Page 5 of Embraced in Ink
Marcus’s brows rose. “Okay. What kind of bet?”
“In ten years, let’s make sure that we remain best friends.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
She swallowed hard and blurted. “In ten years, if neither of us is married,weget married.”
Dear God. She’d said it.
He simply blinked at her. “Huh?”
“It’s perfect. That way, we will always have each other as our backup plan.”
He swallowed hard, and she hoped to hell she hadn’t made a huge mistake. “Are you saying that you don’t think either of us can get married without each other?”
“I’m not saying that at all.” She wasn’t surewhatshe was saying.
“So, whatareyou saying?”
“I don’t want to lose you. I want to remain best friends.”
“Marriage isn’t going to fix or ensure that, Bristol.”
She let out a breath before beginning to speak quickly. “No, but really… It’s a surefire way to make sure we always stay in each other’s lives. Because we’ll have that bet. And if, in ten years, we’re both still single, then we get married.”
“You’re a lunatic.”
“But I’m your lunatic.”
That made both of them laugh.
“How much have you had to drink?”
“Not much,” she lied.
“So, you’re saying in order to make sure we stay best friends, we get married in ten years?”
“Well, it sounds stupid when you say it aloud like that.”
“Itisstupid, Bristol.”
“All I’m saying is that you don’t want to marry a stranger, right? So, you remain my friend in case we end up having to get married. That way, we make sure we still like each other. We don’t want to be a statistic.”
Marcus ran his hands over his face and laughed. “Only you would think of this as a way to make sure we stay friends.”
“It’s because I’m brilliant.”
“I’m sure you think so,” he said dryly.
“I would flip you off, but we’re almost engaged here.”
He looked at her then, and they both burst out laughing. “Okay. You know what? Why not?”
Her heart thudded, and she blinked. “Okay?”
“Seriously. Because I have a feeling one or both of us will already be married by then. So, it’s probably not even going to matter.”
She ignored that thought, though she didn’t know why exactly. She just felt like she desperately needed to. “All right, but we have to remain friends so we don’t marry strangers. Okay?”