Page 4 of The Best Man Problem
“Don’t you dare!” She might have enjoyed last night, but she didn’t want to go broadcasting it to the world. Attention, all! Lilly Walsh slept with a man whose last name she doesn’t even know. Might as well start wearing clothes fifteen years too young for her and becoming her mother now. “This was an impulsive, one-time thing induced by an overwhelming mix of emotions at seeing my best friend get married to the man she loves.”
“Hey!” Mo stuck her bottom lip out. “I thought I was your best friend.”
“What, are we in grade school? A person can have more than one best friend, Moira.”
“Then say it.”
She sighed, knowing the tiny woman wasn’t going to give up until she did as commanded. “You are also my best friend.”
A huge smile crossed the woman’s face, blond curls—streaked with blue in homage to the wedding colors—bouncing as she rose from her seat to cross to Lilly and envelop her in an exuberant hug. Lilly patted her back, always unsure how to respond to her friend’s overt displays of affection.
“I know. I just like hearing you say it.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She stood, extricating herself from the emotional display. “I’m going to take a shower and change into something more comfortable.”
“Ooooh, is that what you said to Mr. Sexy last night?”
Her face flamed. “Mo!”
“Oh, calm down. I promise your walk on the wild side is safe with me. No one but me and your showerhead will ever know.”
“Why do I live with you again?”
“Because you love me and I let you take the last of the coffee,” Mo said as she finished pouring the pot into Lilly’s mug. “Now go take that shower. Remember, we share it, so maybe try not pleasuring yourself to the memories of last night’s sexcapades.”
She was going to need a second job, since her rent would increase soon, due to the fact that she was going to kill her roommate.
“Oh, stop staring daggers at me and go.” Mo blew her a kiss. “Have fun! I’ll just scrub the shower down later.”
Shaking her head, she moved down the hall without argument, but only because a nice, steamy shower sounded like heaven right about now. She would most certainly not be thinking about Lincoln and his amazing hands, tongue, and—dammit! No. She had her fun, and now it was over. Time to get back on track.
No pining over a hot one-night stand that could never go anywhere. She had a business to run, friends she loved, and maybe, if there were time, she would search out a suitable man who fit into her life. A compatible one. Someone she could depend on.
That was key. Not sparks. After all, sparks started fires, and fires could destroy your entire world.
Chapter Two
“Hey, Lil.” Moira rose from her small desk in the corner of their office. “I’m going to head out to grab some lunch. You wanna come?”
Lilly glanced up from the yellow folder she had open on her desk. “Can’t. Kenneth and Marie will be here in ten minutes.”
“Oh right, the Buller-Lin wedding.” Mo’s nose wrinkled. “Did we have a meeting with them scheduled for today?”
“No. Marie texted me this morning asking if they could come in for a quick minute.”
The woman had sounded a bit harried but not as frantic as some brides tended to be. Lilly liked Marie and Kenneth. So much so that after the sweet couple insisted on her calling them by their first names at their initial meeting seven months ago, she’d complied. Normally she preferred to keep a strictly professional relationship. Especially after “the incident.” But the charming couple who owned and ran a small coffee shop in the Santa Fe arts district were so genuinely kind, she hadn’t been able to deny their request.
“I hope nothing is wrong.”
She did, too, but even if something terrible had occurred to derail their dream wedding, Mile High Happiness could handle it. Lilly wasn’t worried. In fact, she thrived on solving problems. Wedding-related problems. For other people.
Her own problems? That was another story entirely.
“I’m sure everything is fine. Marie didn’t sound too stressed.”
“Good.” Mo stood, grabbing her patchwork tote and slipping it over her shoulder. “That poor woman deserves every bit of happiness life can throw her way.”
When people came to them, in love, giddy about joining their life to their soul mate’s, they tended to share their life stories. Sometimes the job felt like being a part-time therapist. Lilly had heard hundreds of proposal stories over the years—it was the first question they generally asked a prospective couple. Some made her laugh, some made her smile, a few made her cringe, and almost all of them made her shed a happy tear or two. But Marie and Kenneth had been put through the ringer—involving Marie’s battle with a vicious cancer that almost took her from this world—and come out more in love than ever.
