Sugar

Colton burst out laughing as he lifted up the weights for three more presses before placing them across the bar. “When did you turn into a girl, wanting to gossip and shit?”

“When my brother from another mother started to ditch me. That only happens when a guy has got some pussy.”

Sugar wasn’t just any pussy. Flynn always had a way with words. Blunt and to the point. It was one of the reasons they’d stayed friends this many years. Flynn didn’t allow Colton to get above himself and kept him firmly on the ground.

Their lives had taken different turns. Where he’d started his own company from scratch, Flynn had knocked up his high school sweetheart, and even to this day, they were together. It hadn’t been all easy though. Being a dad at eighteen had fucking sucked. Colton helped him out where he could but the truth was, he wasn’t good with kids. He tended to offer money and he’d also helped Flynn to get out of a dead-end job and to have a real career, which improved things at home.

Flynn was the only family he had left and he hadn’t seen him since his sister’s funeral. This was the first chance he’d gotten. Between negotiations and his relationship with Sugar, there wasn’t a whole lot of time.

“I know you and you don’t invite your buddy to come and work out. I don’t swing that way and I don’t get turned on by all that flexing.” Flynn handed him a towel.

“Okay, fine. I’ve met someone.”

“Is it serious?”

“I want you to meet her. She’s … everything.”

“Be careful there, buddy. I know what it means to say a woman is everything and it’s not easy to come back from that.”

“I’m being serious.”

“How serious are we being? Like, she’s girlfriend material, or could this be something more? By something more I’m talking family, wife, the whole deal.”

Colton stared at his friend’s ring.

He thought about Sugar.

Other men looking at her.

A ring didn’t exactly deter people but it meant something.

He’d seen women come on to Flynn. His friend always held his hand up and said he was taken and very happily married.

Colton wiped his face on the towel Flynn had given him and tried to make sense of his own thoughts.

“Did you know with you and Andy?”

“Did I know I wanted to marry her?” Flynn asked.

“Yeah.”

“I knew that from the moment I first saw her in high school, I wanted her to be mine. Knocking her up wasn’t exactly part of the plan in senior year.” Flynn shrugged. “There’s not a lot I can do to change it. I love her. She’s my soulmate. Marrying Andy was the best decision I ever made.” Flynn stared down at his ring and Colton felt a pang of envy.

He could have that. The ring. The woman.

Sugar was everything to him.

Their dogs adored each other as well.

That had to be a plus in his favor.

He made her laugh, and again, that was another good sign for them to be together.

What the hell are you doing?

“I love her,” Colton said, looking at his friend.

“Whoa. You look like you only just realized that.”

“I mean I know I care about her, but shit, hearing you talk about Andy and marriage … makes me want that with Sugar.” He stared at his friend. “I love her and I want to be with her. I hate it when we’re apart. When I’m online and I see these goofy memes about dogs, I’m always sending them to her. I ask her about her day. Holy shit, I want to be with Sugar.”

Running fingers through his sweat-slicked hair, he let out a laugh. “I can’t believe I only just realized this now.”

“What’s stopping you from, you know, going to the next level?”

“My business is currently in negotiations with the company she works for. We’re finalizing the details and until we’ve worked through them, we need to keep our relationship a secret.”

“Secrets have a way of coming out, man.”

“What do I do? I’ve never been in love with anyone. Do I just tell her? Blurt it out while we’re walking our dogs?”

“Wow, first of all, you take a deep fucking breath. You’re going off at a mile a minute and I’m struggling to keep up. Second, do you know how she feels about you?”

“Don’t have a clue.”

“Then you need to figure out how she feels. It’s always easier for a guy to make his move if he knows his feelings are not one sided.”

“That sounds like total bullshit.”

“I’ve been happily married for years. So long in fact, I lost count. Just listen to me, marriage is not easy and you’ve got to be ready for this. You do want to get married?”

“Yeah.” He hadn’t realized exactly how much he wanted to until he admitted it. He thought about Sugar walking toward him in a white gown. Fuck yeah, he wanted that. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted her, that he loved her. “This is what I want. I know I can make her happy and I know I can make her love me.”