Hooking Up With My Dad's Best Friend

She waves a hand. “Don’t be. Better me hear you getting it on than you actually being in trouble.” Leaning on the counter, she grins. “So, how was it?”

I don’t manage to hide the way my face falls.

“Oh fuck,” she says. “What happened?”

“It was amazing,” I say. “But when I woke up, he was gone.”

Elle narrows her eyes. “But he was supposed to be a one-night stand. So that’s fine, right?” It takes her a second, and then she looks down at where my phone is still in my hand. “Ohhh. That’s the guy. He was someone you knew.”

I nod.

“So…what’s the problem with that?”

She doesn’t know about Bryce. Not about all of it. “I’ve wanted him for a really long time. It was just a sheer coincidence that it was him. But…the problem is that he’s nearly twice my age.”

A customer walks into the store, then, and I don’t have a chance to finish telling her the whole story. And we don’t have a chance for several more hours. Tuesdays are always busy for us, and we have a steady stream of customers, and I have a few calls that I need to make. By the time things slow down, it’s nearly noon, and I’m grateful that we haven’t been able to talk about it. Because I don’t know what she’s going to say and I don’t know how much more thinking about him leaving I can take. He already decided that it was mistake. What else matters?

But Elle isn’t one to give up that easily. As soon as the store calms down, she’s at my side. “So he’s twice your age? Who gives a fuck. He’s hot, and you’re attracted to each other. Weirder things have happened.”

“It’s not just that,” I say.

She rolls her eyes. “Then tell me.”

“He’s my father’s best friend.”

I see the shock register on her face right as the bell on the door rings, and I see Bryce walk into the store like I summoned him out of thin air.

Here.

Bryce is here.

He came back.

Relief and hope pour over me like cold water, and I hear Elle suck in a breath. “Holy fuck, that’s really him. And he’s even better than the pictures. Does he have a brother?”

She’s right, Bryce is stunning. He’s dressed in perfectly pressed slacks and a button-down shirt that’s rolled up to show off his forearms. It looks like he could have stepped out of an ad for some kind of men’s cologne.

“No brothers,” I murmur, as he walks up to me, and he leans down and captures my lips with his. It’s stunning and bold and completely unexpected. Oh.

Elle murmurs something about needing to check the stock in the back, and I hear her leave and nothing else. I can’t pay attention to anything but Bryce’s lips on mine. This doesn’t feel like he’s changed his mind. It doesn’t make sense.

“You’re here,” I say, when he lets me breathe for a moment.

“You sound surprised.”

I look away from him. “Well, yes.”

Bryce moves his hand to the back of my neck, guiding my gaze back to his. “Why?”

“You left,” I say. “You were gone like you were never there. Not even a note.”

He chuckles and presses his forehead to mine. “I knew that I should have written it down.”

“What?”

“I told you I was leaving this morning. I had a meeting I had to go to for work, but that I’d be back. You said okay. I kissed you and you tried to make me stay.”

I know that I’m staring, and the amusement on his face makes me blush again. “I did? I don’t remember at all.”

“Honestly, after last night, I should have known that might happen. I wore you out.”

“Yeah.” I try to kiss him again, but he holds me still. “You thought I left. You thought I changed my mind?”

“It made too much sense for me not to think that.”

He shakes his head slowly, wrapping his fingers in my hair again so that I have no choice but to look at him. “I meant what I said. I’m not taking it back. I regret nothing about what we did, and I’m not stopping either.”

Butterflies flutter in my stomach. “Okay,” I say. I can’t believe that it’s true, but he’s here, and he’s kissing me. God, yes. “Did I tell you where the bookstore was, too?”

“No, I figured that out on my own. It’s not a secret.”

“True.” We stare at each other for a moment. “I’m sorry that I didn’t remember.”

His mouth tips up into a half-smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t leave a note.”

“What meeting did you have to go to?”

Bryce rolls his eyes and wraps his arms more fully around me. “I had to drive home and change. I don’t live in Waterton any more, about half-way in between. But you remember my sister Marcy?” I nod. “She’s having a baby, and I promised that I’d help with things for a baby shower. Little did I know that helping with a baby shower would mean I would do things like making place cards with calligraphy. I had to meet with her this morning to make sure I knew everything that she wanted. And then I had to pick up the blank cards from the place here in the city.”