Page 90 of The Virgin Game Plan (Rules of Love 2)
As for my heart, it’s most decidedly loving the present. And living with my guy? That sounds damn good to me.
“I’d say living with you sounds like a lot more fun than having one drawer,” I pout.
“Hey now,” he protests. “You have two.” Then he kisses me, smiling against my lips. “But sharing everything sounds better.”
It absolutely does.
Later that month, Holden goes with me to a silent auction charity event. It’s for an organization both Grant and I are involved in. I helped with some of the social media, and the event is glittery, held at a trendy art gallery with a terrific view of the bay. Pop music plays, and pretty pink drinks abound.
At the end of the night, when the music shifts to a slow song, Holden and I dance. As I loop my arms around his neck, I glance at Grant, who’s in the corner of the gallery. He’s been distracted most of the night, checking his phone more than usual. That’s unlike him. I try to flash him a smile right when a dark-haired man with a trim beard walks in.
A man I’d recognize anywhere.
My breath catches, and I whisper to Holden, “Declan’s here.”
Wait. Shoot. Was I not supposed to say that out loud?
But it’s hard not to react.
Declan only has eyes for Grant. They laser in on my friend, and in their shared gaze I see so much longing. So much passion. Or maybe I’m just hoping that’s there since my heart still wants my best friend to find his way back to that man.
Holden shifts on the dance floor so I catch sight of the two tall, broad, strapping ballplayers who were once upon a time tangled up together.
Epilogue
Grant
* * *
No fucking way.
He’s the last person I expected to see here tonight.
Or anywhere for that matter.
I go completely still. The hair on the back of my neck prickles. My mouth is dry as I take in the man mere feet away—the guy who was once mine.
He looks at me with eyes that still seem to know me.
Eyes that say he came here to find me.
But why? And most of all, why now?
I don’t know, but I want to know. I need to know.
I let my body decide as my feet move, and I walk to Declan, just as he walks to me.
I swallow roughly, stopping in front of him. “What are you doing here?”
He’s quiet as his shoulders rise and fall, his lips part. Then he says, “I’ll tell you everything.”
My one-time lover tips his forehead toward the door and, a moment later, I leave with him.
I don’t look back.
Another Epilogue
Reese
* * *
I move into Holden’s place that summer, and the rest of the season rushes by in a blur of nights apart and nights together, of baseball games won and lost, of calendars finished and events planned, of podcasts and photos, of walks through the city, of text messages exchanged all day long, and of friends coming and going.
We go to sports awards ceremonies together, including one with Jillian, where I not only meet her husband, but also his friends – including the football team’s running back-turned-receiver – Harlan. The man is outgoing and charming, with warm brown eyes, and I learn he’s single, and the father of an adorable little girl.
“What a pleasure to finally meet you, Reese. Jillian has been raving about you since she hired you.”
I beam. “Thank you. That makes me very happy to hear.”
“And we all want to keep Jillian happy. She’s the queen of San Francisco,” he says with a playful wink. “By the way, Jillian, did you get an invite to a certain wedding?”
Jillian’s eyes pop. “I did. We must catch up on that sometime soon.”
“And on that note, I have to go pick up the world’s cutest kid and read her a bedtime story,” Harlan says to Jillian, then turns to me. “And it was a delight meeting you.”
When he leaves, Jillian and I chat about options for him, who we might want to set him up with. I suppose that happens when you fall in love. You want everyone else to fall too.
Holden and I also spend time at the Spotted Zebra, where Chance denies he has a thing for Sierra.
And at the tea and coffee shop near our home, where Grant and I catch up on all the things.
And before long, we’re at a new Japanese restaurant to celebrate with Crosby when he asks Nadia to marry him. As we raise our sake to toast the first of the guy friends to put a ring on it, my gaze travels around the table to the others, all of our friends.
Who’ll be next?
Tia and Wayne?
Gunnar and someone?
Grant’s sister?
I nudge Grant. “What’s the over-under on Chance and Sierra?”
He sneers at me. “Things that’ll never happen.”
I shrug happily. “But really, you never know what might happen. After all, the past doesn’t always stay in the past.”
