The Best Man: Part One Read Online Free PDF Page A

blowjob technique.
    Patrick does little more than stand there and watch him, and while Noah’s uncomfortable at first, he soon relaxes and even starts to enjoy the attention, the way Patrick’s watching his hands work, paying close attention to how he handles the food.
    “You like cooking?”
    Noah smiles. “Yeah.”
    “I can’t cook anything,” Patrick admits. “I burn water.”
    “Everyone can cook,” Noah says, looking up at him in amusement. “It’s just practice.”
    Patrick huffs a laugh. “I would offer to prove it to you, but I reckon Connor wants you alive for the wedding.”
    “You can’t be that bad.”
    “You’d be surprised,” says Patrick. They fall into another weirdly comfortable silence, and Noah’s sure that any moment now Patrick will get bored, wander away, do something else other than watch Noah chop and fry vegetables. It can’t be that thrilling to watch, but he looks content standing there, leaning against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. Eventually he says, “So why a January wedding?”
    Noah draws his eyebrows together. “What d’you mean?”
    “Why not wait until the spring, when it’s warmer?”
    “I dunno. It’s what Connor wanted.”
    Noah’s answer makes Patrick give a wry smile. “In a rush, is he?”
    “Maybe he just can’t wait to marry me,” Noah says, his tone cheekily confident.
    “I never thought he’d settle down.”
    “Why’d you say that?”
    Patrick pauses before answering. “We’re two of a kind, me and him. Always have been. And I can’t imagine settling down, so…”
    Noah looks at him. There’s not a hint of mirth on Patrick’s face now. “Sometimes people grow up.”
    “I’m grown up,” says Patrick, looking Noah flat in the eye. “I’m just realistic.”
    “You don’t think marriage is realistic?”
    “I don’t think it’s realistic that you can love someone so much that you’d want to spend the rest of your life with them.” Patrick speaks matter-of-factly, nothing to his tone but pure honesty. “Just that one person. It’s why the divorce rate is so high.” He uncrosses his arms from his chest and rubs the back of his neck. Noah gets the impression he’s not used to sharing his thoughts in such a way. But he continues, if only to hammer home his opinion. “What’s the point? Don’t waste the only life you’re given on a single bet.”
    Normally these kinds of statements would annoy him, because he’s a romantic, and he thinks love is a good thing, and if you can settle down with someone who makes you happy then you’re pretty much set for life. But debating with Patrick would mean breaking this spell of calm that’s drifted over them, and he doesn’t want that.
    There’s a hint of sadness in Noah, though—that Patrick doesn’t think there’s any place in life for true love. It must be lonely, whatever he tells himself.
    “You’re very jaded,” Noah says now, “considering you’re not even that old.”
    “I’m two months younger than your fella,” Patrick points out. “Apparently you like them old.”
    “I like him . Age has nothing to do with it.”
    “Like him, huh?” And of course Patrick would twist it. He seems to revel in friction, enjoy conflict.
    “Love him,” Noah says firmly, playing up to the bait. “I love him.”
    “So much that you’re prepared to give the rest of your life to him?” Patrick raises an eyebrow. He’s challenging Noah, and Noah no longer feels calm and relaxed.
    “What’s your problem? You’re meant to be his best friend.”
    “Which is why I’m looking out for his best interests.”
    “You don’t think I’m in his best interests?”
    There’s anger bubbling under the surface of Noah now, because he doesn’t understand why Patrick’s doing this, what point he’s trying to make, why he’s attempting to bend Noah’s mind and make him doubt .
    “I don’t know you.”
    “No,” Noah says firmly, tension seeping into his bones. He brings