Loving the Best Man (Friends & Lovers Book 2) by Jaye Diane Page A

must be cool.”
    “I’m not a designer or anything important like that,” Emerald said, frowning at a car that was just pulling into a space. She’d just missed it.
    “So what do you do there?”
    “Receptionist.”
    “I work at Kent & Sayers,” He said as if she’d asked.
    “The publishing company?” She inquired, not because she cared but because she felt it would be rude not to.
    “Yeah,” He replied eagerly.
    She didn’t say anything else. They drove in silence for about a minute and she shook her head, driving further and further away as she looked for a parking spot.
    “I can drop you off,” She offered after she’d gone around a couple of times.
    “Nah, it’s okay.”
    She could already tell that Deon was interested in her. Unfortunately for him, she had zero interest in him. When she wasn’t interested in someone, she usually didn’t hesitate to let them down, sometimes gently but sometimes harshly.
    It was different with Deon. They’d just met and he was a part of Shawn’s extended family, although he might not be for very long. Still, she didn’t want to cause conflict so she’d try to find a way to be nice to Deon when it was time to let him down. Maybe she’d have to tell him point blank about Lincoln, not that she intended to go into any details.
    Just thinking about Lincoln was enough to cause flutters in her stomach. They hadn’t seen each other since very early Christmas Eve morning, when he’d dropped her off at her apartment. She hoped she’d get to see him that night. She didn’t know what time he’d be done with his family. They hadn’t really discussed it.
    She’d wanted to bring it up but after she pushed so hard for her independence and for distance, she hadn’t wanted to give Lincoln the wrong idea. Asking or insinuating that she wanted him to leave his family for her on Christmas would be a huge deal.
    She was so caught up in her thoughts of Lincoln that she almost missed a parking spot. Deon pointed it out to her and she hurriedly backed her Jeep in. She turned off the car and got out then grabbed the other bags out of the back seat.
    “Need some help?” Deon asked, coming around the car to where she was.
    “No, thanks,” Emerald answered, a phony smile on her face. “They’re light.”
    The parking spot was two blocks from her father’s house and she hurriedly began walking, her legs already stinging from the cold air.
    “Is it always this hard to get parking around here?” Deon asked.
    “No, usually just on holidays.” She answered him without looking at him, trying to convey her disinterest without words. If she was lucky, he’d get the hint before it could become awkward.
    “I have my own house,” He said, as if that was supposed to impress her. “It has a garage.”
    “Hmm.” She did her best to hide her annoyance.
    They were quiet for the rest of the walk to the house and she was so glad to enter the warm house. She forced herself not to let her teeth chatter and hung up her coat.
    “Got a spot?” Shawn asked.
    “Yeah, finally,” Emerald answered. “A couple blocks away.”
    “Don’t you look beautiful,” Shawn said, approaching her and handing her a cup of coffee.
    “Thanks, Dad,” Emerald answered and sipped the coffee gratefully. It was light and sweet, with a ton of cream and sugar. Even the simplest details about her eluded Shawn so she hadn’t expected him to remember that she liked black coffee.
    “Yeah, Shawn,” Deon chimed in smoothly, “You didn’t tell us that Emerald was so beautiful.”
    Someone snickered.
    “Thank you, Deon.” She said before her father led her around the living room to introduce her to Samantha’s family.
    Samantha’s sister and brother-in-law were there, along with their adult three kids. Latrice and Tiffany were the two women who had given Emerald dirty looks earlier. Deon was their brother. The other people were a couple of Samantha’s cousins with their significant others. After greeting