Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
And they had gotten much worse this year. Since Parker cheated on me, every glimpse of other people’s success in love was just a reminder that I’d failed at it, yet again. I had decided to swear off the idea of love and finding The One, and for the last year, I’d been successful at it.
I’d tried to be the perfect boyfriend—and hoped to be the perfect husband—for three different guys over the last decade, and each relationship had fizzled out in its own, sad way.
The worst part was that Parker was set to be attending the wedding here this week, too. I hadn’t seen him yet, but he had been Chase’s coworker on the camera crew.
I’d tried to be the bigger man.
I’d never even told Chase that Parker and I had dated, let alone that had cheated on me. My relationship with Parker had been a secret. None of the Fixer Brothers crew had known—not the TV crew or the construction crew. Parker had claimed it was because he was in the closet, and so I’d kept it under wraps for him. Then he’d been perfectly fine coming out of the closet for his new boyfriend. The same guy he’d cheated on me with.
It had been painful. Beyond painful.
But Chase had no idea that it was going to be uncomfortable for me this week, and I didn’t want Chase to know, either.
This was his wedding. His week. And my own little sad story wasn’t going to ruin that. My colleague Emmett and I had worked the marketing side of the Fixer Brothers Construction company dutifully for the past year, taking their TV show and home goods brand to the next level. We were excellent marketers. Excellent businessmen.
That was what mattered. And I was going to be here for my friend.
But I knew I was going to have to encounter my ex this week at some point, and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
Now, all I wanted was no-strings-attached fun.
Hookups, flings, or casual things only.
Dream Landry might have wanted a wedding at the beach, but Real Life Landry knew better.
I was already up, showered, and hitting the slopes an hour after waking up at sunrise. Skiing was one of the most blissful ways to get my blood pumping, forget what was on my mind, and get lost in the snow. I skied alone for an hour before it was time for Chase, Adam, Emmett, and all of the other guests to arrive.
I stopped into the tiny cabin cafe near the top of the chairlift, grabbing a coffee for some energy and warmth. I spotted a silver-haired guy across the cafe at a table who looked up at me, giving me a smile and a wink.
This would have been a perfect opportunity to delve deep into Operation Casual. To go sweet-talk the handsome man, find out if he was interested, and have a little no-strings fun while I was in the mountains for a week.
So what was holding me back?
Just then I saw Chase, his husband-to-be, and their giant group of friends walking up in the snow. I made my way to the door, walking out into the snowy morning air.
“Landry,” Chase said, giving me a quick hug. “Good morning. I see you’ve already made some dents in the fresh snow this morning?”
“I got up here early to shake off the sleep.”
…and to shake off my weird wedding dream, too.
Chase and Adam introduced me to some of their friends who I hadn’t met yet, and I greeted the rest of the Fixer Brothers Construction crew.
And then, near the back of the group, I saw a certain adorable marshmallow trudging his way through the snow. He was carrying skis awkwardly, and his cheeks were a dusty pink in the cold air.
Christ. Somehow he looked even better in the daylight than he had in the snow. Beach bum tanned skin and sun-kissed hair.
“Jamie. You made it,” I said, walking over to him.
“I feel like I’m already going to regret doing this,” Jamie said, his eyes wide as he looked at the rolling mountains and ski lift.
“You’re going to love it,” I said.
“At least one of us is confident.”
He really did look every bit like a California boy. He could have been in a surfboard advertisement.
Operation Casual would be so fun with Jamie. Too bad that I’d gotten the definite vibe that he was not interested last night. No matter how much I liked someone, I was never going to force them to do things with me if they didn’t want to. After Parker refused my proposal—while I was on bended knee, in front of him, at the top of a mountain eight months ago—I hadn’t even cried.
It was as if a switch had flipped inside me. I was numb. Like the idea of falling in love again was an impossibility. I couldn’t force anyone to love me enough to marry me, so I never wanted to have expectations again. For so long, I’d wanted the whole shebang: monogamy, kids, a house on a hill to grow old together inside.