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Chapter One

Bash

“Damn, bro. The resemblance between you and your son is uncanny.”

My teammate Carter cuts a glare at me. “Stop calling Darling my son.”

I can’t help smirking as I check out the photo he just showed me after we finished a six-mile run. Even though it’s August, his wife Suki already had family photos done for their holiday cards this year, and they include the family pet, a pig named Darling.

“The girls call him their brother and Suki calls him her son. Why you gotta be so cold?”

“He’s a two-hundred-and-eighty-two-pound pig and he ate one of my hockey sticks the other day. He’s lucky I even let him live in the house.”

Our teammate Leo shoves his shoulder. “I know you’re not fat-shaming my nephew. I’ll fucking fight you.”

Carter shrugs and pulls off his sweat-soaked T-shirt. “You’re both uninvited from fondue night.”

“The fuck we are,” I say. “Let me ask your boss about that.”

Harry, one of Suki’s best friends, is a chef.

Once a month, he helps Suki host a fondue party for their family and close friends.

It always has a huge spread of perfectly seasoned and cooked steak, chicken, vegetables and potatoes for the cheese fondue and assorted fruits and sweets for the chocolate fondue. It’s my favorite meal of every month.

“Remind my boss who really wears the pants in our relationship,” Carter says lightly. “I’m the man and I make the rules.”

I scoff and reach for my phone. “I’ll let her know.”

He frowns. “No, don’t.”

“That’s what I thought.” I glance at my phone screen, finding messages waiting.

One is from Jana, who delivers my groceries.

Jana: They didn’t have broccolini but they had broccoli so I got that. And they didn’t have Junior Mints so I got mint M that’s all I’m sayin’.”

“What are you picking up?” Carter asks.

“What?”

“You said you have stuff to pick up before Lainey gets here. What is it?”

I lower my brows. “Don’t know why it matters to you, but deodorant, Junior Mints and treats for Bruce.”

“Junior Mints?”

I shrug. “For Lainey.”

Knowing what’s coming, Leo heads away from us with a wave. “See you tonight, man.”

“See you,” Carter says.

He turns to face me. “You’re doing it.”

I play dumb. “Doing what?”

“You know goddamn well what, Bash. What I told you at least ten fucking times not to do. You’re trying to win her over so she’ll leave her fiancé and then you’ll decide you don’t want her.”

Aggravation flares in my chest. “Bullshit. I’d never do that to Lainey. We’ve been friends since we were kids. Eric’s still one of my closest friends. He’d chop me into a thousand pieces if I hurt his sister.”

He puts his palms up. “I don’t know if you even realize you’re doing it, but I know you well. You don’t want her, but you don’t want anyone else to have her, either.”

I take off my baseball hat and rake a hand through my sweaty hair, then put it back on backward. “I don’t want her, and I don’t want Shane to have her. I care about her and I don’t want to see her make the biggest mistake of her life.”

“Uh huhUh-huh. So when what’s her name texts and asks if she can come over so you can fuck her brains out, you’ll say yes, even if Lainey is there?”

I hesitate. “Probably not, because that’s pretty fucking rude when I have a guest.”

“That’s not why.”

He’s so full of shit and incapable of admitting when he’s wrong. I take out my car keys, eager to get in my truck and drive away from this conversation.

“Get off my dick. I have to go.” I flip him off and turn toward my truck. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Yep.”

Carter gets in his dad-mobile—a Yukon. A star suncatcher his youngest niece Hallie made for him hangs from his rearview mirror, sparkling when it catches sunlight.

I don’t think he ever would have gotten married and had kids if his sister hadn’t passed away.

It’s sadly ironic that the best thing that ever happened to him was because of the worst thing that ever happened to him.

I’m proud of him. Nothing means more to him than Suki and the girls. We’re the kind of friends who say what’s really on our minds, so I’m not pissed that he thinks I want Lainey to want me.

She used to want me, but that was a long time ago. Now we’re both adults and she’s important to me, but only in a friendly way. That’s why I want her to dump Shitty Shane. He doesn’t get her.

Someday, years from now, some other man will see how bright, brilliant and funny she is. I’ll shake his hand and wish him well.

Probably. Thinking about it is only making me do a Clint Eastwood scowl because she’s still so young and I don’t want her to settle down anytime soon.

That has to be it.

A few hours later, my dog Bruce goes to the window, barking at Lainey’s old silver car. I’ve been watching for her from the front of my house, and when I walk out my front door, Bruce follows.

She’s only been to my house a couple times when she’s come with Eric to see my games, but I swear my dog recognizes her. She parks her car and gets out, giving Bruce her full attention.

He eats it up, his whole back end wagging. It’s a problem that I’m kind of feeling the same way.

Her shoulder-length red hair is up in a little ponytail and she’s wearing green-rimmed sunglasses.

She makes her simple gray V-neck T-shirt and cutoff jean shorts look good. Damn good.

The girl who always had at least one scraped-up knee every summer, if not two, is now a woman. She has been for a while, but I guess I only noticed recently that she’s not Little Lainey anymore.

I can’t let on that I find her sexy as hell. Not only would Eric flip his shit, she would, too. She used to have a thing for me and I shot her down.

She moved on. And I’m fine with that—as long as she’s not moving on with Shane.