He hadn’t touched her other than the first aid and then those sweet kisses on her scrapes—which she’d asked for—and yet she felt more trembly than she had when she’d been freezing.
Clearly she’d gone too long without a social orgasm.
She dressed quickly and glanced at herself in the bathroom. In spite of herself, she looked . . . well, flushed. And her eyes were sparkling. And something else—she was smiling. What was wrong with her? She’d had a very long day but still she felt . . . invigorated.
From the other side of the door came a single knock. An alpha man sort of knock, one that suggested curiosity and a slight impatience. “Almost ready?”
“For what?” she asked, still staring at herself in the mirror.
“First aid, take two.”
Oh boy. She stepped out of the bathroom. “Listen, I think maybe I gave you the wrong idea—” She broke off because Spence was at the door to the gym now, holding it open for her.
“Leave your stuff except for your phone,” he said. “We’ll come back for it.”
You wanted adventure, she reminded herself. And if they were leaving here, it meant he didn’t have nefarious intentions. At least not at the moment.
She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed.
As if maybe he could read her mind, his lips quirked in a barely there smile as he led her back down to the ground floor. Night had fallen as they walked through thick fog across the beautifully lit cobblestoned courtyard. Past a coffee shop, pet shop, tattoo parlor, furniture shop, and straight into a pub named O’Riley’s.
The place was cute. The tables were made from whiskey barrels and the bar itself had been crafted out of what looked like repurposed longhouse-style doors. The hanging brass lantern lights and stained glass fixtures, along with the horse-chewed old-fence baseboards, finished the look that said antique charm and cozy, friendly warmth.
She immediately felt right at home. Music drifted from invisible speakers, casting a jovial mood, but not so loud as to make conversation difficult. Spence had her by the hand and tugged her through a surprisingly large crowd straight to the bar, where at the far right were two open barstools.
Spence nodded to the guy behind the bar as they took a seat.
“Good timing,” the guy said. “Archer’s in the back being Archer. I need you to go kick his ass in pool to put him in his place.”
Clearly there was a familiarity between these two, an ease and connection that spoke of either brothers or a longtime friendship.
“Later,” Spence told him. “I need my usual, with two sides: a bag of ice and another of uncooked rice.”
The guy, good-looking and wearing a T-shirt that read I Am O’Riley, smirked. “You threw your phone out the window again, didn’t you?”
Spence ignored this, gesturing to Colbie. “Colbie, this is Finn O’Riley.”
Finn smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
“She’s in the city for the first time,” Spence said. “And thanks to me, Daisy Duke dumped her in the fountain. We need food to refuel, ice for her elbow, and rice for her phone to hopefully redeem us in her eyes.”
“Tall order,” Finn said and pulled out his vibrating phone to read a text. “Huh,” he said and gave Spence a funny look. “So, uh, there’s a 9–1–1.”
Spence shook his head. “Let me guess. Elle.”
Finn nodded. “Wants me to rescue you.”
Colbie tried not to take umbrage at that and failed, but Spence just laughed.
“Tell her she needs to get a grip,” he said.
“Do I look crazy?” Finn asked and slid his phone into his pocket. “Besides, we both know she’s paranoid for you for good reason after all that media crap.”
Spence lifted a shoulder but didn’t comment.
“Food, ice, and rice, coming up,” Finn said and vanished into the back.
Colbie looked at Spence. “Are you sure you’re not in a relationship with Elle?”
“No, I’m in a relationship with bad judgment.” He pointed to the other side of the room. “See that guy through the back doors playing pool like he was born to it?”
Colbie turned and looked. The man leaning over the pool table lining up his shot was . . . holy moly hot.
“That’s Archer Hunt,” Spence said. “Elle’s his. But more importantly, he’s 100 percent all hers. They’re both crazy, but they make it work.” He lifted her arm and again eyed her elbow. “Still swelling.” He gently probed at it.
“It’s not broken,” she said.
“How do you know?”
It was more of a hope than actual knowledge, so she pulled away just as Finn came back. He tossed two baggies at Spence, who caught them in midair and offered her the one holding the raw rice. “Put your phone in here,” he said. “Ziplock it. The rice will draw the moisture out of your phone and, with any luck, it’ll still work a few hours from now.”
Colbie had heard of the trick but she still hesitated.
Spence met her gaze, his eyes warm but curious. “Problem?”
“Would you think I was an awful person if I secretly hope my phone’s broken forever?”
He gave a wry laugh that told her more than words could how very much he sympathized with her. “You’re talking to the guy who earlier today threw his phone out the window,” he said.
“So . . . we both fantasize about going phoneless?”
His smile said he fantasized about other things as well, and her body did that inner quiver thing again. She slipped her phone inside the baggie and then dropped it all back into her purse.
“Next,” Spence said and pressed the ice bag to her elbow.
Finn came back with a huge platter of chicken wings and deep-fried zucchini. Colbie eyed the platter and then Spence’s extremely fit body with disbelief.
He shrugged. “That’s what the gym’s for.”
Colbie couldn’t even look at a French fry without gaining weight, but her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since the sad pack of three whole peanuts on the plane.
They dove into the food and she asked one of the questions that were killing her. “Tell me about this amazing building.”
“It is pretty amazing, isn’t it?” He smiled. “The fountain actually came first. The building was built around it back in the mid-1800s, when Cow Hollow was still actually filled with cows.”
“Wow. Really?” Hard to imagine San Francisco as anything but the incredibly hilly, unique, busy but somehow also laid-back, quirky city it seemed to be.
“This building was a compound for one of the biggest ranching families in the state at the time,” Spence said.
“When did the infamous legend come into play?” she asked. “The one where if you wish for true love, you’ll find it.”
He looked both pained and amused. “Shortly after. Some idiot made a wish and got lucky. Most of the businesses in the building perpetuate the legend because it makes good press and brings in foot traffic.”
“But you don’t believe,” she said.
Finn was back, refilling their drinks, and spoke for Spence. “It’s more like he can’t help but believe and he’s terrified.” He grinned when Spence shot him a dry look.
“Explain,” Colbie said.
Finn was happy to. “Not one but three of us owe our love lives to that fountain. So Spence’s been giving it a wide berth.”