Page 1 of The Best Man Problem
Chapter One
There are many things a woman can do the night of her best friend’s wedding: A) enjoy three slices of cake because it’s a celebration, B) wallow in the misery of her singledom, C) dance the night away until her new bridesmaid shoes make her feet blister, or D) hook up with an insanely hot stranger at the hotel bar.
Lilly Walsh had chosen option D.
Oh boy, did she choose D.
Okay, so she’d also picked A, because everyone knows calories don’t count when it comes to wedding cake, but the other choice was the one currently freaking her out.
Last night came rushing back to her in full Technicolor. She remembered the beautiful, intimate wedding of her best friend and business partner, Pru, to the woman’s lifelong friend, Finn Jamison. There had been happy tears and sad ones, mostly from the happy couple’s adorable six-month-old twins, who detested their wedding attire and let everyone in the entire hotel ballroom know it.
Food had been delicious and drinks flowing. Lilly had partaken mostly in the food because melancholy set in after one glass of champagne. As one-third owner of Mile High Happiness, Lilly was used to planning weddings and seeing others’ joy, but last night had struck a deep chord. One she hadn’t realized existed.
She was lonely.
After the happy couple had been sent on their way, the festivities over, the magic of the evening ended, Lilly found herself gravitating toward the hotel bar. Pathetic? Maybe, but seeing her friend exceptionally happy caused an ache inside she desperately needed to soothe. Not one for hookups; she didn’t have any of those apps on her phone. She couldn’t explain why she took a seat at the polished, dark wooden bar, ordered a vodka and cranberry from the bartender, and scanned the room for a friendly eye.
She’d felt like she was part of a cheesy movie cliché and nearly left, but then she spotted…him.
“What did the pirate say on his eightieth birthday?”
Lilly glanced up from her drink, startled to see the attractive stranger she’d locked eyes with had come over to stand beside her.
“I’m sorry, what?”
He grinned, and her heart skipped a beat. Talk about a panty-melting smile.
“What did the pirate say on his eightieth birthday?”
“Um, what?”
The stranger’s smile widened as he closed one eye and swung his arm like a buccaneer. “Ayyyyy matey!”
She tilted her head in confusion.
“Get it?” the man asked. “I’m eighty. Because he’s a pirate, and they say matey, which sounds like eighty, and—”
Covering her mouth, Lilly let out an unexpected laugh at the corny joke.
“Sorry.” He shrugged, grin going sheepish. “I know it’s a lame joke, but you looked like you needed a little laugh.” He indicated the empty chair next to her. “May I sit?”
Though he’d used the corniest pickup line she’d ever heard, Lilly had found the man funny and extremely attractive. She’d invited him to sit, where they talked until the bartender announced last call.
“Mmmmmm.”
The deep rumble of the sleepy murmur vibrated along her spine, sending tingling sensations to all her good parts. Good parts the body responsible for the sound had attended to very, very thoroughly last night.
She’d done it. Prim and proper Lilly Walsh had partaken in a one-night stand.
The woman who made a list for everything from groceries to what book she was going to read next had gone off the beaten path and taken a veritable stranger to bed to have her wicked way with him.
And how ravenously wicked it had been. Perhaps it had been the anonymity or the knowledge that she would never see him again, but last night she’d let herself go in a way she never had before.
A flush heated her skin as she remembered all the ways they’d touched and tasted each other. All the inhibitions she’d left on the floor along with her midnight-blue bridesmaid dress and three-inch heels. Pride swelled in her chest at the knowledge that she’d been a veritable sex goddess, giving and receiving more pleasure than she had with any other man, ever.
Exactly half a millisecond later, her flush of pride turned into scorching embarrassment.
I slept with a stranger!
