Page 9 of Bedding The Best Man (Bedding the Bachelors)

Why? Wasn’t he secretly thrilled?

Watching the two of them prepare for the wedding had been torture. Throwing Eric a bachelor party had been hell. He’d died a little inside, watching them rehearse their vows. Every step had taken them one step closer to being permanently cemented as a couple. It had taken her further away from him.

Hadn’t he felt a wave of relief when he’d first heard the wedding was off? Like he was getting some kind of a second chance?

It had been a stupid thought. Eric had gotten cold feet, that was all. Gabe had watched him and Brianne for six years, and there was no mistaking how well-suited they were for each other. It was a fact Gabe was reminded of every time he saw them together. They were from the same world. They knew the same people, ran in the same circles, made a beautiful couple who would make beautiful babies.

They were meant to be.

Eric would return. They’d patch things up and get married, maybe eloping somewhere on a beach. Gabe would be wrangled into standing up as Best Man all over again. And then he would have to watch the only woman he’d ever loved marrying his best friend.

This wasn’t a pardon. It was a reprieve.

Ryan leaned toward Gabe, cutting into his thoughts. “Either you do something about that, or I’m going to.” He nodded in the direction of a tall, blonde goddess in a blue sheath dress. Gabe had noticed her glancing at their table a few times—it happened a lot when he got together with his friends. Now she was staring at Gabe.

“Like you would do anything about that,” Gabe snorted. “You’re head-over-heels in love with someone already.”

Ryan quickly glanced at Annie, who was now at the bar chatting with another woman.

He patted his friend on the back, then got up to approach the blonde.

Why not? It wasn’t like he was tied to anyone.

But even as he flirted with her, and she flirted back and tossed her hair around and did all the things women did when they wanted to get into bed with a man, he only had eyes for Brianne. She danced, and ate, and drank, and did everything she could to put her guests at ease.

Like a true lady was supposed to do.

His brave, fragile, beautiful girl.

Chapter Three

Two weeks later…

Gabe shook his hands out as the ref walked him and his opponent, Javier Montoya, through the rules. Then he walked to his corner of the ring. Over the past few years, Gabe had extended his fighting skills to include mixed martial arts and usually stepping into the ring was enough to clear his head of everything but the match ahead.

Not today.

Just before the bell rang, he felt the familiar clench of nerves and the racing of his pulse thanks to the adrenaline already coursing through his veins. Unfortunately, the feeling reminded him not of the last time he’d fought, but of two weeks ago, when he’d almost kissed Brianne on the beach.

He heard the bell ring and before he’d even made it to the center of the octagon Javier was right in front of him throwing punches.

Gabe was able to stave off about three out of every four. One of the punches caught him just over his left eye and within the first thirty seconds, he was bleeding. He shook it off and came back fighting. He connected a swift right cross with the side of Javier’s head. The other man’s head snapped to one side and the sweat off his forehead flew across the cage. Javier shook his head as if literally shaking the punch off then lunged forward and grabbed Gabe around the waist. He pushed forward and the momentum of his body propelled Gabe back into the ropes. Gabe crossed his arms so his biceps pressed up against Javier’s chest and he used all of his weight to push the other man back, knocking him off of him. That netted him two quick punches to the head and a kick to the upper part of his right thigh. Once again, he was knocked back into the ropes.

“Get your hands up, he’s coming with a cross next!” Sam, his trainer, yelled.

Sure enough, Javier came at him with a left cross. Sometimes it was like Sam was psychic. He could read a fighter’s moves better than anyone Gabe had ever known.

Gabe caught the fist with his palm and closed his hand down over it. He then used Javier’s own momentum to push him back. As he did, he spun the other man around so that he was facing away from him and wrapped an arm around Javier’s throat. He planned on taking him down to the floor but just as he pressed his legs into the backs of the other man’s knees, the bell rang.

Gabe let go of his opponent and returned to his side of the cage.

He sat down on the stool and spit his mouth guard into the bowl that Sam held out for him. Then he leaned back and let Sam squirt Gatorade into his mouth before starting his repair of the cut that was still bleeding. Gabe closed his eyes while Sam pressed the Enswell to the open cut and then swiped a thick gob of Vaseline across it.

“Gabe!” The crowd was loud, but he thought he heard a tiny little voice calling his name. He opened his eyes. His right one felt sticky and gooey from the Vaseline and he blinked a few times before turning his head towards the sound.

Of course, it wasn’t Brianne. She’d never be caught dead in a place like this. But it was a beautiful woman. She was young. Probably not even old enough to drink legally yet.

Maybe even as young a Brianne was the first day Gabe had met her all those years before.

---