planning to propose.”
Josh turned and grinned as Seth Tyler joined them in the kitchen, and then because he was that kind of guy, went in for a man-hug. “Congrats, dude.”
Seth ran a hand over his head. “Thanks. Thanks. I thought . . . I hoped . . . let’s just say I haven’t slept in weeks. Maybe months.”
“Drink?” Logan asked, holding up a bottle of champagne that wasn’t yet drained.
“Yeah, but not that,” Seth said, moving to open a cupboard and rummaging around until he came up with a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle. “Join me?”
“Twist my arm,” Josh said as Logan nodded enthusiastically.
Seth pulled out three crystal tumblers, pouring them each a liberal amount before lifting his glass. “Thanks for sticking around. To help with the cleanup.”
“Are you toasting to us right now?” Logan asked in puzzlement.
Seth’s smile was slight and embarrassed. “I don’t really know what a guy’s supposed to say right now.”
“Nothing. You are supposed to stand there and gloat, and we’re supposed to say well-done,” Josh said, clinking his glass with Seth’s, then Logan’s.
The majority of the guests had left or were stumbling around by the foyer, searching for coats and purses. The Belles were gathered in the living room, sprawled out on the white couch. Heather hadn’t left Brooke’s side since news of Seth and Brooke’s engagement had broken, and it made him smile to see that she looked almost as happy as Brooke herself.
Seth let out a small snort. “You realize, right, that of the three of us, I’m the one that just got engaged, and yet I have the least whipped expression on my face.”
Logan and Josh glanced at each other before looking away in embarrassment, and Josh made a big show of clearing his throat before taking another sip of the exceptional bourbon Seth had shared. The drink was excellent, but the burn of the whisky seemed worse than he expected, aggravating his throat, which come to think of it, had been a bit raw all day.
“So you and Heather are sleeping together,” Seth said to Josh, taking a sip of his own whisky as he turned to Logan. “What’s your story, Harris?”
“A lot of sleeping alone,” Logan said in his clipped, precise voice.
“Sucks,” Seth said quietly. “I don’t know Alexis well, but she’s good people. She’s also—”
“Difficult, stubborn, and mostly blind?” Logan asked. “Yeah, got that. Thanks.”
“Tell me you at least got a kiss at midnight,” Josh said with a grin.
Logan scowled. “Couldn’t find her. Had an ex-fling wrapped around me all night, and Alexis was cozied up to some wannabe bassist. No offense,” he said, with a nod at Josh.
He shrugged. “None taken. Not a bassist. Also no longer pursuing the music thing.”
Logan looked at him in surprise, opening his mouth as though he wanted to say something but instead shaking his head and shrugging.
“What?” Josh asked.
“Nothing.” Logan sipped his drink. “Just assumed you turned down my offer because you’d decided to make a go of it in the music scene after all.”
Josh frowned. “What offer?”
“Ah—” Logan glanced in the direction of the women. “Damn. Well, okay, I suppose we’re doing this. I’d mentioned to Heather a couple weeks back that I’d like to hire you.”
What. The Fuck.
“You told Heather you wanted to hire me.”
Logan nodded. “Now’s not the time for the details, but I thought she was the best one to broach the topic, since you two are . . . close.”
Seth snickered.
Josh turned his head and glanced at Heather, who seemed oblivious to him at the moment. For about half a second he was angry with her, mad that she hadn’t even bothered to bring it up, given him the choice to say no. Josh’s head throbbed at the thought, a dull ache in both temples, the slight headache that had been plaguing him all day worsening.
But he was self-aware enough to know this wasn’t about Heather.
This was about him.