A Very Merry Bromance (Bromance Book Club #5) (35)

“But he’s picking you up Friday night.”

“For a business meeting.”

“Whatever that was out there between you two, it wasn’t business. That was foreplay.”

“Go back to work,” Gretchen ordered, turning on her computer. It would be five minutes before it properly booted up. She couldn’t afford a new one, though.

“Come on! Can you honestly say you’re not at all, even just a tiny bit, starstruck by him? I mean, it’s Colton Wheeler.”

Gretchen logged in to her computer. “You going to do any actual work today, or . . . ?”

“I knew it,” Addison said. “You like to play the ice queen, but not even you can be immune to someone like that.”

She shut the door behind her, leaving Gretchen alone with a single thought.

That was the whole problem.

She wasn’t immune to him. She was as susceptible to his infection as a dog to fleas.

But nothing had changed in the year since she’d scurried out of his hotel room. They were no better suited now than before. There was one reason and one reason only why she was going through with this: to secure her family’s blessing to join the foundation board.

The sooner this little charade ended, the better.



* * *



? ? ?

It was never a good sign when Vlad cracked his knuckles.

But that’s how he greeted Colton an hour later when Colton walked into the fitness center for Silver Sneakers. He was the last one to arrive and almost missed Vlad’s glare because standing behind him were two more guys Colton had not invited to class—Vlad’s hockey coach and some dude he’d never seen before.

He dropped his duffel bag and pointed. “What the hell are they doing here? Has Mrs. Porth seen them?”

Vlad’s eyes narrowed menacingly. “Forget them. We’ve seen the pictures.”

“And we’ve talked to the girls,” Noah added in a voice that Colton had only heard one other time, and that was when they raced two hours down the freeway in Colton’s car so Noah could get to Alexis before she underwent surgery, only for Colton to let it slip later that he had access to an actual helicopter.

He’d been intimidating then. He was terrifying now. The shit was clearly about to hit the fan. “Are Gavin, Del, and Yan not coming today, or . . . ?”

“Shut up and tell us what’s going on,” Mack said.

“Okay, look—”

“Are you seriously blackmailing her into going out with you?” That was Malcolm, whose voice rarely rose above a calming baritone but was rising toward Vienna boys’ choir.

“It’s not blackmail.”

“You gave her an ultimatum,” Noah said, staring at Colton as if he’d just sprouted a third eye. “Go out with you or go back to her family and tell them she couldn’t even get you to listen to a proposal.”

“I gave her a choice. Not an ultimatum.”

“Same fucking thing in this case,” Mack said. “When one option is clearly worse than another, that’s an ultimatum.”

“And don’t get excited that she decided you were the least awful of the two,” Noah added. “That’s not saying much.”

Malcolm pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just when I think one of you dipshits has reached the pinnacle of douchebaggery, someone still manages to eclipse it.”

Vlad’s coach and the other dude inched closer then. “So, uh, thanks for letting us in the class,” the other dude said.

“I didn’t invite you,” Colton griped.

“I did,” Vlad said.

“Did you ask Mrs. Porth?”

“Yes, I emailed her last night to ask.”

“You emailed her? Since when do you have her email address?” This was his class. He was the one who discovered it. His friends were going rogue.

“Stop changing the subject,” Mack barked. “You have about three seconds to explain your intentions with Gretchen before I call Mrs. Porth over here to make you do push-ups.”

Colton gulped and darted his eyes to the front, where Mrs. Porth was thankfully distracted.

“Just tell me this isn’t about soothing your ego,” Mack said.

Mack might as well have punched him. “You know, I wish I’d known you guys had such a shitty opinion of me.”

“It’s not about you, brother. It’s about her. You two live in vastly different worlds. Gretchen is a private person, and although she grew up with a famous family, she has chosen not to live that life. So even if your intentions are pure—”

“They are.”

“—they can have real, unintended consequences for her.”

Colton thought about her reaction to the photos this morning. “I know,” he admitted, squeezing the back of his neck. “But I’m serious about this. She’s amazing, okay? Smart and funny and successful and dedicated and, I mean, what kind of person walks away from a fortune like her family’s to help people? I’m not even sure I’m good enough for her.”

The guys blinked in silence for a moment.

“Damn,” Malcolm finally said.

Colton kicked the toe of his sneakers against the floor. “What?”

“You really do like her, don’t you?” That was Mack again.