Page 7 of The Best Man Problem
Hurt his feelings was a bit much. Wounded his pride? Sure, but she couldn’t hurt his feelings. No woman could do that anymore. Lincoln had made sure of it.
“You’re forgiven.” He leaned back in the chair again. “How about you make it up to me by letting me take you out to dinner tomorrow night?”
Her face got that panicked look again. Damn, he did not like seeing it there.
“Oh, no, I can’t… I, um, I don’t engage in relationships with clients.”
Solid rule, considering her clients were couples about to plunge into wedded bliss, but…
“I never said anything about a relationship.” He’d been there, done that, got the broken heart and divorce papers to prove it. Not doing that shit again. “It’s just dinner. And I’m not your client.” Marie and Kenneth were.
“Yes, but you’re a part of the wedding party, and we have a strict rule at Mile High Happiness not to fraternize with any member of an active wedding party.”
Did that mean they could fraternize all they wanted once Marie and Kenneth said “I Do”?
He chose to save that question for later because he figured he knew the answer she would give right now, and it wasn’t the one he wanted to hear. He was saved from asking anything further when the office door swung open to reveal his friends.
“Sorry about that.” Marie laughed, holding up her phone. “Max is a great manager, but I think he’s stressing out about us being gone for a week. He’s on a trial run by himself this morning and freaking at every little thing that goes wrong.”
“I understand.” Lilly smiled at his friends.
“Did you guys get to know each other?”
Lincoln barked out a laugh, quickly morphing the sound into a cough at the death glare from Lilly. “Um, yeah. Little bit.”
“Great!”
“We should really be getting back to the shop, sweetheart.” Kenneth wrapped an arm around Marie’s waist, nuzzling her ear with his lips.
He loved his friends, but sometimes their happiness felt like a dagger being plunged straight into his heart. What happened with him and Jessa wasn’t their fault. But he’d learned his lesson. Falling in love and giving someone that kind of power wasn’t something he wanted.
His gaze traveled back to the woman sitting across from him, his mind conjuring up memories of her smooth skin, flush and glistening with sweat as she rode him hard, dark hair loose and flying down her back like a shadowy waterfall.
Lust. Now that was something he trusted. And Lilly might be able to deny a lot of things about them, but he’d bet every penny he had that, before this wedding was over, the sensual woman wouldn’t be able to deny that together, they were explosive.
Chapter Three
Somehow, Lilly managed to last another ten minutes in Lincoln, Marie, and Kenneth’s presence until the trio said their goodbyes, mentioning something about seeing her at the final tux fitting in a few days. Honestly, she could barely hear past the booming voice in her head.
You slept with the best man!
Again!
How stupid could one woman be?
That wasn’t entirely fair. Technically she hadn’t known Lincoln was the best man for Marie and Kenneth’s wedding. How could she have known he’d be acquainted with her current wedding clients? It’s not like she walked around with a questionnaire for prospective one-night stands. She never had one-night stands in the first place.
She’d never been so glad for a slow season. Since it was January, they were done with all the holiday-themed weddings, and things wouldn’t really pick back up until spring, so the only wedding she had to focus on at the moment was this one. No way could she handle another. Not when she slept with the best man…again.
The line kept repeating in her head, an annoying earworm she couldn’t shake. The polite smile seemed frozen to her face, hurting her cheeks with the forced, contented expression she couldn’t for the life of her drop. They were gone now. She could unclench, relax, even freak out if she wanted to. Then why was she still standing behind her desk, placid grin stretching her lips, internal screaming going full blast?
“Hey.” Mo pushed her way through the office door, glancing into the plastic bag in her hands. “They didn’t have any salt and vinegar chips left, so I got you BBQ. I hope that’s—”
“Lincoln was here!” Okay then, apparently all it took to bring her out of her funk into full flip-out mode was her best friend giving a non-threatening colloquial greeting.
Mo stopped short, long bohemian skirt swishing back and forth with the abruptness of her motion. Her head tilted up, blond and blue curls bouncing off her shoulders with the movement. Two pale eyebrows rose as light, honey-colored eyes widened.
“Okay…who’s Lincoln?”
