“I like her,” I say and feel defensive. Not really of Rebecca but maybe my judgment. Damn him.
“Good,” he says with a smirk.
“It is good.” His eyes meet mine, and I realize we’re standing closer now, toe-to-toe, same height, and our eyes are locked. “I like her a lot.”
“You keep repeating that.” He leans in. It’s subtle and really quick. His voice is gravelly when he reaches my ear. “Maybe soon, you’ll start to believe it.”
He strides away from me, and I hate the tingle that spreads down my side, my eyes falling closed for a brief moment and then opening to watch him walk away from me. I finally pull my eyes off his jeans-clad ass just in time to meet Rebecca’s kind eyes.
She looks a little uncertain as she smiles at me, and I try to shake off the lust-filled thoughts from staring at Asher.
We’re coworkers.
Friends.
I join Rebecca, Walker, and Sarah, picking up the conversation and trying my best not to let my eyes wonder over to where Asher is talking to Dutton and Oakley. Because we’recoworkers. Andfriends. I try to repeat that over and over to myself because maybe then my brain will finally get it.
We cannot be lovers.
5
DUTTON
“Cute,” I say as I snap a family picture of Shelly, Randy, Gabe, and Amber. It makes me smile how well they all seem to get along. I’m not sure I could be as cool as Gabe is with the man who is now married to his ex-wife—but they seem to make it work.
Shelly looks radiant tonight too—beaming with joy, clearly happy with where life has left her. I wish all families could be like theirs. Gabe and Shelly’s marriage may not have worked out, but they’re for sure making it all work and fit together for Amber. That’s all that matters.
And this little girl is one of the happiest kids I’ve ever met. “Thank you, Uncle Dutton,” Amber says, striding over to me in her maroon-colored velour dress, holding a doll in one hand and fiddling with the tool belt she apparently insisted on wearing with her other little hand.
The kid does what she wants, and saying that her parents are the only ones she has wrapped around her finger would be a total lie. Everyone in Oakley’s Crew is obsessed with this kid.
“No problem, kiddo. You make it easy to take pictures.” I raise my hand to my mouth like I’m telling her a secret. “Makeshaving to take pictures of all these ugly mugs around here much easier.” I wink at her, and she giggles.
“They aren’t that ugly,” she says loudly, which draws a lot of chuckles.
Shelly huffs in embarrassment. “Amber,” she scolds, but it’s playful.
“Uncle Dutton said it first.”
“He did. I heard him.” Walker saunters up and wraps his arm around my shoulder. “But he just says that to make himself feel better, Amber.” He grips my chin. “I mean, look at this face,” he teases, and Amber snickers, her cheeks rosy from the fireplace being way too stoked for this many people in the main part of the house.
“You love this face,” I counter, and Walker just grins, but he can’t argue with that.
“Get a room,” Gabe grumbles, bumping into me playfully as he picks Amber up, and Shelly and Randy follow to go talk to Oakley, leaving me alone with my man.
“You gonna take my picture?” he asks, his eyes lit up with happiness. He loves this party, and he loves his job, and he loves me. It’s a good feeling, seeing the man I love so full of joy.
“You want me to?”
He pulls me over to the tree I was using for the background but keeps our backs to it and leans into me, squishing our cheeks together. “Selfie.”
“I’m a professional photographer.”
He holds up his phone in front of us. “Just smile.”
And smile I do. I can’t do much else when this man is around. I grin, then turn my head so I can lay a kiss on his cheek just as he snaps the picture. He chuckles and shows me the picture, and I have to admit he captured the moment beautifully. All I see is two sappy men in love.
“I should hate it.”
