Page 71 of Champagne & Handcuffs

“No,” I shook my head. “I’minlove with her. Have been since we were kids.”

Joss stared at me for a beat. “In love with her?”

I took a sip of thePatrón,and it burned as it slid down my belly. “Cat and I have a lot of history together.”

“History—together?”

“When Cat came to visit us the summer after she graduated high school, she and I started …” I paused trying to come up with the words of what we were back then. “After that trip, I thought we’d do the long distance thing for a year while she went to school, and then I'd convince her to move to D.C.”

“But that didn’t happen.”

I took another sip of the tequila and shook my head. “Nope, because a few weeks later she came back to surprise me and saw me on a date.”

“Seth!” Joss shouted while Paul muttered, “Shit.”

“Shh,” I scolded. “Don’t fucking wake her up.”

Joss leaned in and whispered, “You were playin’ my best friend?”

“No,” I hissed. “I was doing what I needed to do to keep Gibbs from coming clean about me bringing you in the cruiser when you showed up at my precinct.”

“What do you mean?”

“Gibbs made me go on a date with his sister. It was just a one-time thing. Except Cat walked in and thought I was cheating on her—”

“That sucks, dude.” Paul threw back the agave goodness.

“That’s why we never saw her again?” Joss asked.

“She wouldn’t let me explain. Never spoke to me again until the night of your wedding.”

“Wait.” Paul looked at his wife. “Didn’t you tell me that she used to visit you guys in D.C.? In fact, I think you said she’d specifically visit Seth.”

Joss bit her bottom lip. “That day when we went hiking, I was trying to open up to you. I wanted to open up to you because what I was feeling for you was real even though Andi wasn’t. But I didn’t want you to know the real me. The me who shut everyone out because of what happened to me on my seventeenth birthday.”

“You didn’t shut Seth out,” Paul corrected.

“Because I was living with him for a long time. You should know how hard it is to ignore a roommate.”

Paul smirked. “Especially those I run into naked in the hall.”

“Whoa!” I threw up my hands. “This conversation is going south fast.”

They chuckled.

After a few beats, Joss asked, “How did you get Cat in a taxi here if she has a boyfriend?”

I chuckled. “He ain’t her boyfriend. Nathan’s her gay friend that she made come with her because she thought I’d be with someone.”

“I knew there was something going on there. They didn’t even touch in the limo on the way to Mark’s.”

“Good,” I stated. I didn’t give a flying fuck if he was gay or not. No man was touching her again.

We sat around the table, all of us drinking the tequila when I finally asked, “So, Bryce?”

Joss turned to Paul, and he raised his hands. “I know. That’s my cue to leave. Just don’t be long, I’ll be naked and—”

“Paul!” I snapped. “I know you two are in the honeymoon phase, but if I hear you fucking, Iwillshoot you.”