The Best Men (The Best Men 1)

Rosie needs a minute, actually. She’s giggling so hard that if I weren’t holding her up, she might actually drown.

“Let’s play catch,” Asher says. “Anyone have a ball?”

“N-no!” Rosie laughs.

“Fine,” he says with a shrug. “Catch-the-kid it is! Toss ’er over, Banks.”

“Great plan,” I say. “On a count of three. One . . .” I swing her through the water. “Two . . .”

“Daddyyyy!” The shriek is so high-pitched that it almost breaks the human sonic barrier.

Spoiler: I don’t throw my child at my hookup. I wait for her to calm down, and then I ask her if she wants to swim to Asher.

He holds out both his hands. “Betcha can’t kick this far!”

He’s four feet away. Tops. His designer T-shirt is clinging to his ripped chest. Are wet T-shirt contests a thing for men? They should be.

“Bet I can!” Rosie sticks her face in the water and kicks so hard I have to twist my body out of harm’s way. She reaches Asher a split second later. “Did it!”

“Again,” he says, effortlessly turning her around with tanned hands. “Swim to your dad now.”

I back off a few feet, and we carry on like this for a while with Rosie swimming farther and farther distances until she’s panting and exhausted.

“Watermelon,” she gasps. “You promised.”

“And you earned it.” I lift her up onto my shoulder and wade toward the stairs. “Thanks for the help,” I say over my shoulder.

Asher smiles at me.

I’ll thank him properly later.

Or improperly.

I can’t wait.

I’m toweling Rosie off in the guest house entryway when Hannah flops down next to Asher in the lounge chairs many feet away. “You are such a goofball! I totally thought you were falling into that pool.”

“Well, I did fall in,” he says. “It’s just that it wasn’t an accident.”

“Well played, St. James. You have such a way with kids. I can totally see you teaching a child to swim someday.”

My blood stops circulating. Because I can see it too. Any kid would be lucky to have Asher in their life. He’s better at living in the moment than I’ll ever be. He’d be the fun dad.

But the next thing I hear is a very uncomfortable chuckle. “Don’t hold your breath, Hannah,” he says. “That’s not the kind of thing that’s anywhere in my future.”

“You never know,” she chirps.

But it sounds like he does know. And he doesn’t want kids.

I guess that should have already been obvious to me. His lifestyle is full of late nights and travel.

And it’s not like it matters, right? Not to me.

Even if I’m starting to wish that it did.

27

MY ROOMMATE IS BUSY

ASHER

“I cannot believe you're getting married in two days. How far we have come from our days in school, talking smack about girls.”

“My smack talk was more sincere,” Flip says, elbowing me from a few inches down the terrace railing where we’re standing together, looking at the moonlit bay.

“That must be why you're the one marrying a woman.”

He snorts. “Must be.”

My smack talk was all pretense, of course. I spent the first part of high school—or upper school, as we called it in Switzerland—wishing girls were interesting to me. And then at some point, I realized I’d rather kiss the captain of our football team.

When I’d finally confided this to Flip, he’d looked utterly appalled. My heart had bottomed out, terrified that Flip was about to recoil with disgust at my sudden revelation. “Armieux? He’s a smug wanker. We can find you a better guy than that.”

Flip has been my wingman ever since. And the fact that he’s taking himself off the market this weekend is still a little shocking to me. In less than forty-eight hours, no less.

There's nothing like a Cuban on a humid night. The cigars we’re smoking right now are part of the wedding gift I’d bought him. The scent of the smoke makes me feel wistful. And I couldn't even tell you why.

Flip. Married. With a baby on the way. It doesn’t seem real. I honestly thought we'd be single forever together. I’d just gotten comfortable with the idea that relationships weren’t right for people like Flip and me.

And about a half hour later, he met Hannah.

So, this is it. My last night with my single bestie, since tomorrow is the Friday night rehearsal dinner. Which means that’ll also be my final night with the hottest nerdy single dad on the planet.

Spending time with Mark has been an unexpected pleasure. I hadn’t expected him to be so much fun. I’d never expected to actually like the guy. A hookup, sure. I’m easy. But after this is done, I think I’m going to miss him.

And I don't normally miss hookups.

Although the whole wedding thing is probably just getting to me. Watching two people tie their lives together forever makes you think about all the big questions in life.