Page 16 of Surprise Best Man

More than anything, I wanted to know how he was going to finish that sentence. But he didn’t.

And he didn’t apologize either. Petty, sure, but what he’d done all that time ago had hurt like a motherfucker.

Then there was something else, something that took me totally by surprise when I registered it. I’d gotten into the hot tub and taken my seat in the corner next to his. But as we’d spoken, our bodies had nearly closed the distance without either of us saying a word.

And the water wasn’t the only heat between us.

“As weird as the circumstances have been, it’s been good to see you. Good to have you back in my life, even in this small way.”

I glanced up at him, our eyes locking, the tension between us so thick I could’ve wrapped my hand around it.

Speaking of “wrapping my hand,” a glance down below the bubbling surface of the tub revealed that the conversation had most definitely gotten Sean…excited.

I felt the same way. When I’d seen Sean naked as the day he was born it had been a shock, but it’d equally been a turn-on like nothing else.

But fuck—there was still so much unsaid between us. After all, the man had screwed me and ditched me like I’d been that night’s entertainment. And I was sure he’d had no idea what I’d given to him the night we’d fucked. No idea at all. Not that I was sure that would’ve changed anything.

The closer I got to him, the more conscious I became of the fact that he was right there, ready to be grabbed, the more I wanted to give it to him all over again.

Give it to him again and again and again.

The look in his eyes made me certain that he felt the same way. His eyes were fierce, animalistic almost, and his red, full lips were curled at one end in a small smile.

He wanted it—I could tell without a shadow of a doubt.

And he had to know it was there for the taking. I was totally under his spell.

Sean moved in slowly, approaching for the kiss.

But before our lips touched, a voice boomed through the house.

“Yo, Sean!” called out a familiar voice. “We’re here!”

Chapter Seven

SEAN

What the fuck?

“We’re here?” Who the fuck was “we?”

That didn’t matter. The only thing that did was putting some immediate, and I mean im-fucking-mediate distance between me and Shania

So, that’s what I did. So quickly, in fact, that a wave of water sloshed over the side of the hot tub, splashing onto the tile of the patio.

The back door opened right as the water calmed back down. I glanced over at Shania, both of us clearly thinking the same thing—that we’d come very close to doing what had gotten us in this mess in the first place.

No time to talk about that. The pressing issue at that moment was the little matter of someone who knew my name waltzing right into the house. I turned in the tub to see that it wasn’t one “someone”—it was several of them.

To be very specific, it was Noah and Pepper and Will and Sam, all four of them standing at the entrance to the back of the house, confused expressions on each and every one of their faces.

“Hey,” said Noah. “Did we, um…”

Didn’t want to talk about it. “Nope!” I said. “Just hanging out!”

Great explanation, Mr. Big IQ.

Thankfully, Shania was there to pick up my slack.

“Hey!” she said, sounding way cooler and calmer than I had. She turned around and folded her arms over the edge of the tub.

“What’re you guys up to?” asked Sam, the four of them standing at the threshold of the house as if blocked by some kind of invisible barrier.

It would’ve been kind of funny if it wasn’t so damn awkward. The gang was straight-up afraid to come out.

“You see that basket of stuff out there?” asked Shania, pointing into the house, water dripping off her arm.

The group turned.

“That was a gift from my work. They’re trying to entice Mr. VIP here into being a very loyal customer.”

The relief on their faces was instant. Once they’d learned it was a work thing and not a something-else thing, they chilled out.

“I figured it would be nice for a familiar face to deliver it,” she went on, not missing a beat. “And Sean was nice enough to thank me by treating me to a little hot tub session.”

Not the only thing I was about to treat her to.

More relief appeared on their faces. Shania had saved the damn day.

I did a quick mental inventory of what my boys knew about me and Shania…and it ended up being nothing. The fact that she and I had screwed way back in the day was a total secret. All the better that it didn’t get out.

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