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have pushed harder. He figured everyone should be like him, always competing, trying harder, wanting to be the best. Matt was the kind of guy who could get into a rut, satisfied with the status quo. Cautious. But it sounded as if he’d thought about expanding, so maybe he wasn’t that stuck. Maybe he did have ambitions for his business. Corey too, she’d left a corporate job with one of the biggest companies in the world to live in a grotty little building making chocolates, but it sounded like she had some ambitions for her chocolate business.
    Matt looked at Corey, apparently done talking about expanding his business. “How was your day? Make lots of chocolate?”
    “Yup. Lots and lots.” She smiled at Matt. “Gotta be ready for the farmers’ market tomorrow.”
    “Hey, Matt!”
    Matt turned to see who’d called him, spotted the man at the bar. He lifted a hand in greeting. “Hey, Josh. How’s it going?” He moved away to talk to the guy, then got stopped by two women who smiled and flirted with him. Dylan watched Matt talk to them, serving them drinks, chatting and winking at them. The guy probably didn’t even know they were coming on to him. It didn’t look like he was making any kind of move to get phone numbers or ask one of them out. Bizarre. Dylan shook his head and looked at Corey, who was also watching Matt talk to the two girls.
    “He doesn’t even know they’re flirting with him,” she said, echoing his own thoughts. “He’s determined he’s not going to date anymore.”
    “What happened with him and Lysett?”
    Corey sighed and looked down at her beer. “I don’t know all the details. He never said much. I gather she wanted a little more excitement.” She shook her head. “I can’t say much because I haven’t got the best track record at picking out guys, but I don’t know why she didn’t appreciate Matt. He’s a good guy.”
    “Yeah. A great guy.” Dylan tipped his head to one side. So if she thought Matt was such a good guy, why wasn’t she interested in him? “But girls always seem to want the bad boy, don’t they?”
    She blinked at him. “Um…yeah. Some do.” He could’ve sworn she looked guilty.
    “Matt says you don’t date either.”
    One corner of her mouth lifted. “You guys have been talking a lot about me, apparently.”
    Dylan gave her a slow smile back. “A little. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t stepping on any toes.”
    Her forehead creased. “How so?”
    “By doing…this.” And he leaned over and brushed his mouth over hers in a soft, sexy kiss.
     
    Matt pulled some draft, wiped the bar clean, refilled a shelf with clean glasses out of the dishwasher, poured a couple of glasses of wine. All routine stuff for him. But the whole time he was watching Dylan and Corey sitting at the bar, leaning so close together and staring into each other’s eyes as they talked.
    His gut was so tight it hurt and he had no idea why. He’d wanted his two best friends to meet, and he’d wanted them to like each other because they were both important to him. Dylan, his oldest friend, even though they didn’t see each other much these days. And Corey, a newer friend. He’d known her for a long time, too, although some of those years she’d lived in San Diego.
    Looked like they were getting along really well.
    So that was good. Yeah. He swiped the cloth across the bar again.
    He shot another glance toward Dylan. His oldest buddy seemed different this visit. It was hard to put his finger on. Matt frowned as he wiped the bar. He seemed…not quite as confident and aggressive as he had in the past. But then, he had a busted foot and a cast on his leg that was keeping him from doing what he loved, so that probably explained it.
    Matt moved back down the bar to talk to them, but got held up by Josh Busher, one of San Amaro’s police officers, wanting another pale ale. He smiled and opened the beer, handed it to Josh with a clean glass. A few more people wanted drinks,