Page 10 of The Complication with the Best Man

“Hey, guys.” My voice cracks, and I clear my throat to sound more unaffected from being in the same room with Finn again.

“Harper.” Finn’s eyes widen, and he draws back in the chair.

I’m sorry, am I not the one who lives in Alaska? He’s the one who flew thousands of miles to get here.

I try not to take personally his clear discomfort that I’m in his presence again. This is new for both of us. One-night stands are meant to never see one another again. But then again, he is Hudson’s best friend, so not my smartest decision to pick him.

Finn walks over to me, holding out his hands. I retract a fraction, but he doesn’t relent, giving me the most awkward hug I’ve ever received. “It’s good to see you again.” His hands pat my back, although our chests don’t touch.

Over Finn’s shoulder, Palmer gives me a wide-eyed expression, and Hudson’s face is the color of the snow still sitting at the tops of the mountains outside. They see the awkwardness too.

I shake off the weirdness because it’s now or… well, over the phone. Which sounds nice right about now? I don’t have to see his jaw drop.

“Can we talk for a minute?” I ask.

He cocks his head to the side, eyebrows drawing down. He probably thinks I’m a stage-five clinger, and I’m about to tell him that I developed feelings. The only thing I’m feeling is queasy. “Um… yeah. I was hoping we could chat anyway, so that’d be great.”

Oh, that’s surprising. I guess I read that expression wrong. Maybe I’m misinterpreting this entire exchange, and he’s nervous to see me again because he thinks there’s something between us? There is. A baby.

It doesn’t matter because after I blow his mind with my news, he’s no longer going to think of me that way. There’s a good chance he’ll regret sleeping with me entirely.

Palmer stands, drawing my attention.Why don’t you help me get everyone some drinks in the kitchen?she signs.

Why is she signing to me rather than speaking since she has her cochlear implant on? Regardless, I’m so close to getting this news out, and she’s not going to derail me.

No, I have to do this before I chicken out.

She widens her eyes at me, clearly trying to communicate something.I think we should talk first.

I frown. The whole time Palmer and I go back and forth, Finn is looking between us and Hudson, waiting for him to translate our sign language.

Ignoring my cousin, I turn to face Hudson. “Can you guys give us a minute?”

He gives me a tight nod, stands, and sets his hand on Palmer’s lower back, leading her out of the room. She follows, but she keeps glancing over her shoulder at me. I ignore her in favor of maintaining my courage.

I walk farther into the room and sit where Palmer was while Finn sits in the chair he was occupying. His cologne does smell nice. He leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, and flashes of our night together play through my head like a movie. Being this close to him reminds me why I fell into bed with him in the first place. The buzz of attraction has only deepened between us. Or at least for me. Maybe I’m imagining it, or maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones.

“How are you?” he asks, taking me out of my clustered thoughts.

He has no idea what a loaded question that is.

“I’m good. How have you been?”

He nods. “Good. Good.”

An awkward silence cloaks us like a blanket, so I try with an obvious question. “What are you doing in Alaska?”

Finn shifts nervously in his chair. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” I act indifferent because surely, he’s not here on some mission to win me over. Like I rocked his world so much that night, he can’t stop thinking of me.

Not that the attraction between us the night of Palmer and Hudson’s wedding wasn’t intense, but I’d assumed the drinks helped and the fact that we’d both seen our best friend get married earlier that day. Maybe I’ve been so hung up on the pregnancy thing, I’d forgotten that.

He swallows hard and looks at his clutched hands together between his knees. Then he straightens out and rubs his hands down his thighs, as if he has to gather courage too.

I decide to put him out of his misery so we can discuss the most important thing right now. “It’s okay. I know why you’re here.”

His shoulders relax. “You do?”

---