Page 61 of All This Time

Did he really have a change of heart, and is Tori the reason for it?

Can the right person suddenly make everything click into place?

Or does growing up truly mean that the life we were avoiding was just our fear of the unknown?

My phone starts ringing in my pocket. I pull it out and see my dad’s name—talk about speaking of the devil himself. I immediately send it to voicemail. “Sorry,” I say, sliding it back in my shorts.

“You can take that if you need to.”

“Nope. I can call them back.”Yeah, that’s not going to happen either.

Elliot grins. “Was it a lady friend?”

“No.”

He leans forward in his chair. “Come on, you can be honest with me. You’ve got to have a roster of women on standby, right?”

Actually, I haven’t had sex in almost two years, I think to myself. But Elliot certainly doesn’t need to know that.

But after cake tasting with Laney earlierandher little secret she spilled, sex is certainly on my mind.

I reach down to discreetly adjust my dick in my shorts, yet again. “There is no woman, and there hasn’t been one in a long time. But if I recall correctly,you’rethe one who used to have a roster.”

“I’m not going to apologize for enjoying myself and showing women a good time. But that was my life before Tori. Now I’m a changed man.”

I blow out a breath as I contemplate my next words, but there’s no time like the present. “Dude, I have to say this as your best man, okay? And the only reason I’m bringing it up is because I want to hear it from you.”

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. “All right. Give it to me.”

“You sure you’re not rushing into this?”

His smile falls and his eyes narrow. “Did you talk to Henley and Rhonan?”

“No. This is all me.” I tap the desk right in front of me. “I just want to make sure you’re thinking this through.”

“I get it. It’s not like me to be the impulsive one, right?”

“Well, yeah, that’s part of it. Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been analytical about shit.”

“Exactly, and for once, I was listening to my heart instead of my head, Fletcher. Does it make this sound crazy? Probably. But it also feels right. And not that it’s any of your business, but Tori was the one that brought up marriage, not me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” His lips spread into a boyish grin. “We were lying in bed one night after fucking so hard I nearly blacked out…”

“Didn’t need to know that,” I mutter, but he ignores me and continues.

“And she turned to me and told me that I’m exactly the type of man she wants to marry—smart, responsible, good looking,” he says, bouncing his brows. “And when I looked at her and really listened to what she said she wanted, I just decided right then and there to be that man.”

“Okay…so she wanted this too?”

“We both do, Fletch. I know she wasn’t the nicest girl in our class back in high school, all right? And she’s even admitted that to me, how she wishes she could go back in time and act differently. Hell, she even told me about things she did and said to Dilynne, which makes more sense why she’s been a pill ever since Tori’s been around.” He rolls his eyes. “But Tori isn’t the same person she was back then. Hell, none of us are, right? She’s fucking gorgeous, hardworking, and wants the same things I do. Why should I question it? When you feel that strongly for someone, you have to react. If you don’t, that’s how you live with regrets, right?”

His words strike a chord once again. If only he knew how true that statement is for me, how often I think back to not giving in to what I’ve felt for Laney since I was seventeen, and how different my life might be if I had.

“You’re right.”

He points at me. “I know. So, yeah… It’s fast, and you, Henley, and Rhonan might not understand it. But one day you’ll find a woman who will make you want to be impulsive for the first time inyourlife, and if you don’t act on it, I’m going to be pissed at you.”