You're The One (Very Irresistible Bachelors 1)

“You’re just trying to make me feel better. Is that so I

don’t grill you anymore?”

“I thought you were late for a meeting.”

“Ha! You’re deflecting. I knew it. My spidey-senses are spot on. Something’s not right here. I’ll get it out of you at the next family council.”

I was a dead man. Family council was a fancy term for lunch in one of my meeting rooms, where the five of us gathered to talk about the charity, but more often than not talked about personal matters. I had a feeling I’d be the focus for the foreseeable future.

I arrived at work later than usual. Our building was on the Upper West side. We were surrounded by tall structures and narrow streets, but I hadn’t bought this building for the view, more for the practicality. My company took up six floors, and I’d rented out the rest.

Cole was already there, looking over the plans for our next project. Usually, I was all business at the office, but time was of essence now. I waited until I was alone with him and mentioned, “I heard Ryker’s on bachelor party duty.”

He snapped his head up from the iPad. “He told you that?”

His bewilderment told me he was in on it.

“Tess did.”

He chuckled. “Then you probably already know more than you should.”

“Get me out of it.”

“You’re joking, right? That’s your night, buddy. And by extension, our night. Not skipping it.”

“Cole—”

“Trust me on this. Come on, we make a good team.”

“I don’t feel like you’re on my team right now. More like you’re banding against me.”

Cole flashed me a shit-eating grin. “Sometimes we have to. For your own good.” He clapped my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.”

That was exactly what worried me.

That afternoon, I held one of our bimonthly meetings, where we reviewed our progress and goals.

“To sum up, we’re on the right track to meet this month’s goals, but we can be more aggressive. I’m sure that if we put our mind to it, we can achieve 110 percent.”

“Always pushing for more,” one of the managers said, shaking his head.

I leveled a stare at him, and he held up his hands in defense. None of the other twenty attendees said anything. I commanded the respect of my team because I was demanding, but not unfair. I wanted us to be the best. I was proud of the business and liked what I did.

Our projects were mostly commercial buildings, though we’d done a few residential buildings just outside the city. It was a dynamic industry. Some things hadn’t changed since my father had done business, but a lot had. At the core of it was building things that improved people’s quality of life one way or another, no matter if they spent their free time there, went to work or lived there.

We were one of the biggest real estate developers in the country, and New York was our main playground. Headquarters was here, but we were working on setting up another office in Miami. I dismissed the meeting after outlining the operative steps to achieve the extra goals.

My head wasn’t in the game afterward. I needed to talk to Josie about the wedding. I didn’t want to do it over the phone, and I’d intended to give her room to breathe for a few days. I had a hunch she was already overwhelmed by everything. I didn’t want her to feel pressured.

I’d been there for her through highs and lows over the years, but this time I couldn’t really be there, because I was the cause of everything. This was already putting a strain on our friendship.

I told myself that this strain would only last for a few weeks while we got used to this, and then everything would go back to normal, but deep down, I didn’t think it was possible.

In the afternoon, I heard back from the real estate agent I’d instructed on the search for a new apartment. My company hadn’t built a residential project in a while, which meant I had to try my luck on the market. I could no longer postpone talking to Josie.

Pulling up my favorite numbers, I called her on the way to the gym. She answered right away.

“Hunter, hi!”