Page 95 of The Player + The Pact = I Do

I chuckle. “No. His business is just really… international.”

“Okay, so she has three to choose from. And they’re all good guys, right? You’d vouch for them.”

“I would. But not necessarily to a woman who was dating them. Especially to your best friend. What would happen if one of them was more into the other? Or one got pissed off at the other? This could rip our group in half. And it could put us in a very awkward position if we set them up in the first place.”

“But, Leo. It could be so nice! And I know Sophia loves a British accent. Fisher is?—”

“In the wholesome music industry. He’s still a virgin,” I say sarcastically.

“They’re adults. They know we have nothing to do with it. And if it doesn’t work out, they can be civil if nothing else.”

Someone bangs on the door, and when I hear voices, I realize I haven’t locked the front door again. “Hello!” I call out.

“Hey,” Bennett replies.

Efa appears and waves with both hands. “This feels like a big moment,” she says. “And… I have a plan.” She waves something in the air. “Place cards! I thought we could play matchmaker with Sophia!”

I groan. There’s no way I was ever going to win this argument with Jules, but I definitely won’t with Efa in on it.

“Fisher?” Jules asks. “I haven’t met Byron yet.”

“Fisher!” Efa says. “Two British guys and two American girls. It’s perfect.”

“Exactly,” Jules says, throwing me an I-told-you-so glance. Efa and Jules stand over the dining table, putting the place cards down and then swapping them about like this is a state dinner.

“Fisher doesn’t need someone to match his energy,” I mumble to myself, because no one is listening.

“We could not make it obvious and put her between Fisher and Worth,” Efa says. “Have you showed her Fisher’s Instagram?”

“No,” says Jules. “Sophia would be on to me right away. And she hates being set up. She says it always ends in disaster.”

I look pointedly at Jules and raise my eyebrows.

“Have some faith,” she says to me.

More voices at the door switch Jules and Efa into warp speed as they make the final changes to the place cards and then start talking like they weren’t doing something to feel guilty about.

“Sophia!” I say, trying to sound natural and not like she’s just walked intoLove Island, Manhattan edition.

“Leo,” she says, suspicion in her voice.

I wrap her in a big hug, and then go and grab the tray of mimosas that I’ve completely forgotten about. Sophia’s been a fantastic friend to Jules and that puts her at the top of my Christmas card list. I’d like her to meet someone. I’d also like to find my friends their soul mates. They deserve them. Although, the jury’s out on whether Fisher really deserves a beautiful, kind, loyal girl in his life. He’s broken more than his fair share of hearts over the years.

As I’m handing out drinks, everyone else arrives and Jules makes the introductions. I watch her beaming at myfriends with real affection and wonder how I got so lucky. God, I would love Worth, Fisher, Jack, and Byron to have what I have, but it’s so fucking rare. Like a one-in-a-billion chance that they could be as happy as Jules and me. I’m not sure it’s even worth them trying.

Jules guides everyone to their seats and then asks Fisher what he’s been working on. She and I sit next to each other, opposite Sophia and Fisher.

Sophia narrows her eyes at Jules, watching her intently, clearly suspicious. When Fisher finishes what he’s saying, she turns to me. “Are you really going to wait two years for that rooftop to be ready to marry this girl?” That’s a good way to change the subject and distract everyone.

“Good point,” Worth says. “I vote Leo will do anything Jules wants.”

“Sounds like a sensible man,” Bennett says.

“I definitely want to celebrate at the rooftop,” Jules says. We’ve had this conversation at least eighty times since we picked out her second ring—the real ring.

“Right, but we can do that for our anniversary, or we can pick another reason,” I say.

“Yeah,” she says. “I agree. We don’t have to get married up there. I don’t want a big fuss or anything. I don’t want it to be… like a business function. I think if we have a big wedding, you’re going to feel obligated to invite people for business reasons.”

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