Claimed By The Best Man

Reeve

A pre-rehearsal for a wedding rehearsal? Who does that?

I’d normally hang up, but when my best buddy and ex-marine right hand man there’s no way I can say no.

Even though I’m not exactly his fiancé’s cup of tea, I am still Rhys’s best friend as well as best man.

Rhys has been on and off again with Clara for years, but something tells me they’ll actually go through with it this time.

Get married.

For keeps.

We’re both civilians now, but a Marine is for life, and Rhys served less time than I did through injury, not by choice.

Realizing he’s getting married, at our age too?

It makes me feel old.

Makes me feel like I might have missed out in the romance department.

Until he mentions Piper. She’s Clara’s only daughter and also a bridesmaid.

She must be all grown up now… eighteen or nineteen?

Time flies.

“You remember Piper, don’t ya?” Rhys asks. “The one who threw up all over you on that rollercoaster…”

Little Pukey Piper?

She’s no little girl anymore.

In fact, she’s bloomed into the most beautiful young woman I’ve ever seen.

And once Rhys hints that he has another little favor to ask, one involving Piper?

Well, I’m more than happy to lend a strong hand and anything else where it’s needed.

Could a younger girl like her really go for an older guy like me?

It’s not the first thing to enter my mind when I spot her, but it’s the cleanest thought I have from that moment on.

Already vowing to not only stake my claim but to claim her as my own.

No matter the cost.

Piper

I’m not a kid anymore and I certainly don’t need a babysitter.

Playing bridesmaid for a day is one thing, and enduring how many pre-rehearsals?

Jesus.

But the one thing, the one thing I’ve been looking forward to most since all this wedding business got real is having the house to myself for a whole week.

I love my mom, I really do… most days.

But living on top of each other, depending on her for everything?

We both need a break, and if her new husband Rhys has anything to do with it, we’ll all be one big happy family.

Living in his huge house singing kumbaya around the campfire, roasting hot dogs on Memorial Day.

Or whatever it is Marines do when they’re not blowing stuff up or eating crayons.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, I find out the best man is Rhys’s best friend, Reeve.

I only remember one thing about him.

Throwing up on him on a rollercoaster.

God, I hope he doesn’t bring that up.

So it’s Pukey Piper as a bridesmaid, and then having someone babysit me for the same week I’m supposed to be having the house all to myself.

What next?

Reeve Bannon is what’s next.

He’s an older man now. Same age as Rhys, but with a body carved from granite and a smile that could drown a woman in her own juices at fifty yards.

Not to mention the national monument of a bulge in his pants.

He… He’s the babysitter they had in mind?

Then why didn’t they say?

I suddenly feel like a Marine is the only man I’d ever feel comfortable with, watching over me for the whole week.

And I’ll be doing a lot more watching of my own.

More if he’d give a younger, thick girl like me just half a chance to show a real man just how much I’m willing to learn.

Just one week, huh?

Within two seconds of seeing the man for the first time in a decade, I can tell a week’s not gonna be enough.

I’m gonna need a lifetime with him.