Best and Honor

Chapter 2

Andrew

I still can't believe she came. If I were her I would have told Rachel and Evan to go hell. I might never know the truth about what happened between them that finally ended their two-year relationship, but I know my best friend made the worst mistake of his life when he let Sophie Richards walk out of it. I'm not sure if he ever stopped thinking about her, but I know I haven't. If she wasn't my friend's ex, I would have tracked her down and fought hard for a chance to have her myself.

Evan and I have been friends since grade school. I don't always agree with his choices, but when he started bringing Sophie around our junior year of high school, I was jealous he'd found her first. She's so beautiful. Her hair was a bit shorter back then, but still the same dark brown shade that it is now and her eyes are crystal blue and hard to look away from. They would have kept my attention much more if her body hadn't also been something that made every male head around turn and stare.

She didn't go to the same school as us, so I was only able to see her when Evan and I would throw a party or double date. Sophie has seen me date a parade of women, but she has no idea that she had set the bar so high for other women, it was hard to keep someone that wasn't as great as her around long. I told myself years ago I would find someone that would make my heart race and my thoughts scatter like she did—and to this day I'm still looking.

I blow out a breath laced with vodka thanks to her small attempt at making my toes feel better. It didn't help at all, but how do you say no to something she pulled straight from her bra. Shit, I was so flustered I couldn't have even come up with a nice way to decline it. I was trying hard not to ask if I could see that move again. So now, I'm sitting outside in the humid night air in one of my best suits just because there's pretty much nothing that could pull me away from the sweet scent of her perfume and the slight hint of alcohol I can smell on her.

"So, you and Evan are still friends. That's good." Her voice is quiet and raspy and damn if it doesn't make every part of me light up with desire. My eyes are getting more adjusted to the darkness and I can see the way the small lights of the hotel rooms shine down to reflect off of the smooth skin if her exposed legs. What once were miles of teenage perfection are now the smooth and sleek curves of a woman. I let my eyes trail up to the hem of her skirt before remembering I should probably say something in response. If only the blood would reroute itself back to my brain.

"Yea, still friends. We don't spend as much time together as we used to, but we've traded football for golf, and try to find time to get a few holes in once a month." My phone rings again in my pocket and I know it's Evan wanting to finish our phone call and hear the last details of the bachelor party. I don't give a shit. "What about you? Still as close to Rachel?"

Her laugh is music to my ears, but then I hear the hurt in her chest as she sighs. "Sure. As close as we can be living different lives on separate coasts." She pulls her feet up a little and I wonder if she remembers she's wearing a skirt. A quick glance around at the empty courtyard lets me relax.

"I'll never understand women." How could they still be friends if Rachel dated her boyfriend right after they broke up? I expect her to argue with me or tell me it just makes them far superior to men, but instead she closes her eyes and shrugs, pulling the pale pink fabric of her shirt higher and exposing a tiny sliver of skin at the waist of her skirt.

"I don't understand them either. If I could, I'd resign from my sex effective yesterday. I guess there are those of us that break the rules and ask for forgiveness and lucky for them there are some of us that value the friendship enough to fall for it." Her honesty makes my heart clench. She's trusting me and maybe it's just because she's drunk, but I'll take it.