Page 1 of One Night with my Best Friend's Dad

Chapter 1

Kelly

“Let your hair down and have a glass of champagne,” my best friend, the bride-to-be, Piper, yells as she lifts her glass in the air.

Her other three bridesmaids follow.

I refuse as Piper and Sophie look at me curiously.

“I don’t drink anymore,” I mutter, trying to look like it’s nothing.

“Oh, come on, Kelly,” Piper coaxes, her eyes pleading with me to join in the fun. “It’s my last night as a single woman. Have one.”

Sophie tips her glass toward me. “It’s lovely champagne. It tingles on your tongue.”

“I’m sure it does.” I laugh, trying to hide the real reason I can’t join them. “I just want to enjoy the night with no distractions.” The lie comes easily. It has to. I’m trying to hide the turmoil building inside me as I hold onto my secret.

Piper pouts but doesn’t push the issue further. Instead, she hands me a flute and pours sparkling water into it.

She raises her glass again and says, “To me. To love, and to happiness.”

“And Connor.” I roll my eyes.

We all clink our glasses together before taking a sip of our drinks. The bubbles fizzing on my tongue as I swallow the liquid down. I really wish it was champagne, but for the next few months, I won’t have one sip.

I really want to discuss my situation with someone, but now is not the time. And although Piper is my best friend, she is also not the perfect person to hear my woes.

“What time is the rehearsal?” I ask as I glance at my watch.

“Shit!” Piper yells. “We’re late.”

We dash out of the hotel room. Everyone is giggling, including me as I watch my friends stumble down the hallway in their high heels. Not drinking alcohol has its advantages.

The elevator door opens and we pile in, Piper frantically pushes the button for the lobby.

“Hold the door!” A deep voice calls out.

My entire body shivers as a large hand slams against the edge of the door, stopping the elevator door from closing. A hand I know so well.

My heart stops at hearing his voice, and when he turns into the elevator and I see him, it’s starts again. Though this time it’s frantic, beating like a butterfly in the wind.

Mac.

The man I ran from four months ago.

Oh! And my best friend’s dad.

In my defense, when I ran, I was scared. I’d woken up, hungover, with my best friend’s dad, staring at my face.

And now he is doing it again.

His pale blue eyes are searching my face...my eyes. He turns away, giving me the opportunity to stare at his body. For an older man, Mac is handsome. Typically tall with dark hair that he keeps short and tidy when he’s not working. Despite his age, his clean-shaven jaw could still cut glass, and his body - well, that is something men my age don’t possess. After years of being a hockey player, he kept his muscular but lean physique, despite now being a coach.

“Hi Dad. You got here on time.”

Mac steps further into the elevator. He smiles as he looks between us, probably because everyone else is giggling and slightly tipsy.

Not me.

---