Page 16 of My Brother's Best Men
I nod. “That’s right, Matt. Tonight is a dinner among friends. A pre-wedding celebration. Nothing more.”
I narrow my eyes at Eli, hoping he understands, that my words make it through that thick skull of his. “Eli?”
He nods, his eyes going dark. “Fine.”
I let out a sigh as Matt turns the television on and says, “I’m hungry, you guys want to order pizza?”
Eli smirks, looking from me to him. “Yeah, dinner’s not until seven, so some lunch isn’t a bad idea right now.”
And with that, Eli brushes past me, leaving me in my kitchen with the startling understanding that tonight is only the beginning.
“We have to leave in five fucking minutes!” I bark at Matt, who’s running around the living room looking for his damn left shoe. I swear, he takes the termgolden retrievera little too far. Sometimes I think he actually has a dog’s brain instead of a fucking human’s.
Eli adjusts his watch as Matt pops up from behind the couch, waving his shoe in the air like it’s a damn spoil of war.
“Got it!” he calls out.
I growl in frustration. “Then put your damn shoes on and let’s fucking go or we’re going to be late to the damn ball.”
Matt says something under his breath and I let it go. For now. I don’t want to, but I have better and bigger things to worry about, namely this damn dinner.
I’ve had all day to stew over what happened last night. When I woke up to take a piss and somehow ran into Little Miss Perfect Princess. At three am, no less. It was like, all of a sudden, I was transported back tothatnight.
I got up and did my business, and of course in my stupor I forgot to put the seat down and the damn brat gave me an earful. Which was weird enough on its own.
Even if stumbling into Sophie at all hours of the morning after I’d just taken a piss doesn’t sound the most sexy thing in the world, I can’t deny that she was a sight to behold.
Her brownish blonde hair was all messy and sticking out at the sides, shirt half hanging off of her. Her jeans were hugging those hips in all the right places…
My body and my mind felt like we were trapped in some version ofGroundhog Day, except suddenly we’readultsand not teenagers, and everything has changed but in the same breath…
It hasn’t.
My cock’s appreciation for Sophie clearly hasn’t changed, and I don’t think my feelings have either, though I tried to bury them and ignore them.
Nothing good ever happens at three am.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I don’t want to make another one. Especially with Sophie…
But then on my way back to the living room, I passed the guest bedroom and heard her moaning my name. My cock immediately responded, knowing the sound of a woman in pleasure. Knowing the sound ofhermoan.
Maybe now that I’ve seen her, dealt with the memory or whatever head-on, I’ll be able to compartmentalize and push away those thoughts. Lock up them like I know I should.
Those familiar dark fantasies I try not to think about when I pleasuremyself.
After all, it was the middle of the night. I’m not entirely sure I wasn’t half-asleep, so I could have imagined the whole thing.
At least, that’s what I tell myself, even though I know it’s not true.
This dinner isn’t some come-to-Jesus moment for anyone. It’s just a dinner, a pre-wedding slash pre-paradise get-together. Totally neutral, totally not sexy.
I’ve had dinner with the Martins a handful of times over my life, including Sophie. I go out to dinner with Sam and Raegan and the guys all the time. The only difference is Sophie is here. But I knew she’d be here from the day I knew Sam was planning on proposing to Raegan, so that shouldn’t matter.
And I definitely shouldn’t feel so fucking anxious to be in the same room with her, like I’m nineteen again…
“I’m starving,” Matt says as I pull the truck up to the restaurant.
Elijah doesn’t say anything, but I don’t expect him to. He’s quieter than Matt or me, internalizes a lot. That used to be something I liked, but sometimes I wish I knew what he was thinking. Like now.
