Read Christmas With the Best Man for Free Online

almost dropped her phone. “Does it really ask that?”
    He held out the magazine, but she didn’t even look at it.
    “That’s not funny. This quiz is dumb.”
    “What’s up? It’s a joke. Just pick a letter and we’ll see what result we get.”
    She couldn’t even remember the choices so she typed a letter at random.
    “Cool. Now, the first question was best friend. I picked C, hanging out after sex. Your answer?”
    “I have a BFF. You should know that one.”
    He went through the next question and answer, and onto the third. “Perfect partner?”
    She clasped her phone to her chest. “You go first.”
    “No, then you’ll just copy what I say.”
    “I will not.”
    “Okay, on the count of three we show our answers. One, two…three.”
    Jasmine flipped her phone around and read the answer on his. Bass player . The same thing she’d typed. Her eyes widened. “No way!”
    “What did you think I’d choose?”
    She smirked. “You want a girlfriend who plays bass?”
    He thought for a moment, then tossed down his phone. “This is a dumb game.”
    “You made me play.” One thing still had her curiosity up.   “What’s your answer for the move for work one?”
    “Like it matters? I move constantly for work. I’m home only a few months of the year. If we aren’t on the road, we’re recording. I wouldn’t ask you—any woman—to move in with me. I’m never there.” He was nearly shouting when he finished talking. He tossed the magazine aside and jumped up to pace.
    “Hey, it was a dumb game, remember?” That question had pushed his buttons. He must have had a relationship go bad over his career. “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “What’s the point?” He raised a hand in the air, motioning randomly.
    “What else is there to do? Come on, sit down.” She patted the bed beside her.
    He sat, looking as stiff and uncomfortable as he could possibly be.
    “I had a boyfriend in high school,” she said softly, not waiting for him to explain himself. “We dated in our junior and senior years. I assumed we’d get married when we graduated. A week before our last day of school, he told me he’d enlisted.”
    “Lots of people get married in the military.”
    She shrugged. “It wasn’t something he wanted. Long distance marriages and such. He was done. We were done.”
    “That sucks. You’d think he’d have told you what he planned long before then.”
    “I guess we were in the ‘hang out after sex’ category. Everyone we knew was, too. I just never thought about it before.”
    “That must have hurt.”
    “Yeah, for a while. Then I got over him.” She watched his face to see if he was going to discuss what had upset him.
    He stroked the back of his hand down her sleeve. “I mean, I can see why he wanted sex with you, but you’ve got a great mind. He missed out on a lot not talking to you more.”
    “You’re not just trying to make me feel better?” Here she was, trying to do the same for him.
    “No. You, Kenzi, Bree, you’re all intelligent, beautiful women. The perfect mix.”
    She chuckled. “Now I know you’re lying.”
    “You can’t take a compliment, can you?”
    “I get compliments all the time. I have no trouble accepting them.”
    “But one from me…it makes you uncomfortable. Why?”
    “You’re Chaz’s best friend.”
    “Right…”
    She shrugged. “You think I’m a pain in the ass.”
    “Not all the time. Right now, however…”
    “See? You never compliment me.”
    “I should. You deserve to hear nice things every day.”
    She turned her face away. “In that case I’m way behind schedule.”
    “I can’t believe that.”
    She didn’t speak. He was stabbing her in the heart, acting so nice, so sexy. His hand stroking her sleeve was putting her in a sensual haze. She’d better move. She’d better get up before she did something stupid.
    Joey turned her head to face him. He moved close…so close. She could feel his breath on her lips.
    Those lips.