Page 92 of The Best Men
But it’s hard to deny the pleasure of this moment. I haven’t had a night like this since Garrett—
And, yup. There’s a lesson learned. I’m not the kind of guy who can pull off the nice, domestic couple stuff. I’m shit at it.
This is just a stolen moment. An oasis in the disco desert.
I lay my head on the pillow beside Mark’s and curl an arm around his waist.
Flip’s voice pops back into my head.What are you doing?
Shut up, I tell my inner Flip. He can keep his opinions to himself. I’m not bruising Mark’s heart. I’m not bruising any part of him. (Unless he asks me to. And these days, the good handcuffs are padded.)
I’m a gentleman.
And I’m going to be somebody’s godfather. Maybe that’s Flip’s way of nudging me toward his style of adulthood.
Maybe his comments were more about his big life changes than my shortcomings.
That must be it.
On that thought, I fall asleep snuggled up to Mark Banks.
30
GOOD COP, BAD COP
FRIDAY
MARK
The sun mocks me.
Imock me.
An hour after the string quartet visit, I’m still kicking myself. Spoiler alert?their instruments are tuned and they’re ready to playPachelbel’s Canon in Dtomorrow.
Hannah's wedding kicks off in twenty-four hours. Another day has been checked off the calendar. And what do I have to show for it? A whole damn night squandered.
“I’m officially putting myself in the doghouse,” I tell Asher even as Ramon calls us over to the tent, eager to show us his finished work.
“For being such a naughty dog?” Asher asks with a dirty wink as we walk.
“No, for wasting a night,” I mutter again.
“You’re still beating yourself up about that?”
“Yes. This is why I can’t have nice things,” I tell him as we march to the tent.
“Ahh, but who says last night wasn’t nice?” He flashes me a look that’s not . . . sexy at all.
It’s devastating.
His hazel eyes are all dreamy, like he means every single word. My body heats up like the sun, but it’s not from desire this time.
“You should have poked me till I woke up,” I hiss, trying to escape the way I feel when he looks at me like that—like I can’t breathe.
Asher cracks up. “Sleeping babe, even my fire pole wasn’t getting you up last night. And, like I said, it was still nice.”
Nice.
