“Do you think he’ll say yes?” My biggest fear used to be disappointing a client and having my business fail. In my head, I had it all planned out, what would happen if I failed. My business would close. I’d be unable to find work in my field. Then I’d be unable to find work at all. I had a million doom scenarios that had never gotten close to coming true. But when I tried to imagine what I’d do if Reese said no… there was nothing.
I could imagine him saying yes, but the inability to picture what it would look like if he refused had taken me aback. Was I so confident he’d say yes that it made me unable to fathom a future in which he said no? How would we move on from that?
“Cory, I’ve never seen my best friend as in love as he is now. Or as happy as he is now. He’s… different, but in a way that makes him more himself, if that makes any sense.”
“I think so?”
“My point is that there’s no way he’ll say no to you.” Morgan put her hand on mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Now, tell me how you’re going to ask him. And when. And where. I need details.”
Her eagerness made me laugh. “As soon as I figure that out, you’ll be the first to know.”
CHAPTER 2
Reese
Morgan was being evasive,which made planning Friendsgiving difficult. For years it had just been me and her, but Cory was part of the equation now, and even though he was only one person…it made things different.
Do you want sweet potato casserole again this year?
Or mashed?
If you don’t answer me, you get nothing.
Morgan
I’m busy with work and can’t think about potatoes right now.
That sounds like you’ve been body-snatched.
We’ll talk soon. I promise.
Sighing, I turned my phone upside down on the counter just before the front door opened and Cory got home from work. He was more dressed up than usual, blazer slung over his arm and atie half-undone around his throat. He was always handsome, but something about seeing him in a tie really did it for me.
“Long day?” I asked.
He dropped his bag and blazer, glancing up at me with blazing blue eyes. “I could ask you the same.”
“Morgan is being weird.”
Something flashed across Cory’s face, but he cleared his throat before I could ask about it, reaching for the knot on his tie.
“Getting naked so soon?” I teased, coming around from the kitchen and meeting him in the living room. He let go of his tie and slipped his arms around my waist, sliding them beneath the waistband of my basketball shorts to grab fistfuls of my ass.
“I can’t keep my clothes on around you.”
“Maybe the tie,” I murmured, tipping my head back so he could have access to my throat. He kissed his way up the side of my neck and back of my ear. He loved that spot against the bone where the skin was thin, and I could feel the cool press of his teeth.
“Just the tie?”
“That would be weird.”
Cory walked me backward into the kitchen, and my shoulders bumped into the pantry. His mouth still worked wet swirls around my throat, but his hand left my ass and reached blindly around the counter to my right.
“Is there something you need?” I teased, smacking his forearm before returning it to my backside.
“Always you, darling.” He kissed the underside of my chin. “But I wouldn’t say no to a couple fingers of whiskey.”
“A couple fingers, you say?”
