The Best Man Read online

  I complied and pressed my teeth into the bitter skin of the fruit. Samuel didn’t waste time. Back on his knees, he folded his arms behind his back before pressing his face to my stomach. I felt sure he could feel my stomach muscles clench when his tongue licked away the long line of salt he’d placed there. My eyes rolled back a little, and I hoped to God no one else noticed. I had to clench my hands into fists to fight back the irrational urge I felt to push my fingers into his hair before he rose far enough to reach the shot glass with his mouth. I stared at the top of his head while he pulled the shot glass away from my chest with his teeth. He drained the glass and dropped it to the floor immediately. Then Samuel reached forward and bit into the lemon, tearing it away from my mouth with only the barest hint of his lips on mine. He stood and raised his hands over his head, to the cheers of the four men who stood behind him.

  “Nice work, Dalton.” Zack clapped him on the back.

  “Harvard boys can party too,” Dan laughed, giving him props.

  “Columbia,” Andy corrected.

  I stood, with my chest heaving, trying to gain control of my respiratory system. Samuel turned and grinned at me with a bright yellow smile before he pulled the fruit away from his teeth. The remnants of the citrus and salt had made his lips shiny and dark. I stared a little longer than I should have.

  “Fine,” I said while trying not to sound as dazed as I felt. “You win.”

  I escaped to the ladies’ room under the pretense of having to wash Samuel’s “gross spit” off my stomach. As soon as the door was closed behind me, I rested heavily against it and cupped my face in my hands. What in the hell was wrong with me?

  I moved to the sink and tried to straighten my hair, frowning at my furiously red cheeks. Turning the water on as cold as it could go, I splashed the refreshing liquid on my face and mentally berated myself for letting my impulses get the better of me.

  Samuel was beautiful. There was no denying that. And the body shot had been...sexy as hell. But he only did it to win a game. He hadn’t meant anything by his actions. I needed to get myself in check. After a few minutes, I had sufficiently cooled down enough to step back into the bar and pretend that all was well. My feet stalled, however, when I left the restroom to find Samuel standing in the hall, waiting for me.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” I pretended nonchalance.

  “I don’t know,” he said, shrugging. “I just...things are going to wrap up here soon, and I wanted to be sure we were okay. The body shot...”

  “It was just a game,” I cut him off. “No big deal.”

  “Sure. Just a game.” Samuel glanced down for a moment, shaking his head. When he brought his gaze back to mine, he looked intense. “So...all is fair in love and war?”

  His question hung between us as we stared into each other’s eyes. I didn’t have time to contemplate an answer before Andy interrupted us.

  “Hey, Em. Sully’s here.”

  Thank God for reinforcements. I didn’t have to face any teasing from the guys. When I returned to the bar, I saw Dad had indeed decided to join us for a beer. My father laughed while Moe filled him in on our evening. I was grateful when the old barkeep only mentioned that Samuel and I battled for second place and didn’t elaborate on that particular part of the game.

  “I don’t mind pushing a broom, to help you get out of here faster,” my father told me.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I sighed.

  “I’ll stay to clean,” Nick suggested.

  “I can stay behind, too,” Samuel offered unexpectedly.

  “That’s okay,” I told them both. “Nick, it’s not your debt to pay. And, Samuel? You won, fair and square. Thanks, though.”

  “Nick!” Zack called out from across the room. “We’re leaving. Dan needs the keys. Let’s go!”

  “Dad will give me a ride home later,” I told Samuel, walking beside him toward the door.

  “Yeah...well...okay, then. Good night, Emelia,” Samuel said while turning away from me. I watched the strong lines of his retreating form as he joined the other men outside.

  Dan led the way for his inebriated passengers to follow him out to the van, and I waved good night from the doorway. Nick smiled and waved before Zack called him “Romeo” and pulled him in a sloppy headlock into the waiting vehicle. Andy and Samuel made their way to the van with their arms thrown over each other’s shoulders. Even though I had no idea what our judges had decided about their scoring for the competition, the sight of the two brothers enjoying their time together made the evening feel like a huge success.

  Completely sober by the time Dad and I arrived back at the house, I wished my father a good night and sleepily trudged into my room. I yelped a little out loud and hit the door with my back when I realized I was not alone. Andy was stretched out on his stomach across my bed, looking, for all intents and purposes, as though he had passed out with his face buried in one of my pillows. Once my heartbeat resumed its normal pace, I kicked off my shoes and walked to join him.

  “‘Bout time,” Andy muttered when I climbed up onto the bed beside him. He rolled and pulled me into his side immediately.

  “I thought you were asleep,” I said quietly, shifting my shoulders so that I could lie on my back with his arm as a pillow.

  “I was. You walk like an elephant.”

  “I do not!” I slapped at his side, and he chuckled a little.

  “Took you long enough to get home.” Andy remarked on my tardiness, but he didn’t begin to explain his presence in my room.

  “Yeah. Some jokers had a party at Moe’s bar.” I grinned up at the ceiling before yawning loudly. “Dad and I had our work cut out for us, cleaning that place up.”

  “Tonight was a lot of fun, Em,” Andy whispered. “I wanted to let you know that I had a really good time.”

  “That’s good.” I smiled. “I mean...that’s the point. Right?”

  “I guess.” Andy’s voice had dropped, and I picked up from his tone that his mood had shifted.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked quietly. His body tensed beside me, answering without words.

  “Dan, Zack, and Nick left me stranded,” he muttered. “They all unanimously agreed that tonight’s event ended in a tie again.”

  “That means...”

  “That they were useless as judges,” Andy said harshly. “It comes right down to me having to make the decision anyway. Based on whatever plans you two come up with for the last event.”

  “The epic adventure.”

  “Yep.”

  “What did Samuel say about that?” I whispered.

  “He’s fine with it.” Andy shrugged his shoulder under my head. “He must have been drunk or something. He was in a surprisingly good mood. He didn’t even bitch about their decision. He just thanked them all for a fun night and whistled his way up to bed.”

  “I’d like to have seen that,” I laughed lightly.

  “You don’t seem too upset about it either,” Andy complained.

  “Well...I’m not. The decision should have been yours to make in the first place.” Andy didn’t argue with my reprimand. “You can just end this thing now.”

  “I suggested that to Samuel earlier,” he admitted. “I told him it was stupid for you two to have to keep planning the last part of this.”

  “And what did he say?”

  “He said that you and he are a lot alike, and he had a feeling you would want to see it through to the end.”

  “Well. There it is, then.” I nodded. Samuel was right. I didn’t want to quit. He didn’t either, apparently.

  I lay there and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling. With Andy breathing heavily beside me, I relaxed on my bed and let my mind wander back over the events of the evening. Nick had asked me out. I smiled in the darkness as I remembered. He wasn’t obnoxious or pushy about it, and I really liked him. But then an image of Samuel’s frowning face when he found us outside talking took ove
r the memory. And that serious expression changed to something different...something confusing, when I allowed my mind to recall that damned body shot. Yeah, the warm-fuzzy feeling provided by Nick’s invitation was stomped out like a cigarette under his heel when I allowed myself to revisit my reaction to Samuel. It wasn’t fair.

  I frowned for a totally different reason when a nasty stench made itself known in the small confines of my room, and more specifically, from the area right next to me. I coughed and covered my nose.

  “God, Andy,” I groaned. He laughed sleepily beside me, and I was accosted by another wave of stink.

  “Blame the pickled eggs and beer,” my best friend laughed.

  “Ugh!” I rolled out of the bed and started to move toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Andy whispered.

  “I’m not sleeping in a cloud of ass,” I hissed. In the hallway, I procured a pillow and a blanket from the closet and trudged downstairs to make a bed on the couch. Thankfully, the confusing memories from the night stayed at bay, and I fell asleep as soon as I got settled into the worn and comfortable cushions below me.

  After dropping my father off at work, I jogged outside to check the mail. “Good morning, Joy!” I waved over to Andy and Samuel’s mother. She was loading the trunk of her car with boxes and returned my greeting with a large smile. I left the junk mail where it rested in our faded, white mailbox and went to help her with the last items on her porch. “What are you doing today?” I asked, placing the box beside the others that were nestled in the small space of her trunk.

  “Going down to the diner to do inventory,” Joy said. “Then I’m running these things and whatever else we come up with down to First Baptist.” I nodded. It had been a chore I’d enjoyed when I was younger. Joy and Larry always donated extra restaurant and food supplies once a month to the local food pantry. The rooms added on to the back of the First Baptist Church served as a sort of storage area where donated food and clothing were sorted and packaged to be distributed to the needy. Most donations helped locally with those who faced financial hardships, emergencies, or had medical problems.

  “Can I help?” I asked. “Dad’s truck has more room than your trunk. I’d love to pitch in.”

  “That would be wonderful, Emmy.” Joy smiled. “I’ve overextended myself this morning. I promised to help out down at the Senior Center today too.”

  “Let me take care of this.” I nodded determinedly. “I’ll pick up the rest at the diner, and you won’t have to worry about a thing.”

  “Thanks, honey.” Joy smiled. She helped me transfer her boxes to the back of Dad’s truck. I grabbed the keys from the peg inside the door and straightened my ponytail before jumping behind the wheel to head down to the diner.

  Once there, I said hello to the familiar faces inside and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler behind the counter before walking through the kitchen and moving toward the back room.

  “Good morning, Emmy.” Larry smiled over at me.

  “Hi!” I kissed Larry on the cheek and offered him a sunny smile that faltered on my face when his eldest son walked around the supply shelf holding a clipboard.

  “What are you doing here?” Samuel asked pleasantly. Nervously, I tucked a stray piece of hair back into my ponytail and shrugged.

  “I told your mom I would help take the donation over to First Baptist,” I explained. I felt self-conscious for a moment, standing there in my cutoff shorts and white tank top with a large flannel shirt partially buttoned over it. I chastised myself immediately and pulled my shoulders back. It’s not like I needed to be dressed nicely or be wearing makeup just because Samuel was around. His eyes traveled down to my beat-up Converse sneakers and back up to my eyes. He looked at me just the same as he always did. It was stupid for me to worry about my appearance. I was doing community service. It wasn’t a beauty pageant.

  “We could use the help,” he agreed. “The boxes by the door are ready. Want to pull around back?”

  I nodded and went to move the truck to the space near the back door of the diner. While Larry and Samuel loaded the heaviest boxes, I helped with the smaller, more manageable ones. Samuel and Larry lowered their heads over the clipboard and papers that held their monthly inventory, changed a couple columns of numbers around, and pulled a few more boxes together. When they were loaded, Larry slapped the side of the truck and thanked me again before going inside. I was a little surprised when Samuel moved to get into the passenger’s seat beside me.

  “You’re coming along?” I asked stupidly. His intention was obvious. Samuel grinned and rolled down the window. The day was already getting warm.

  “Did you think I was going to make you and the ladies down at the church unload these boxes by yourselves?”

  I felt silly and shook my ponytail behind me before carefully backing out of the small driveway and turning out onto the main road. “So...it’s been a while since I’ve done this job,” I mentioned to make small talk. “I used to help your mom with this after you left for school.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Why isn’t Andy helping today?” I asked.

  “He drove to Seattle to see Lily,” Samuel said.

  “I thought you two might have spent some time together yesterday...” I began.

  “Oh, we did,” Samuel nodded. “He didn’t leave until around eight last night. What about you? We didn’t see you all day.”

  “I went with Dad to help a friend of his. Do you remember John Taylor? And his wife, Maggie?”

  “Didn’t they have a son?”

  “Yep.” I nodded. “Jack is sixteen now.”

  “Wow.”

  “Anyway, a bunch of guys went over to help the Taylors with a roofing project. We had a fish fry after.”

  “That sounds like fun.” Samuel nodded.

  “It was okay,” I agreed. “It was nice to spend the day with my dad. But being around Jack was weird. I used to babysit him, you know?”

  “Kids grow up,” Samuel noted, scratching at his cheek with a thoughtful expression.

  “He had his girlfriend over, and those two made out all day. I felt like a third wheel.” My thoughts were somber as I pulled into the church parking lot and cut off the engine.

  “Why the frown?” Samuel turned in the seat to face me. I hadn’t realized that my features had slipped into a more solemn expression to match my thoughts.

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Andy and Lily. Hell...even little Jack Taylor and his girlfriend. It seems so easy for some people.”

  “What do you mean?” Samuel watched me curiously. I felt awkward for even mentioning my silly insecurities.

  “I mean...sometimes I see couples with this weird...cosmic connection. Ya know? And I wonder why the rest of us seem to have to stumble around aimlessly. Never finding that same sort of...” I shook my head. I couldn’t really put my thoughts into words.

  “Maybe we just aren’t looking in the right place,” Samuel offered. I smiled over at him, thankful that he added himself to the group of the hopeless and aimless. It made me feel better.

  “Aw. It’s not so bad, being single. Right?” I wrinkled my nose and reached for the door handle. “We’re young, and there is too much fun to be had!”

  Samuel laughed and opened his door as well. Seriousness pushed aside, I pulled down the tailgate, and we both started carrying boxes to the small room behind the church.

  “Samuel! Emmy!” The white-haired woman who opened the door for us gave us a smile that pressed her soft, wrinkled face into cheery lines under her bright blue eyes.

  “Miss Clarie?” I stood grinning at the kind older woman that I hadn’t seen in years.

  “What a nice surprise,” she said, moving to pat us both on the back. “We girls are quilting for the troops.” She smiled. “Do you need help? Or do you remember how we do things around here?”

  “I remember,” Samuel stated. “We’ll take care of everything.”

  “Good, good.
” Miss Clarie fluttered her hand over her curled white hair. “Come by and say hello to us before you leave. All right?”

  “We promise.” I smiled. Miss Clarie stepped ahead of us, her soft shoes padding lightly on the linoleum and her blue flowered skirt swishing with her movement. Samuel gave me a truly distracting and cheerful grin and allowed me to step into the room ahead of him.

  Together, we worked to unload the truck. I had to tie my flannel shirt around my waist, and I was thankful my hair was tied back. It was hot work in the sun. When the boxes got too heavy to carry, I helped by jumping into the truck bed and shoving them closer to the tailgate for Samuel to reach more easily. I tried not to stare when his own perspiration started to make his shirt cling to his straining arms and chest. Lord, he presented a distracting image. With that task complete, I shut the tailgate with a bang and went into the slightly cooler temperature of the storage room. Samuel stood with his back to me, leaning over the counter while reading some papers that were left there. I greedily stared at his back before closing my eyes. I was sure it had to be some sort of sin to be staring at Samuel’s ass in a church.

  “Hey,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “Are you in a hurry to leave? Or can we stay a while and put some of this together?” I moved to stand beside him and saw what he was reading. On my trips to volunteer here before, I sometimes helped with the lists the ladies from the church provided. The papers itemized things which were needed for certain individuals or families. We then repacked care boxes with the donated items available on the storage shelves, sealed them, and labeled them for delivery.

  “I don’t have anything else to do.” I smiled and shook my head. “I’m game.”