24
ISABELLA
“Tequila!” Marley shouted, clutching a bottle of the stuff and thrusting it up in the air to the cheers of the friends all around him.
The small bar erupted. People whooped and hollered, clapping and surging forward so he could pour the shots into their mouths straight from the bottle from where he was standing on one of the tables.
Eighties rock music blasted through the speakers and those who weren’t clamoring for shots went back to dancing, jumping up and down and belting out the familiar lyrics. I sat at a table with Agatha and the other girls, smiling and watching the guys pass around more drinks from behind the bar.
“It’s good to see them like this again,” Anna, Colt’s fiancée, said. “It’s been ages since they’ve really cut loose together.”
Agatha grinned, holding up her spritzer and letting it sway to the beat of the classic song. “That’s what bachelor parties are for, I suppose.”
I laughed. “I thought they were an excuse for strip clubs and hooliganism.”
“To some men, maybe,” Anna replied, shouting from across the table to make her voice heard above the din. “Not to these guys, though. It’s all about catching up and having some fun together again.”
Reese’s fiancée, Caitlyn, leaned forward. “It was cool of them to do a combined party. I always feel like the guys end up having more fun while we get stuck at some spa, opening penis-shaped novelty gifts.”
Agatha flipped her hair over her shoulder, staring at Caitlyn in faux horror. “Getstuckat some spa? No way. I love spas. I got some time in at the one at the resort just this morning.”
Caitlyn shrugged, shooting her a smile. “Sorry, but I’m not a fan of having strangers touch me.”
“Neither am I normally,” I agreed. “Parker got me a massage yesterday, though. It was great. I feel like the massage therapist removed all my tense muscles and replaced them with brand new ones that don’t know the meaning of tightening up.”
Curiosity crept into Anna’s eyes as she watched me. “I’ve been wanting to ask you but there just never seemed to be time before. What’s it like having Parker as a fiancé? He and Colt have been best friends for as long as I’ve known him, and in all that time, Parker’s never even had a girlfriend. The man has been allergic to relationships until now. I’m glad he finally found you, but I can’t help but wonder if he’s going to be able to hang onto you.”
I giggled because it felt like the correct response to the question, but it was a sticky one. Parker and I wouldn’t be hanging onto each other after all, but I’d told him I would play along, and this was where I had to make good on that promise—without outright lying because I refused to do that.
“Parker is a great guy,” I said honestly. “He’s been amazing most of the time. I mean, you guys know him. He’s easygoing and fun, he’s funny, he’s scorching hot but not obnoxious about it…”
“I sense abutcoming,” Agatha said wisely when I trailed off. “What is it? Maybe we can help.”
“It’s not really about helping,” I said. “It’s just that, as great as he is, we’re also very different people, and sometimes, we struggle because of it. I take everything seriously, maybe even too seriously, but he doesn’t. I’m a planner while he seems to prefer flying by the seat of his pants. None of it impacts what he’s like as a partner. It just means that we’ll need to learn how to navigate those differences. We’re still kind of new, though. We’ll get there.”
“Every couple struggles,” Anna said. “Colt and I have known each other for so long, but even after growing together for most of our adult life, we’re still vastly different people.”
“Couples have to have differences, though,” Caitlyn volunteered. “It keeps things spicy and passionate. Otherwise, it would be like dating yourself and that just doesn’t seem like much fun.”
Agatha clinked her glass against Caitlyn’s, making a finger-gun with her perfectly manicured hand. “Exactly. That’s the spirit. The secret lies in celebrating those differences and using them to make you stronger as a pair.”
She turned to me. “Think about it. If you’re too serious and he’s too relaxed, the two of you are perfect together because you balance each other out. Life is all about balance. You can help him be more focused when he needs to be, and he can help you loosen up when you take things too seriously.”
I agreed with the principle, even if Parker and I weren’t perfect for each other, but I was saved from having to figure out a diplomatic reply without lying by Reese. Out of all the guys, I wouldn’t have pegged him for the type to get up on the table with Marley, but that was exactly what he did.
Sticking his fingers between his teeth, he let out a loud whistle to gain everyone’s attention and waved his hand in circles in the air. “We’re moving out, people. Let’s go. Let’s go. The luau awaits.”
Parker smacked his ass before he could get down, and I watched as Reese practically flew off the table to get back at him. His booming, genuine laughter was audible despite the noise around us, and just the sound of it made me smile as I got up and followed the others out the door.
Although he was still not as serious as I was all the time, I’d seen him when he hunkered down and got to work. Despite how much I complained to him about needing to focus more, I knew that he worked harder than anyone else I knew, except for myself.
I was starting to think that problem lay with me, not with him. I’d also seen what he was like when it was just the two of us spending time together and not working. Like last night, when we’d sat on the beach for hours just talking.
Then there was this side of him. Parker, the friend. The guy’s guy who was so beloved that he was the best man at four weddings in a row. The trainer who whipped billionaires into shape and still made them howl with laughter when they weren’t too busy cussing him out for what he put them through.
He tossed an arm over Colt’s shoulders up ahead of us in the street, pulling him closer and saying something before he tossed his head back and laughed again. Watching him, I couldn’t deny that I cared about him more than I should have.
Somehow, despite the armor I kept up around myself almost at all times, he’d managed to crawl under my skin. Sure, there was Parker, the dick, as well. But even that facet of him drew me in because it meant that, despite everything else, he wasn’t, in fact, as perfect as he seemed. He was flawed, and it was in those flaws and how he handled them that his heart peeked out.