Page 32 of Third Time Lucky

Madi stops in her tracks, her gaze on him.

‘I was hoping this would happen when I saw her sitting here. Hello there, gorgeous,’ he says, arm resting on the back of the booth as he stares all heart-eyed at Madi.

Her jaw drops open as she glances between us. ‘Shut. Up!Aaron!?’

Aaron? Oh my gosh. Wasn’t that the name of Ash’s friend in Vegas?

‘What up, girl?’ he asks, scooting in and pulling her into the booth with him.

‘Do you know who this is?’ Madi asks me, setting her purse on the table and staring at the man beside her. ‘Vegas! Your friend’s friend, what was his name?’

‘Asher,’ Aaron and I say in unison, causing his head to snap my way with interest.

‘Itisyou!’

I shrug, glancing around the bar. Surely, Ash isn’t here because he should be at my house right now cooking without me.

‘He’s not here,’ Aaron interrupts my thoughts. ‘And for the record, he’s my brother.’

His brother? I guess I knew he had siblings, but I never met or knew them.

‘But, despite his absence, I hear you saw him recently?’

My God. If one more person reads my mind tonight…

‘Who are we talking about?’ Madi blurts.

‘Turns out sample meal number three was Asher’s. He started last night.’

Number three? No. Dang it, Tanner. Now I’m going to see threes everywhere. This’ll be fun to overthink.

‘The hot private chef is Asher?!’ she asks, her jaw dropping as she looks between Aaron and me. ‘Your brother?’

Aaron nods proudly.

My jaw drops with her words. Hot?Whatare you doing? You can’t say that in front of his brother, he’ll tell him.

Aaron’s eyes are on me, and he is interested in every word. ‘It’s him. Also, he will be thrilled as fuck to hear someone call him hot.’

‘No!’ I blurt out, causing him to jump. ‘You can’t tell him that because when I said it, I was talking in general, hoping our “new chef” was easy on my eyes so I could enjoy watching him cook for me.’

‘So, youdon’tthink he’s hot?’ Aaron asks, head cocked, eyebrows lifted, clearly confused.

I glance at Madi, but she’s no help, quietly admiring the man who defiled two of my friends in one night (she told me on the plane ride home).

‘No,’ I say without thought.

Aaron frowns.

‘I mean, yes, he is… very. I just didn’t expect it. See in my head I’m struggling because I’ve always remembered him as eighteen and my boyfriend’s best friend. Making that transition in Vegas was mind-boggling. But now, seeing him again, I… My eyes don’t hate it.’

My biggest question is, why didn’t I notice him like this at the wedding? Brandon certainly had no problem noticing beautiful women. Where was my head? Wholly consumed in that cheating bastard.

Aaron laughs. ‘Women gotta be so damn complicated.’

‘What I’m trying to say is, youcan’ttell him I’m attracted to him because I never intended tobeattracted to him. It hit me out of nowhere, and if I have to explain it, it’ll just make things more awkward and, trust me, I’ve already made that bed.’

‘What did you do?’ Madi asks, a beaming, goofy, wide smile plastered on her face.

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