Page 6 of Embraced in Ink

He held out his hand and smiled that heartwarming smile that she knew melted girls’ panties from miles away. She never let it get to her, though. Because, after all, he was her best friend.

Maybe her future husband, but she didn’t really think it would ever get that far.

“Shake on it,” he said.

She put her hands in his but didn’t move. “If we shake on it, it’s cemented. Because we don’t go back on our words or our handshakes or our promises. In ten years, if neither of us is married,weget married.”

“And you remain my best friend along the way.” He paused. “No matter what.”

“No matter what.” She squeezed his hand, and they shook on it.

She had a feeling that she had just changed the course of her life.

Either that, or she was going to have a really funny story to tell her children about their favorite Uncle Marcus. Because there was no way she was going to marry her best friend.

No way.

Chapter 2

Today

Another year and another birthday. Only this time, Marcus Stearn wasn’t sure it was merely a birthday. No, tonight could be disastrous. Life-changing. Apocalyptic.

Tonight, he might end up an engaged man.

Why?

Because he was a fucking idiot.

It wasn’t as if you could actually blame drinking for the predicament he was in. He’d had a single glass of champagne that night ten years ago. Tenlongyears ago, on a certain woman’s birthday, the same woman who had a birthday tonight. A single glass of champagne that had ended in a change of a future. A bet…a promise.

Because, of course, when it came to him and his best friend, there had to be a dare or a promise that couldn’t be broken between them. Not that many people knew that about him and Bristol. It was something they kind of kept to themselves, like the whole idea of the deal.

Ten years ago, they had decided—somehow, in a weird, twisted way of who they were—that if neither of them was married by the time Bristol turned thirty—tonight—they would get married.

That was not the stupidest thing in the history of the world, right? More ill-conceived things had to have occurred since then, but he couldn’t think of any. And it didn’t help that every time he thought of what could happen tonight, he thought of the feelings he refused to allow himself to venture into.

Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose and prayed that she had forgotten.

It had to be a joke, right? They hadn’t really mentioned their promise or the event at all over the past ten years. She’d traveled the globe and, sometimes, he went with her for a moment in time. And in all those instances, they’d never mentioned what had been agreed upon, or what would happen beyond this moment.

Oh, in the past few months, he might’ve noticed that she’d started to look at him differently. If he were honest with himself, he might have looked at her in a way he shouldn’t have either, but he hadn’t allowed himself to go beyond those blips. He hadn’t slept much these past few months. His stress levels had gone through the roof just thinking about what he was going to tell her tonight. What heshouldsay.

He didn’t know if she still remembered. Surely, she had forgotten. He’d let himself forget over the past decade, even if it had been in the back of his mind every once in a while. He’d been in relationships, as had she, and yet…here they were.

It was only a silly joke, a gamble of faith, and an agreement between friends. People did that in the movies and on TV all the time, and no one ever actually got married after saying that they would be their friend’s second choice. That they would somehow rely on each other for marriage. They’d skip the steps of temptation and uncertainty and move on to finding forever—with each other.

He knew Bristol wanted children…just like he did. He knew she wanted someone to be her partner in life because they’d talked about it. And his goals were the same as hers. Happiness, a family…a future.

He couldn’t actually add the wordsloveorsexto that because thinking about having sex with Bristol or loving her in a way that he didn’t already love her would make him want to throw up. No, that really wasn’t the right thing to think. Because he didn’t want to vomit. Not unless it was because of stress.

He thought about Bristol that way…had let himself, once or twice. How could he help it? She was fucking hot and amazing and sweet, and he was a red-blooded male, who happened to have thoughts every once in a while.

And because he was so damn afraid of losing his best friend, he’d repeated his mantra over and over again. He did not want to have sex with Bristol. He didn’t want to love her. Not that he didn’talreadylove her, but he didn’t want to fallinlove with her.

Not any more than I already have.

No, he was not going to think about that.