“Oh, yeah, and you’ll probably need this later.” Georgia pressed something into her hand and then walked away, whistling. Penny uncurled her fingers and stared, slack-jawed, at the foil square in her palm.

“I am going to kill her.”

*   *   *   *   *

“SO, ARE YOU finally going to tell me what’s wrong?” Penny ordered them both beers and then leaned her elbows on the bar. At first she’d been on her way to the back, but then her eyes had strayed over to the table where she’d sat the last time she’d been here. No, they were definitely staying at the bar.

No intimate discussions in dark corners. Especially not with the condom Georgia had given her burning a hole in her pocket.

It was bad enough that Georgia had totally set her up. She’d arrived at the bar at five o’clock with Matt in tow, only to find no one else was there. They’d waited half an hour before Penny had finally figured it out. This was a classic Georgia move and she knew her friend wouldn’t deny it. She’d been hinting that she should make a move on her sexy patient since day one.

“I’ve been staying in Northern Virginia the last few weeks to avoid my sister. I wanted to give her space to fix things with her fiancé.” Matt finally answered her.

“This is about Mara?” Penny knew it was silly, but she’d been desperately worried he was dissatisfied with his treatment. “Why do you have to stay away for her to fix her relationship? You don’t get along with the guy?”

“It’s not that. We’re friends. Good friends. At least I thought we were. I’ve been wrong about a lot of things lately.” He turned toward her, resting his hand on her knee. Her skin ignited beneath her slacks, goose bumps springing up beneath the gentle press of his fingers. She was so distracted by the sensual slide of his hand that she almost missed what he was saying.

“Here’s the thing. I’ve been friends with Trent for a long time. He’s a great guy. But even great guys do stupid shit when they’re young. And I’m not holding it against him because hell, I was right there next to him for most of it.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“The problem is I was right there for most of it. I know some stuff about him that I should not know about the guy who’s sleeping next to my sister. I know about the chick he used as a booty call for three straight semesters. I know about the threesome he and his ex-girlfriend were planning senior year. I know too much. I wish I could scrub it all from my brain.”

Penny took a deep pull on her beer. “Wow. So you feel like you’re keeping stuff from your sister that she needs to know. I get it. I wouldn’t want to know that kind of stuff about my sisters’ husbands. At all.”

He glanced at her. “Men are dogs. Most of us conceal it well, but we’re all animals when it comes to women. My job was always to keep the other dogs away from Mara. Now I’m supposed to just step back. It’s not that easy to do.”

Penny stood and waved a finger at the bartender. He came right over and leaned against the bar, grinning a little too intimately for her taste. Matt scooted his barstool a little closer to Penny’s and gave the guy a hard look. Penny couldn’t suppress a little shiver of pleasure when his arm came to rest on the back of her seat.

“Another round for me and my friend.” She looked at Matt. “Are you staying with beer or you want something a little stronger? I don’t mind driving.”

“What the hell. Glenlivet, neat.”

Penny raised her eyebrows. “A scotch man, huh? My dad keeps a bottle in his office. I can’t stand the stuff, but hey.”

She turned back to the bartender. “I’m switching to water.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t have to carry me home.”

Penny crossed her legs and experienced a uniquely feminine thrill when Matt’s eyes followed the motion. She’d left her sweater back at the office, so once she shrugged out of her coat, her arms were bare and brushed up against him enticingly when she moved.

“How did you know about the threesome? Do guys really talk about that kind of stuff?”

He gave her a look. “We don’t have sleepovers and braid each other’s hair if that’s what you mean, but yeah, we talk.” He faced forward. “Plus, who do you think they asked to be their third?”

Penny swallowed wrong and then dissolved into a coughing fit that drew the attention of the entire bar. She held a napkin over her mouth, trying to muffle the sounds of her hacking while Matt watched her with knowing eyes.

She couldn’t even imagine being in bed with Matt and someone else. Matt was enough to have her synapses misfiring all by himself.

“So what did you fight with your sister about?” It was a struggle to feign nonchalance after her humiliating fit of spluttering, but she was determined to try.

“Before my first deployment, I gave my sister some money. Okay, it was a lot of money.”

“Well, that was generous of you.”

“Her fiancé, Trent, doesn’t agree. He thinks she should pay me back. He doesn’t want them to owe me so much. But I don’t see it as a debt. It’s a gift. I just wanted to give my sister a gift and make her life a little easier. It doesn’t come with strings attached.”

“I know that. If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t believe that, but it’s you. Taking care of people is what you do. It’s who you are.”