A week later I’m pulling into Cade and Abi’s driveway after a day of working from home. Knocking twice and waiting—with no reply—I do what I’m known for, opening the door and making my way inside.
Entering the living room, I look through to the kitchen and stop short when I see Abi’s back touching the dining table, Cade’s body bent over her and the two of them too busy making out to hear my arrival. Thankfully, they’re fully clothed this time.
“Don’t mind me. Just let me grab some popcorn to have while watching the show.”
They both stop eating each other’s faces and as if in slow motion, turn their heads to look at me. Abi’s eyes dance with amusement while Cade’s narrow in frustration if the growl that follows is anything to go by.
“I’d say I was sorry, but the look on Cade’s face is totally worth it.”
“Fucker,” he mutters as he stands up and pulls his wife back up to standing.
“You love it.” I grin and walk over toward them, dipping my head to kiss Abi’s cheek.
I give Cade’s shoulder a squeeze then make my way into the kitchen to grab myself a beer.
“Help yourself, why don’t you?” Cade muses.
“Your casa is my casa.”
“So it seems.”
It’s when I’m walking back toward the living room when Abi steps in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.
“So . . .” she says slowly, a wry smile playing on her lips. “I hear that you’ve been visiting Amy and Brody a lot . . .” She looks up at me expectantly, obviously waiting for a reaction.
Lifting the beer bottle up to my mouth, I take a long, measured pull, studying her while I do it.
“Yeah . . .” I reply, waiting to hear what’s going to come next. Whatever it is—and knowing Abi—it’ll either be funny as hell, informative, or it’s going to piss me off to no end.
She makes a little growl in the back of her throat and grabs my hand, tugging—no dragging—me into the living room before dropping onto the couch and pulling me down to sit beside her.
My head snaps to Cade, my eyes begging for a rescue. However, instead of stepping up like any best friend should, he just grins and shakes his head.
“I’ll go order us some dinner. Abi’s off to Amy’s for some Bachelor auction thing.”
“It’s the first episode of the new Bachelor season. It’s a very important event in my social calendar,” she retorts rather empathically.
“Don’t know why you need to watch that when you’ve got such a fine specimen of a man at your disposal right here,” Cade announces from the kitchen.
“Just you wait, Doctor Hottie. You get to reap all the benefits every week when I get home.”
“Oh jeez, Carsen. Married for a few months and already you’re down to weekly. I did warn you not to let her eat the abstinence—I mean, wedding—cake.”
Abi’s hand darts out and whacks my bicep. “Shut it you. If anything, he gets laid more now than before he took me off the market.”
Cade bursts out laughing. “I took you off the market. Right,” he scoffs.
Abi shoots narrowed eyes his way. “You watch it, buddy, or else weekly will become a fantasy.”
“Don’t make threats you can’t deliver on, Spitfire.”
“Bite me.”
“If you insist . . .”
“Will you two get a room, already,” I reply with a grin.
“We do. We have several, in fact. The living room, the dining room, the bathroom . . .” Cade calls out.
“I think I need to throw up,” I mutter.
“Don’t be jealous of our sexathon. At least we waited until after you’d moved out,” Abi says with a shrug.
I spear her with a look. “Do you forget the kitchen incident?”
“Oh, yeah,” she giggles, her eyes looking over my shoulder toward her husband. “That was fun. We should definitely do that again.”
It’s then her expression changes, her mood going from fun to all business in the blink of an eye.
“What are your intentions with my friend?” Abi asks, her face dead serious and very ‘un-Abi’ like.
I purse my lips to hold back laughter, losing the fight the moment she narrows her eyes.
“I’m serious, Thomas. Amy likes to show the world she’s strong and independent, but she has a soft spot for charming men who say all the right words and do all the right things at the right time.”
I tilt my head and study her. “You’re saying I’m charming?” I reply with a huge grin.
She whacks my arm again. “You know you are. I’ve seen you pull at the club before. You bat your lashes better than a Southern debutante.”
“So you’re telling me I flirt like a woman?” I reply, deadpan.
“Gah!” she growls, balling her hands into fists. “Seriously, Thomas. Why are you still visiting my best friend? Why the secret, covert visits when the rest of us aren’t there?”
“They weren’t—”
“Right,” she scoffs. “That’s why no one knew about them until yesterday when Mia asked Amy what you were doing in her kitchen doing dishes.”
I chuckle and watch her lips thin as I take the opportunity to partake in one of my favorite pastimes of late, riling up Abi.
“I was doing the dishes,” I muse. “I was also cleaning the kitchen counter, if that matters.”
Cade sputters from the doorway and Abi’s angry eyes snap to her husband. “Not helping, Cade.”
“You’re adorable,” he says.
“And you’re not getting any when I get home.”
“Let’s see how that works out for you, Spitfire. One look at my cock and you’ll be riding me like a dog in heat. Especially after watching The Bachelor.”
“Did you just call me a bit—”
“No. No, I didn’t,” Cade says, backtracking at lightning speed. “You’re beautiful tonight, sweetheart.”
“Watch it buddy or else you’ll have the pleasure of experiencing blue balls in the form of my knee in your junk and from joining your friend here in a long period of abstinence.”
“Hey! Don’t bring me into this,” I muse in mock annoyance.
This brings Abi’s attention back to me. “You haven’t answered the question, Thomas,” she says in a sing-song tone.
“That’s because there is no answer, Abi-Jane.”
“There’s always an answer.”
“You want to know why I’ve been visiting Amy? Because we’re friends.”
“That’s a cop out and you know it.”
“How is that a cop out?” I reply with a laugh, wrongly relishing in the fact that I’m frustrating her.
“You’ve been visiting her every few days since she got home from the hospital. You’ve been present, helpful and by all accounts, extremely good at cleaning.”
Cade snorts and swallows his laughter quickly by taking a swig from his beer when Abi spears him with a glare. When I don’t answer, she presses on.
“Look, I just want you to be careful with her.”
I study her and decide that honesty is best. This is Abi, one of my closest friends and all she’s doing is looking out for Amy. The same thing I’ve been trying to do.
The difference is that I’ve wanted to keep my interactions with Amy private, between just the two of us, for no other reason that I feel connected to her. I said I wanted to be here for her and that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do.
And part of me likes that Amy and I have had time away from her friends and my friends because of this exact situation.
Mia was suspicious yesterday and obviously grilled Amy before passing on the gathered intel to Abi and now I just know that the pressure is going to go on us. I don’t want that. I want to spend more time getting to know Amy because everything I’ve seen so far has me wanting more and that’s not something I’ve experienced for a long time.
“You really want to know?” I ask, knowing the answer already.
“Yes,” she replies sounding exasperated.
“I’m just being there for her. Being a friend.”
“Amy already has friends.”
“And now she has one more,” I reply with a smirk.
“And you’re doing that by cleaning for her?”
“Yep. I make snacks and cups of tea too,” I continue, a wry smile playing on my lips.
“And the secrecy?”
“So that my nosey friends don’t get ideas and start interfering.”
“You know that ship has sailed now, right?” Cade pipes up, walking across the room and sitting down in the leather recliner before grabbing the remote and turning on the television.
“Probably.”
“She has a baby, Thomas.”
“Funnily enough I know that, given that I helped deliver him.”
“You’ve gotta tread carefully,” she says.
“I know this and I want you to know, I’ve. Got. This.”
She opens her mouth to say something else but snaps it shut, instead choosing to study me, her eyes scanning my face as if looking for any sign of insincerity.
“Okay then,” she says, standing up and tilting her head down. “You’ve got this. But if you hurt her, I’ll cut your dick off.” I choke on my beer as she ruffles my hair with her fingers then moves to her husband, dipping down to kiss him.
“Right, I’m off to get my Bachelor fix. I’ll say hi to Amy for you, Thomas,” she says in a saccharine sweet voice.
“Spitfire . . .” Cade muses, meeting her eyes and communicating some unspoken command.
“You’re so no fun. That wedding ring should come with a warning. Upon use, your previously footloose and fancy-free boyfriend will turn into a spoil sport husband.” She scoots back as she says it, making sure she’s out of Cade’s reach before poking her tongue out at him.
“Bye, boys,” she adds before grabbing her purse from the coffee table and disappearing through the front door.
Thomas: How’s the bachelor thing going?
Amy: Normal people say hi when they text.
Thomas: Hi
Amy: Hi back
I wait for a while, expecting another message to come through. When it doesn’t, I almost second guess whether to text her again.
Thomas: So the bachelor thing?
Amy: Did you really text me to ask about that? I know Abi gave you the third degree.
Amy: If it helps, all of the girls grilled me when they arrived. It seems that the phone tree in the group is extremely effective.
Thomas: I just thought I’d text to say Hi and see how your day was. Was it the doctor’s visit today?
Amy: It’s scary how you remember these things.
Thomas: Call it a talent of mine.
Amy: You mean you have talents other than being my man slave?
Thomas: Man-slaves walk around in loincloths and nothing else. I don’t own one, but if you insist . . .
Amy: I just spat tea all over the floor because of you. Now I’m getting weird looks.
Thomas: If you had a man slave there, he could take care of the mess.
Amy: How does one get a man slave? Is there a 1–800-loincloths-R-us?
Thomas: If there’s not, there should be.
Amy: What about an apron? Will that do in lieu of a loincloth?
Thomas: It’s hard to get good working conditions these days.
Amy: Is there a slave union?
Thomas: I should look into it.
Amy: You do that. They can advise me if the working conditions I am providing are substandard. But yes, six week check with doctor today. I’m officially all healthy, healed and ready to go.
I shouldn’t have read that text mid-swallow. Deciding it’s safer to avoid all talk of what exactly she’s ready for, I change the topic.
Thomas: How was Brody today?
“You have a goofy grin on your face,” Cade says, breaking my concentration. “And your phone is vibrating more than my wife’s bedside drawer.”
“I’ve told you more than once, Carsen. If you’re not up to the job, I’m more than happy to step in and show Abi what being with a real man is like.”
“It seems that you’ve already got your hands full with your own woman.”
Before I can stop myself, my head snaps up to find him arching a brow my way.
For a man who’s not easily embarrassed, the heat I feel in my cheeks is almost a new experience for me. Thankfully, he lets it go, switching to his default ‘give Thomas shit’ mode.
“Who are ya texting?” he says in a dumbass, teenage jock-like voice.
“Uh . . . dude . . . it’s this chick I know,” I mimic back.
“Is she hot?”
“Smoking,” I reply, sounding just like Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
“You gonna go for third base with her?”
“Nah. She’s one of those good girl types, hand holding and nothing more.”
“Duuuuude . . .” he says slowly, his lips twitching.
I stop fighting my grin and shake my head at him. “It’s just Amz. I was just checking in with her.”
“Just Amz?” His shit-eating smirk matches his teasing tone.
“Shut it.” I can’t stop myself from grinning back at him.
My phone vibrates, capturing my attention. Swiping the message open, I’m met with a photo of a sleeping Brody sucking his thumb. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
“You’ve got it bad, dude.”
“Dude or ‘duuuuude,’” I shoot back.
“Stop deflecting. Is there more to this Amy thing than just you being there for them?”
“Honestly?” I ask, meeting his eyes.
“Yep.”
“Maybe,” I reply.
“Are you going to do something about it?”
“She’s got a lot on her plate. I’m fine with things as they are now.” I know it’s a lie, but until I know whether I even have a shot with her, I’m not going to lay myself out for anyone, even Cade.
“So you’re friend-zoning yourself?”
“I’m so far entrenched in the friend zone, I’m almost sure I’ve created a new dictatorial state.”
“Wouldn’t take much to immigrate to the ‘not-friend zone,’” he adds with a smirk.
This is a double brow lift moment. “Dr. Cade Carsen, Emergency medicine specialist, self-orphaned son of Cade and Annabel Carsen, husband, golf pro, and matchmaker? You need to update your resume.”
“You’re a dick,” he says, throwing a beer cap my way.
“And you’re a vagina.”
“I’m happy with that. They’re tough and strong and can take a good pounding when asked.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Just don’t let the girls railroad you into anything. Take it at your own pace.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Not yet but hopefully soon,” he murmurs, returning his attention to the game.
My eyes go wide but I don’t say anything because although I knew that Abi and Cade would start a family in the future, for some reason the reality that this would happen—and seemingly soon—brought to the surface all my feelings of inadequacy.
To distract myself, and redirect my thoughts, I return my attention to my phone.
Thomas: You want a visitor on Thursday night?
Amy: You don’t have to, Thomas. I can clean my own house lol
Thomas: I know I don’t have to but I want to and I like helping you out around the house. Gives you time to focus on Brody.
Amy: You’re a nice guy, you know that?
Thomas: Shh don’t tell anyone, you’ll ruin my street cred.
Amy: Your secret’s safe with me.
Thomas: See you Thursday, I’ll bring takeout.
Amy: Sounds good. Have a good night.
Thomas: Enjoy your bachelor fantasy
Amy: Abi and Mia got all the good ones, but I fared all right. Who won the game?
I glance up at the screen then back down to my phone.
Thomas: Bears are leading by 14.
Amy: Such a shame. Although I know the Broncos will kick their ass in a few weeks
Those are fighting words.
Thomas: And with that, this Bears’ fan bows out. Your father and son would be ashamed of you.
Amy: The girls are eyeing me up wondering why I’m giggling.
Thomas: Tell them a hot sexy man slave sans loincloth is demanding your attention.
Amy: Lmao. Will do. See you Thursday.
And with that, I return my attention back to the game, the beer in my hand, my smart-ass best friend, and looking forward to takeout with Amy in a few days’ time.