Page 43 of The Best Friend Power Play

"I know."

I have no doubt it will be.

I can tell Culver still has reservations about getting married. Even though I'm confident I've gotten him to believe I genuinely want to do it, I think he's struggling with another aspect of it—accepting the inheritance from his grandfather.

I understand the ethical dilemma, but at the same time, if he doesn't take the money, how does that change how that man treated his mother?

It doesn't.

The only person he'd be hurting is himself.

He finishes the massage the way he always does by flexing my toes a few times, then gently placing my feet on the ground.

"Thank you. That was amazing. Ready for some trashy reality TV?"

He stretches his long legs out onto the coffee table and hooks his hands behind his head. "Always."

I queue up our next episode, and as the intro theme song starts playing, ask, "How did we even discover this show?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. But that happens a lot with us."

"What happens a lot?"

"How we don't always remember where stuff comes from. Like the bad jokes. When did they start? Or the hey thing we do."

"The bad jokes come from you only knowing bad jokes."

Culver grins. "Which reminds me. What do turtles and tacos have in common?"

"I don't know. What?"

"They both come in hard and soft shells."

I groan and cover my mouth. "I swear, they're getting worse."

He leans over and tries to grab my arm, but I manage to move out of his reach. "Then why are you smiling?"

I ignore the question and try to remember where the hey thing originated. "I'm not sure about the hey thing," I say, pausing the show so we don't miss a second of it. "Maybe it's from a movie? Or maybe it's an us thing?"

Culver nods. "I think it's an us thing. Probably a me thing, since I come up with all the good ones."

I throw a pillow at him, which he catches and cradles into his chest.

He looks over at me adorably, his face illuminated by the glow from the TV, his curls as messy as always, his biceps flexing around the pillow he's hugging.

I've always been able to be objective about Culver's good looks. He's an attractive man. That's simply a fact. I can admit that. So why am I suddenly noticing his attractiveness more? Maybe he's putting something in the sauces?

In need of something else to occupy my mind, I press play on the remote, and our favorite secret guilty pleasure begins.

Below Deck is the epitome of trashy reality TV.

It follows the behind-the-scenes lives of crew members who work and reside aboard a superyacht during a charter season. Throw in affluent guests with high expectations, young, single, and cocky crew members with overinflated egos, and a ton of alcohol, and you've got the ingredients for all the fights, drama, and cattiness you want in a reality TV show.

After watching the episode—as well the official after-show interview, plus a few YouTube recaps just so we're fully informed about the drama surrounding the guests getting super drunk after dinner and having a massive argument, during which two crew members had to step in to prevent the situation from escalating into an all-out fist fight—I stretch my arms overhead and yawn.

"You tired?" Culver asks.

"Yeah. I've been sleeping so well all week. Think I'm almost caught up."

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