My One and Only: Book 1 in the Love and Weddings Trilogy (13 page)

              Kam nodded his head gravely. “Okay, then. This is good. Asher, you be a good friend to my brother.”

              Asher nodded his head quickly. “You have my word.”

              Kam stared at him and then nodded before taking another bite, clearly accepting of Asher’s word. “Taryn, eat up, beautiful. I don’t want you fainting on me like you did yesterday.”

              Pule raised an eyebrow and looked at Taryn closely.
Eating a lot? Fainting?
He glanced at her flat stomach hidden by the table. “Ah, I get it,” he said with a grin. “When are you due?” he asked Taryn as he pushed the bread bowl closer to her.

              Taryn glanced up at him with a quizzical look on her face. “What are you talking about?”

              Pule turned and looked at Kam who was smiling gently at Taryn. “Sweetie, is there any chance that you might be pregnant?” Kam asked in a soft voice that Pule almost never heard his brother use.

              Taryn stared at Kam, completely expressionless before her face crumpled and she began crying. “Do you think so?” she sobbed as Kam pushed back from the table and pulled Taryn into his arms. She sobbed on his shoulder, her whole body shaking as he and Asher stared at each other in surprise.

              Asher reached over and put a hand on Taryn’s arm. “Taryn, how about I run over to the drug store and grab you a pregnancy test? Would that be okay?”

              Taryn lifted her red, splotchy face and nodded her head as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m so happy,” she said, stuttering over the words as Kam continued to pat her back.

              Pule grinned at Asher. “Go for it, Man.
Hurry
.”

              Asher stood up and walked away quickly as Kam continued to talk to Taryn in soothing tones. Pule grinned as all the waiters and waitresses found reasons to walk by and stare at their chef holding their boss in their arms. Someone must have alerted Rob because he appeared within minutes and by the stormy look on his face, was not happy to find his sister distraught.

              “Kam, what happened?” he demanded, pulling his sister out of Kam’s arms and into his.

              Kam grinned at Rob and smacked him on the back. “This might be premature, but let me be the first to congratulate you on being an uncle.”

              Rob’s face turned lax as he stared at his sister who was hiccupping now and wiping her nose on a napkin. “Is it true?” he asked softly, touching his sister’s cheek.

              Taryn shrugged slightly and gave a watery laugh. “I’m not sure. I’ve been eating like a horse lately and yesterday I fainted in the kitchen. And I’m
so
emotional. Just hearing that Pule and Asher decided to be best friends had me crying my eyes out. I think it’s very possible. Asher ran out just now to go buy me a pregnancy test.”

              Rob grinned and nodded his head. “Good man. Well, let’s eat up while we’re waiting. No use wasting all this good food.”

              Taryn sat back down in her chair and Rob stayed in Asher’s. They spent the next fifteen minutes talking about ways to tell Brogan. Kam suggested a nice family dinner with everyone. Rob suggested having it announced at a sporting event. Pule suggested that she tell him privately in a way that would be special to Brogan.

              Taryn pointed her finger at him and smiled. “I like your idea. Now, how do I keep my secret from Brogan until I’m ready to tell him? The man can read me like a book.”

              Asher returned right then and Rob stood up and pulled an extra chair over. Christy came over and took Asher’s plate so she could bring him out fresh food while he put the sack in front of Taryn. Rob pulled the pregnancy test out of the sack and handed it to Taryn. “Go take the test and hurry back,” he said.

              Taryn nodded her head and hurried away.

              “So guess who I ran into at the check-out,” Asher said grimly.

              Pule shook his head. “Please don’t say, Brogan.”

              Asher nodded his head. “He came up right behind me and I couldn’t exactly hide the pregnancy test. Needless to say, he’s making a lot of assumptions right now.”

              Kam frowned. “What did he say?”

              Asher reddened and ran a hand over his wavy brown hair. “Oh, he just asked how Meredith was feeling and then asked when the wedding was.”

              Rob turned back and stared at Asher. “Sorry, but he’s going to have to assume whatever he wants about you and Meredith for now. This is Taryn’s first baby and I don’t want her surprise ruined.”

              Asher held up his hands and shook his head. “If Meredith finds out that rumors are going around that she’s pregnant and I’m the father, someone’s going to die.
Me
.”

              Rob frowned and nodded his head. “All for the greater good. Not a word leaves this table. I want this to be perfect for Taryn.”

              Pule sighed and took another bite of his scallops. “Do I have to take the fall on this one too? My momma will kill me.”

              Kam frowned and shook his head fiercely. “There’s no way Asher can say that he bought the test for Pule. Our parents would not be gentle with him.”

              Pule shivered and then looked at Rob. “How about you? Wren might be pregnant again.”

              Rob shook his head. “That won’t fly. There’s no way that Asher would ever be in a situation where he’d be buying a pregnancy test for
my
wife.”

              Kam nodded his head. “That leaves Rayne, Ivy or
Meredith
.”

              Asher sighed loudly and shook his head. “I’m just now getting my relationship back where it should be with my brother and Becket. I can’t do anything to jeopardize that. By default, it has to be Meredith.” He paused and looked up at the ceiling as if he was talking to God. “And this is what I get for doing a good deed.”

              Kam shook his head. “Wait a second. This might actually help you. If everyone knows you bought a pregnancy test and everyone assumes that you’re with Meredith, maybe she’ll be able to see it too? Maybe this will bring you closer together? Especially when she sees how it’s no big deal with Brogan.”

              Asher blinked in surprise and then turned and looked at Pule questioningly. “What do you think?”

              Pule shrugged. “Meredith is hard to figure out sometimes. She could laugh it off or she could hunt someone down and destroy them. It’s really going to depend on her mood that day. Her big thing now is how she’s being perceived by everyone. I can’t imagine that everyone talking about her being pregnant is going to go over well no matter how you spin it.”

              Asher groaned and then looked at Rob. “I say we reconsider Wren.”

              Rob stood up and shook his head. “And let everyone assume you’re having an affair with my wife? I’ll kill you myself and I happen to know you’re innocent.”

              Asher winced and looked at Kam. Kam smiled gently and smacked him on the shoulder. “Man up, Asher. Looks like you’re going to be a father.”

              Taryn walked quickly to their table with a bright smile on her face and a white stick in her hand. She held it triumphantly up in the air and all three men erupted in a cheer. Taryn was going to be a momma.

              Who knew parenthood was so contagious? Pule wondered with a grin.

              Meredith walked into Tai’s Diner the next day with a cautious smile on her face. Brogan had called a meeting so they could look at the new and improved website before it went live the next day. She’d only been to the diner a few times, but she was glad Brogan had chosen the diner over The Iron Skillet. Tai needed all the customers he could get and the food was amazing.

              She was nervous about seeing Asher again since she’d never heard back from Pule. Pule had promised her that he’d help her fix the situation but hadn’t responded when she’d texted him last night to see if he’d been successful in hunting Asher down. She wasn’t too surprised though; Pule never charged his phone.

              She was surprised to see Jane there at the front counter with her little boy Vaitele strapped to her chest in a cloth sling. She watched as Tai brought her out a hamburger and fries and grinned. Then again, she wasn’t that surprised. She blew a kiss at her friend and then caught sight of Brogan and Asher in a back booth with their heads together. Brogan looked up right then and smiled in greeting so she made her way to their table located next to the windows. It was almost like it was a conspiracy between them to never let her arrive first. It had to be an aggressive, male attribute she hadn’t heard of before.

              “Hey, guys,” she said with a polite smile on her face.

              Brogan smiled as she sat next to Asher. “Well, don’t you look pretty today? You’re almost glowing,” he said, his bright blue eyes twinkling at her.

              Meredith touched her cheek questioningly.
Was she sweating?
Gah. “Uh,
thanks,
Brogan. Hey, Ash,” she said softly, turning to look at Asher who was staring at her silently as if he was trying to figure her out.

              He smiled slowly and nodded his head. “Brogan’s right. You do look pretty.”

              Meredith pulled a strand of her super straight blond hair through her fingers and said a prayer of gratitude that she’d been able to buy some of her straightening serum on clearance for practically nothing yesterday.

              “You two are the sweetest.” Meredith said and then noticed the large platter of Club sandwiches.
Perfect.
She took two since she was starving to death. She’d skipped breakfast and was paying for it now.  Brogan grinned at her and pushed the platter closer to her.

              After Meredith had taken care of the worst of her hunger pains, she patted her lips with a napkin and smiled at the men. “I have to admit I can hardly wait to see our baby. Let’s get to it, shall we?” she asked, wanting to get off the subject of her sweaty, good looks and onto something concrete, like her financial future. Asher choked on his water and Brogan nodded and looked at her stomach and then pointedly at Asher.

              Meredith frowned and began to say something but Brogan opened his laptop and began tapping at the keys so she kept her mouth shut. She stared suspiciously at Asher. What had she said that would put that shocked look on his face?

             
Forget it.
Sometimes Asher had his own private conversations in his head that made her want to peek inside just so she could get the joke too. Or maybe she was overanalyzing which she did sometimes. He was probably just as stoked as she was. Meredith glanced at Asher again and found him staring at her in that quiet way he had that made her heart beat faster. She lowered her gaze and waited for Brogan. Better not to read too much into those hot, yearning looks either.

              “And here she is,” he said, turning the laptop around so he could show them. “But in order to really see how the site works, I want you to log in again so you can experience what it’s like to be an actual customer.”

              Meredith smiled nervously and looked at Asher. “Why don’t you go first,” she offered.

              Asher shook his head and pushed the laptop over to her. “Absolutely not. Ladies first.”

              Meredith groaned and began to create the profile she’d started the other night at Brogan’s house. Brogan interrupted her right after she put in her password. “Now, here’s the cool part. You can log in from your Facebook account and they can automatically upload your pictures for you so you don’t have to. It saves about fifteen minutes of time because it just goes off your profile pictures and those are usually everybody’s first choice anyways.”

              Meredith grinned as she chose that option while Brogan instructed her. After a few moments she sat back to see the site practically create her profile on its own.

              “This is so cool,” she whispered. “It’s adding my movie and music preferences too so it can match me with someone with similar tastes.
Insane
.”

              Brogan laughed. “Insane in a good way, I’m sure. Okay, Asher. Your turn,” he said and pushed the laptop towards him. Asher began clicking away without a word and within minutes he was done and pushing the laptop back towards Brogan.

              Brogan smiled like a proud father. “Excellent. We now have our first two clients. Of course, you two weren’t charged since you’re owners and I pre-authorized you two but everyone else will be taken through the billing process before they’re matched with anyone.”

              Meredith heard a beeping sound and Brogan’s head whipped up in surprise. “
Interesting,”
he said softly as he tapped on a few keys. “Looks like Your One and Only has its first official match.”

              Meredith’s mouth fell open as she turned and stared at Asher. Asher’s mouth tilted up on the side as he pulled the laptop towards him again. Brogan turned and looked at her with a happy grin.

              “You and I are a perfect match on all four levels,” Asher said softly turning the laptop towards her.

              Meredith grabbed it with both hands and stared at it. The screen was covered in hearts with the four levels of connection highlighted in different shades of pink. Mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. And right next to them, arrows pointing to Asher’s name and picture.

              “Why is it going so crazy?” she asked in a shaky voice turning to look at Brogan.

              Brogan grinned at her and shrugged. “Because it’s very rare. I’ve done a little research on this. Most people are satisfied if they’re matched on just two levels. And they’re asked that in the beginning. You specified that you’d only be satisfied with a four level connection. I think I’d be ecstatic myself if I got a three level connection. So I programmed the site to go a little crazy so people know just how special this is. Now if you’ll look at the bottom of the page, it’s asking you if want to meet up with Asher, call him or just send a message.”

              Meredith glanced at the bottom of the page and then looked at Asher helplessly. “
Hi
,” she said breathlessly.

              Asher grinned at her and reached over and touched the back of her hand. “
Hey.”

              Brogan cleared his throat. “Of course since you’re both part owners, you won’t be eligible for the free dinner at The Iron Skillet. We’ll be getting new clients as soon as we get up and going and we place our ads on Facebook and twitter. I ran into Kam this morning and he promised to remind Pule that he needs to sign up today. We’re all contacting our single friends and relatives and giving them a special introductory rate. I say by the end of next week we’ll have a few hundred users. Meredith, you better start planning our first mixer. I’m thinking a couple weeks from now would be perfect.”

              Meredith nodded her head, still reeling from being matched so quickly with Asher. “I will,” she said looking at her hands since she could feel the weight of Asher’s gaze on her.

              Brogan reached over and touched her shoulder. “I’ll understand if you’re tired and you need extra time. At this time in your life you have to take things easy. You’re going through so many changes, physically and emotionally that we’ll change our pace to match yours. Whatever you need, Meredith, you say the word,” he said kindly, looking into her eyes.

              Meredith blinked in surprise and then smiled. “Brogan, you are the most thoughtful man in the world. And you’re right. I swear life is changing so fast on me that I can’t keep up. And I’m so emotional. I just hope that in a few months life calms down and I’ll be able to catch my breath.”

              Brogan laughed and stood up. “That and I hear it takes a few months to get your energy back.”

              Meredith tilted her head in confusion. “
Energy
?”

              Brogan patted her on the back. “You’ll see. Just talk to Jane. She’ll walk you through everything and with Asher at your side, I have no worries. Just make sure you keep me in the loop in case you want to
uh
, use your own business to plan a big event before too long,” he said with a knowing grin before walking away.

              Meredith turned to stare at his retreating figure and frowned. “Am I missing something or is Brogan acting a little weird today?”

              Asher cleared his throat. “Is that a new shirt? It looks gorgeous on you.”

              Meredith grinned and turned back to Asher. He really was a sweetheart. “It’s the oldest shirt I own, but thank you.”

              Asher blew out a breath as if he was relieved. “Can I give you a ride home or somewhere?”

              Meredith nodded. “I’ve been walking everywhere these days to save gas. It’s weird though, because I sort of enjoy it. I feel more alive now that I’m getting so much exercise. And if you tell Cleo I said that, I’ll kill you,” she said in a deadly calm voice that had Asher laughing.

              Jane had already left so she waved at Tai since he was busy talking to a customer and walked out with Asher. “Could you give me a ride to the store first? It’s such a pain buying groceries and then walking five blocks home. Talk about an upper arm work out.”

              Asher grinned and opened the door for her. “You might have to bribe me to keep my mouth shut to Cleo.”

              Meredith rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? Fine, what do I have to do?”

              She watched as Asher walked around to his side of the car and got in. “Just a little kiss,” he said turning the key in the ignition and pulling out.

              Meredith frowned as she studied Asher’s handsome profile.
She missed kissing Asher
. She hadn’t thought much about kissing him in the beginning. But then something had changed. The kisses had changed. And now everything meant more than she thought it would.

              “Asher, you know I shouldn’t kiss you,” she said quietly turning to look out the window, feeling depressed about it.

              Asher shrugged and pulled up at a stoplight. “I don’t know that at all,” he said lightly. “Especially knowing that according to Brogan’s algorithms, you and I are a perfect match. When you think about it that way and add in the fact that we actually like each other, care about each other and enjoy being with one another, there’s absolutely no reason at all not to kiss me in order to keep me from telling Cleo that you’re now in love with exercise. I’m almost positive she won’t take that information and use it to force you to go to all of her yoga classes.”

              Meredith laughed and let her shoulders relax. “Very slick, Ash. You should work for the mob or the government. But I guess I have been acting a little silly. I just want things to be easy with you again.”

              Asher frowned at that and turned a corner. “When has easy ever meant right? Usually things in life that are easy aren’t worth having.”

              Meredith winced and felt stupid. When he put it that way, she sounded incredibly immature. “
Fine
, I’ll kiss you,” she said grumpily as he pulled into the grocery store parking lot.

              Asher turned off the car and angled his body towards her. “
Come here
,” he said in a low voice.

              Meredith grinned, feeling her stomach flip over in the way it usually did now whenever Asher looked at her or kissed her. She leaned over and lifted her lips to his. She felt a very soft pressure and then it was gone. She blinked in surprise. The kiss hadn’t been anything like Asher’s usual kisses.

              “
Oh
,” she said in a whisper as she suddenly ached to be kissed with his usual passion.

              Asher smiled slowly and got out of the car, walking around to open the door for her. She stepped out and stood up, coming face to face with Anne Downing.

              “Brogan told me about you two! I didn’t believe it at first, but after seeing that kiss … Congratulations, dear. Tell me if you need anything. And as far as my wedding arrangements, you just let me know if the mornings work better for you or the afternoons. I’ll work around how you’re feeling. The first few months are the worst,” she said, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek before hopping in her car and driving away.

              Meredith frowned after her and turned to shake her head at Asher. “What’s going on with this world? Honestly, people are so weird. First Brogan and now Anne. Why are people talking about my energy levels and how I’m feeling? Do I look sick?”