Page 3 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell (Rock Canyon, Idaho 7)

s sister was rather happy living a thousand miles away in California.

But since Eric’s friend was the father-to-be, he was shit out of luck.

“Oh, Gemma, you look beautiful!” his mother cried.

Gemma Bowers, his friend Travis’s wife, waddled over to his mother and gave her a hug. She was wearing a simple purple cotton dress that showed off her enormous stomach. She was six months pregnant with twins, and Eric thought she looked like she was ready to pop now.

“Thank you, Mrs. Henderson. I’m so glad you could come.” Gemma smiled past his mother at him. “Hey, Eric. Travis is in the garage.”

Eric took the escape she offered and carried the food into the kitchen, setting the trays on the counter before he went out the back. He headed down the walkway and found Travis, Mike Stevens, Gabe Moriarty, Gregg Phillips, and Chase Trepasso standing in the open garage, drinking beer.

“So this is where all the men are hiding?” Eric called.

Travis grinned at him, his blue eyes twinkling. “Hell yes. I don’t know what I was thinking agreeing to a co-ed baby shower. Men were not meant to stand around wearing paper diapers with fake poo in them.”

Eric noticed the little white diapers pinned to all the men’s shirts and exploded with laughter. “Why in the fuck are you wearing those?”

Every single one of them grimaced and muttered a chorus of women’s names, and Eric understood. He was the only single guy there, besides Mike, but considering Mike was friends with Gemma too, it made sense he’d pin the thing on.

Eric took a beer from the cooler in the back of Travis’s truck and popped the top. “Thank God I don’t have a girlfriend to answer to.”

“I think the hot sex we get to have makes up for it,” Gabe said.

Chase shot him a disgruntled look. “Speak for yourself. My wife’s body pillow is getting more action than me.”

All the men chuckled, since Chase’s wife, Katie, was due the month before Gemma in January.

Eric held his beer up, toasting. “I get all the sex I want without the baggage, thanks.”

Greg shrugged. “Personally, I prefer the baggage to being single. Then again, my wife’s awesome.”

“Don’t rub it in,” Mike groaned.

Erick laughed. It was no secret Mike had been searching for Ms. Right, while Eric was just fine with being single. There wasn’t a single woman in this town that tempted him to settled down.

A silver CRV pulled up the drive and past them, the driver waving at them. Eric recognized Gracie through the glass and took a long pull from his beer.

Fine, maybe I can think of one.

It was no secret that Gracie and he had been having a weird back-and-forth thing for almost two years now, ever since he’d been the winning bidder at the Sweethearts Valentine’s Day Charity Auction. He’d hauled her off the stage so they could have a little talk, and it had just made things worse. Eight months ago, they’d called a truce on their little feud, and Eric had thought maybe they were headed in a new direction. One where they might actually be friends.

But after he’d almost confessed how he really felt about her at the Halloween Ball two weeks ago and she’d walked away with some dork she’d met online, he was done. He wasn’t hanging onto some misguided hope that Gracie McAllister was going to wake up and realize she wanted him.

For good this time.

“Guess Gracie’s new boyfriend bailed,” Mike said.

Eric raised an eyebrow. “Who? That lawyer?”

“How do you know about the lawyer?” Mike asked.

“I met him at the Halloween Ball.”

Mike ran a hand through his brown hair, ruffling the short strands. “Yeah, I guess she invited him, and he said he would come. Must have gotten cold feet.”

“Or he’s bringing his own car in case he needs to escape,” Travis said.

Gabe tossed his beer can into the trash. “Now, who would want to escape all this fun?”

---